When we think of training, the most common image we have is the classroom-based instructor-led training (ILT) that is provided in our early and formative years. Businesses more and more frequently need to support their employees to become proficient in the ever-changing suite of software business tools. They need to ensure they meet ever-rising productivity […]
Archive | Training and Education
Telecommuting Part 5: Onboarding Remote Employees
As a company that has a large pool of employees that work via telecommuting, TWi has a long-established tradition of onboarding new team members using an online strategy in conjunction with office-based and on-site training. As our blog piece on the telecommuting culture in TWi attests to, the old saying ‘all you need is an […]
Telecommuting Part 3: The Best Remote Learning Resources
In 1959, then-senator John F. Kennedy introduced a new trope to the western world when he famously evoked the Chinese word wēijī – “crisis”. It’s composed of two elements, said the future president: danger (危 – wēi) and opportunity (机 – jī). Kennedy wasn’t quite accurate in his translation, but his view of the potential […]
Telecommuting Part 1: How Remote Working is Embedded in Our Company Culture
By Emmet Kearney on April 1, 2020 in News and Events, Technical Writing, Telecommuting, Training and Education
Whether you call it telecommuting, remote working, or simply working from home, most of us are doing it these days and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. As people and businesses come to terms with the Covid-19 pandemic, we are all facing a new reality and many companies have been forced to […]
Innovating Technical Communication Education
A few years ago, TWi collaborated with Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) and other organisations to develop the syllabus for a new postgraduate technical communication program in Information Design and Development. This post tells the story of how it came about. Innovative Design The idea grew from a conversation between Patrice Fanning, founder of TWi, […]
Punctuation for Professionals: Delivering Technical Writing Training
How do you teach grammar and punctuation to experienced technical professionals without seeming patronising? To follow that: how do you condense the skills and knowledge needed for technical communication into a single day of training? (more…)
Techcomm Upskilling Survey: A Finger on the Pulse
Techcomm surveys are a finger on the pulse of the profession. It benefits all of us in the techcomm community to maintain an up-to-date, evidence-based understanding of industry requirements, expectations, and trends. As techcomm professionals, we are particularly interested in accurate and current information about workplace and career-related issues, such as skills development, also known […]
Improving Techcomm Education Through Stronger Industry-Academic Collaboration
The topic of technical communication education has come to prominence in the blogosphere in recent months, with contributors such as Danielle Villegas and Larry Kunz bringing the topic back to the attention of the techcomm community. The sense of disconnect between academics and practitioners is not a recent one, nor is it unique to the […]
Tips for Embarking on a Career in Technical Writing
By Patrice Fanning on May 31, 2012 in Technical Communication, Technical Writing, Training and Education
I was recently invited to give a guest lecture to students at the University of Limerick (UL) in Ireland who are studying technical communication. The university offers a range of part-time and full-time courses in this area both for undergraduate and post-graduate students, including the popular, industry-focused M.A. in Technical Communication and E-Learning. As a […]
