STC IDL SIG

by Viqui Dill

Did you know we have a whole library of recorded webinars that IDL members can watch for free? Did you know that members can attend all of our future webinars for free? Yep, that’s just some of the benefits of belonging to the IDL SIG.

Free recorded webinars

To see one of our past webinars, visit the Free recordings of IDL SIG webinars for members page at http://www.stcidlsig.org/membership/webinars/free-recordings-of-idl-sig-webinars-for-members/ and log in with the password. Don’t have the password? Contact me at programs@stcidlsig.org and I’ll email it to you.

Choose from our Lightning Talk webinars with Kit Brown-Hoekstra, Viqui Dill, Jamye Sagan, Mellissa Ruryk and Robert Hershenow: What I Would Have Liked to Know When I Started Out by John Hedtke; Getting Started with Video Training by Mary Whalen; and many more.

Free upcoming webinars

To register for one of our free webinars, check out our Calendar of SIG Events page at http://www.stcidlsig.org/news-and-events/ and follow the link to Eventbrite. Webinars are recorded. So, feel free to watch with us in real-time and then re-watch at your leisure. If you cannot attend, sign up anyway so that you will get a link to the recording.

Future programs include Push Marketing with John Hedtke; PowerPoint Tips with Robert Hershenow; Fred Flintstone to the Rescue with yours truly, and many, many more.

We are always looking for speakers and program ideas so feel free to contact me at programs@stcidlsig.org with any ideas or to volunteer.

And speaking of volunteering

We need a volunteer to take over my role as Programs lead. It’s a really fun job and you get to connect with the heroes and thought leaders of our profession. You can work on your own schedule and learn some new online tools to add to your professional toolbox.

Not a member yet?

To join our SIG, contact membership@stc.org. It’s just $10 for current STC members and will pay for itself in your first webinar.

See you at the next webinar!

by Jamye Sagan

 

As a virtual community, with all of our members scattered across the globe, we do not have the same opportunities as geographically-based communities to meet up face-to-face. Since 2013, we have hosted the IDL SIG Virtual Open House (VOH) so that new and prospective IDL SIG members could learn more about our community’s mission and goals, learn more about member benefits, and meet some of our leaders and volunteers.

During our VOH, participants have always had the opportunity to ask questions about the SIG and what we offer. This year, we’d like to try something new. We’d like to combine our VOH with a virtual party (VP), where we would encourage all attendees to share a photo or story. The VP (not be confused with Vice President!) we hope will add a very human, personal side to our VOH. Hey, it is all about making real, enduring connections!

We are still finalizing the date, but it will take place in early to mid-November. If you can’t attend in real-time, we will have a recording available, so you can watch and share with your instructional design and training colleagues and students.

We will provide more details about the VOH and our virtual party as November draws near.

Hope to see you there!

by Jamye Sagan

 

Within the IDL SIG, we offer a variety of programs and services to our members, including Training Material Evaluations, which won a Pacesetter Award in 2011. In this program, IDL SIG members can have their training materials evaluated by an IDL expert from our SIG. We offer this at no charge to our members. If confidentiality is a concern, evaluators can sign non-disclosure agreements. Materials can be at any stage of development, from storyboard to completed module.

Once materials are submitted, the evaluator reviews the materials and offers written, formative feedback. Participants and evaluators then meet virtually to discuss the feedback. This can be done via Skype, Go To Meeting or any other web-based conferencing tool, or even over the phone.

Who can benefit from this program? Anyone can, regardless of instructional design (ID) experience. Some of us may be experts in one or more aspects of ID, but may need guidance in another area. Some of us may have recently graduated from an instructional design program and eagerly anticipate more “real world” experience. We all can benefit from having a second pair of eyes look at our materials – especially if we are the only ID practitioners in our department or area.

Some of us (like myself) may not have formal education in this field, and may have been tossed onto the ID stage, but are quickly finding out that we enjoy our new roles and are happy to learn more. Tapping into expert guidance will give you much needed confidence and assurance as you take on ID.

A couple of years ago, I submitted a course module for evaluation. My evaluator offered detailed feedback on my materials. Although eventually my work project was put on hold, I still gained valuable knowledge from this experience.

Please take advantage of this wonderful program. For more information about our Training Material Evaluations, please visit: http://www.stcidlsig.org/news-and-events/training-evaluation/ .

 

 

By Crista Mohammed

In my first installment on the value of volunteering, I described how my career has been fundamentally shaped by volunteering. In this article, I share how volunteering has helped me grow as a person. Of course it is nigh impossible to dissect the professional impacts from the personal. In so far as you have developed, both lives—your professional and personal, benefit. I have tried to distill as best as I could how my twenty odd years of volunteering has informed my personal growth. I dedicate this article to all the fine people who run the IDL SIG and make hard work incredibly fun!

Idle hands

We all know that old adage about idle hands and whose workshop they make. As a youngster, I had absolutely no time to be idle. Volunteering kept me busy. It was fun too. Looking back, volunteering offered a healthful, wholesome type of socialising that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. By selecting how I spent my free time, I made a conscious choice about the company that I wanted to keep. It matters not what your primary goal is for joining a voluntary organisation, you will inevitably be socialised into the norms of that group. If you choose well, then the personal impacts are felt. With the IDL SIG, I wanted to belong to a community of practice—my primary goal. Inevitably, belonging entails subscribing to the ways in which people participate in and create the community. The folks in our SIG are warm, generous and encouraging: Demonstrating warmth, being generous and inspiring others in a virtual community takes a great deal of effort and they do it well. It is impossible to not want to reciprocate that goodwill: I might be falling short, but I know they will forgive me. How do I feel after a meeting? A sense that I have spent my time well with like-minded, kind folks.

Coming to your own

Belonging to a group involves both conforming to the group and carving out a niche for yourself: these are processes with opposing ends. As you learn from the group you become part of them, while shaping a unique you in response to them. You emerge with a new dimension of you. You may be the pragmatist; the dogged, determined one; the sage, totally Zen one. In the IDL SIG we even have the warm, kind, cat-loving one (a shout-out to Jamye Sagan)!

I have yet to figure out which one I am in the IDL SIG—seems like all the great roles are taken! So far, I have been able to create an air of mystique because our meetings are via Adobe Connect and there has been no service to Trinidad and Tobago where I reside. My contributions to the meeting have been typed newsletter reports  and messages in chat. So the group has not heard my voice nor my accent, which will be incredibly foreign to them. Viqui ( the cheery, guitar playing one), our programmes manager and co-manager elect, recently wrote to say that there is now service to my part of the world. I need a new me: My mystique will soon disappear as I start speaking at the meetings! I will no longer be the most intriguing IDLer in the world.

Something larger than you

At school, I loved our annual sport meet, because of the marching. I am certain that I didn’t march well, but there is something to say about belonging to a group, about being part of a larger body – a body that rallies, works, plays in unison with you. Teaming directs your energies to something that is bigger and more significant than just you. It is an amazing feeling to share in successes that you could not have wrought on your own. Similarly it is a relief and comfort to be able to share disappointments.

My IDL SIG triumphs are quarterly guarantees. When IDL: Design for Learning gets published, no matter how humble our offerings, waves of satisfaction wash over me at having served my community. It is a victory made possible with lots of help from friends.

I am reminded by my senior class students that a text is only worth reading or listening to if it is sincere (they are currently mulling over Aristotle’s ethos). I hope that the sincerity with which I have shared my experiences of volunteering shines through. I sincerely hope that you are convinced to volunteer for the IDL SIG and STC! Your professional goals and personal aspirations can be met in our one stop shop. For more information on volunteering opportunities with the IDL SIG please see http://www.stcidlsig.org/about-idl-sig/volunteer-opportunities/

Q3 / 2016

From the Editor

by Crista Mohammed

Hello SIG members, trust and hope that all is well.  Pleased as punch to offer up another exciting installment of IDeaL: Design for Learning. In this issue, we have purposely focused, in four articles and the co-manager’s column, on some of the many benefits of SIG membership. Consider this a reminder about some of the amazing resources at your disposal.  I know you have and will continue making the best use of them. I urge you to spread the word about your awesome SIG!

Robert Hershenow, in the co-manager’s column, names his MVB’s. What are MVB’s ? Well, they are the Most Valuable Benefits of his STC membership. Robert has been an active STC member for twenty years, so he knows a thing or two about belonging to this amazing, professional body. Read more

Sylvia Miller updates us on the SIG’s outreach efforts. You may recall last issue’s article about the IDL SIG’s Student Outreach. Well our plans, by dint of hard-work and determination, have come to fruition. The IDL SIG leadership has worked tirelessly to put together the instruments for our student outreach competition. From now until December 31st 2016, the IDL SIG will accept original articles from students, for publication in this very newsletter. Winners earn one year’s free membership to the STC and the IDL SIG. Plus, there is one more great incentive to start writing those essays. Read more

Marcia Shannon, our new SIG Secretary, gives an account of some of the SIG’s summer activities, in the Secretary’s column. In keeping with our general theme of “SIG Membership Benefits”, Marcia describes how membership rates can be prorated based on your time of enrollment. Read more.

Mellissa Ruryk, our resident Word™ guru, explains how to select vertical text. Her approach is entirely new to me and is definitely less frustrating than my piecemeal, painstaking copying and pasting. To watch Mellissa’s demonstration of how to master and dominate vertical text click here.

Jamye Sagan reports on a well-regarded, free service to all SIG members-Training Materials Evaluations. All SIG members can access expert reviews of their training materials. When it comes to ensuring quality in your work product there is no substitute for another pair of eyes. Read more.

Viqui Dill provides a timely reminder of one of the SIG’s many awesome membership benefits-Free Webinars! Yes, all SIG members enjoy free enrollment in regularly mounted webinars. Unable to tune in live? Well you can access, also for free, all of the SIGs webinars which are  recorded and archived for your convenience! Read more.

Jamye Sagan invites all IDL SIG and prospective members to join our annual Virtual Open House (VOH). The IDL SIG’s VOH is our much anticipated, social event at which the membership meets and greets newbies!  And newbies get to meet us! Read more

Two issues ago Virginia Butler made a heartfelt plea to mentor in the STC Mentorship Programme. Then I wrote a piece on the professional gains to be had by volunteering. In this issue, I share how I have personally benefited from over twenty years of volunteering. Read more.

From your Co-Manager: Most Valuable Benefit Awards

by Robert Hershenow, Co-manager

I’m often reminded of how much I appreciate belonging to the STC and the IDL SIG. I’ve been a member for twenty years, and every year my membership has benefitted me in some way. I’d like to offer my take on the Most Valuable Benefits (MVBs) of membership which keep me coming back.

When I was just getting started in tech comm, being able to turn to STC friends and contacts for ideas or technical help – or a reality check with someone outside my corporate bubble – was a great help more than once. So MVB Award #1 goes to all of us – all of you – who make STC worthwhile.

When I became a consultant and launched my own business, having to pay my own way made me take a hard look at expenses. But I chose to maintain my STC membership. I had become Managing Editor of the IDL SIG newsletter, a job I had always wanted and as it turned out, really enjoyed and learned from. That enjoyment (and the dedication it inspired) led to my receiving the Distinguished SIG Service Award, an honor which made me proud, earned me some recognition, and continues to look good on my resume.

The Technical Communication Summit is another Most Valuable Benefit. Actually, it comprises several. Summit offers a super-rich learning experience and an annual chance to meet face-to-face with virtual collaborators and pals. I have always found it inspirational, and it’s probably an STC high point for most of us.

I’ve missed a few Summit conferences over the years. But in 2014 – when other responsibilities prevented me from attending – STC offered the first Virtual Summit, a selection of learning sessions, interviews, and commentary streamed over the Web. You can stay home (or anywhere you have internet access) and still attend. I’m glad I said yes. It was smooth, professionally hosted, glitch-free, and it exposed me to rewarding educational content I might not have chosen had I attended in person. I’m giving the Virtual Summit an MVB Award of its own.

The third conference-related MVB goes to Summit Playback, an online collection of recordings that lets attendees and others re-experience Summit’s educational sessions. Access is included with the price of Summit registration, or can be purchased separately.
https://www.stc.org/education/stc-summit/summit-playback/

A few more benefits of the Summit: If you deliver a presentation, it can pay your registration fee. If you are a student and you volunteer to help with registration or other duties, you can also get in free. And, there is a great party that has often featured a dance concert and open-mic night with STC’s own house band, The Rough Drafts. Summit 2017 happens in the Washington, DC area. Find out more: https://www.stc.org/education/stc-summit/

But that’s not all! Both STC and some of the SIGs, including the IDL SIG, offer regular webinars on topics of interest to technical communicators. And many Chapters hold regular meetings featuring live presenters, often over dinner. These can be great opportunities to learn, network, and socialize. Check out the IDL SIG’s calendar of webinars and meetings at http://www.stcidlsig.org/events/calendar/.

More MVBs: the Tech Comm Body of Knowledge (TCBOK); the STC Mentor Board; the STC Career Center; and STC’s publications: Intercom Magazine, Technical Communication, and the Notebook blog. All of these are available to members on STC’s web site https://www.stc.org/ .

Finally, your IDL SIG’s email discussion group has been very lively in the past, though participation has fallen off in the last few years. We’d like to see this trend turn back the other way. The mailing list’s potential is huge, allowing SIG members to tap into the vast storehouse of knowledge and experience that our membership represents. Do you have a question or comment about ID or tech comm? Send it to the group and get the party started. Here’s everything you need to know (please at least skim this page):
http://www.stcidlsig.org/discussion-lists/list-policies-etiquette/

I hope to see you online!

About IDeaL: Design for Learning

Publication Policy: We invite letters, articles, book reviews, and other items for publication. Articles may contain up to 1,000 words. Picture formats: JPG, GIF, PNG; Text format: Word, RTF, or ASCII. Send items to Crista Mohammed at newsletter@stcidlsig.org

Advertising Policy and Rates: We encourage advertising as long as it follows STC guidelines and promotes services of interest to IDL SIG members.

Ad sizes and rates:

Half page (7.5×4.5): $75 (1 issue); $225 (4 issues)

Business Card (3.5×2): $25 (1 issue); $100 (4 issues)

Please submit electronic copy only in .TIF, .GIF, or .PNG format. Send ads to Crista Mohammed at newsletter@stcidlsig.org. Make checks payable to Society for Technical Communication and send to: Robert Hershenow, STC IDL SIG, 616 Colusa Ave, Berkeley CA 94707.

Copyright Statement: This newsletter invites technical communicators in the field of instructional design to submit articles for publication. The authors implicitly grant a license to this newsletter to run the submission, and for other STC publications to reprint it without permission. Copyright is held by the author. Let the editor know in your cover letter if the article has run elsewhere, and if it has been submitted for consideration to other publications. Design and layout of this newsletter are copyright STC, 2005‐2016.

IDL SIG Website: http://www.stcidlsig.org

SIG Newsletter Archives: http://www.stcidlsig.org/wp/newsletter/