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The advent of the Internet changed the traditional classroom setting of instructor-led instruction. Today, you can attend classes online from the comfort of your home, sitting in your study or dining room in your pajamas with your hot chocolate (or hot toddy for some), communicating with classmates and learning about the latest technology trends or communication tools.
I came across an article last summer (May 2002) in the OnlineLearning magazine that inspired me (finally!) to look at the three of the four cited sources where you can take free online courses for business and pleasure. (Note: The fourth source is no longer available online.) Some classes, however, are not free, but you at least now have an online source where you can gain more knowledge from the comfort of your own home.
A list of three sites and the specific offerings that relate to technical writing are included here:
www.fathom.com: The listings here are from the Arts & Humanities / Writing / Business and Technical Writing area of this website.
Advanced Academic English Basic Written Business Communication Beginning Academic English Beginning English for Writing in Science and Industry Brainstorm Before Writing Break Writing Barriers Business Writing Business Writing (ESL: Levels 5-6 Check Your Writing Style Creating Readable Documents Effective Business Writing Effective Writing: Business Writing Effective Writing: Technical Writing English for Academic Writing English for Business Writing Foundation Skills of Technical Writing Information Design Intensive Grammar and Punctuation Review Intermediate Academic English Intermediate English for Writing in Science and Industry |
Introduction to American Business Writing: High-Intermediate Part I Introduction to American Business Writing: Intermediate Part I Introduction to Technical Writing Legal Research, Analysis, and Writing in a Tribal Context Plan Before Writing Revise Texts Systematically Seeking Funds and Writing Grants for Schools and Education Programs Structure Texts for Clarity Style in Scientific and Technical Writing Technical Editing Technical Writing Technical Writing for the Web The POWER Writing Process Write to be Understood Writing in the Workplace |
www.barnesandnobleuniversity.com: The listings here are from the Writing & Languages Campus and the Graphics & Web Design Campus areas of this website.
Writing & Languages Campus Grammar Fitness (FREE) Start Writing Fiction by Gotham Writers' Workshop Start Writing Memoir by Gotham Writers' Workshop Start Writing Romance by Gotham Writer's Workshop Start Writing Screenplays by Gotham Writer's Workshop Thinking Like an Editor: How to Get Published (FREE) Understanding Poetry (FREE) Writing for Children (FREE) |
Graphics & Web Design Campus offerings Cascading Style Sheets Dreamweaver 4: Level 1 Dreamweaver 4: Level 2 Fireworks 4: Level 1 Flash 5: Level 1 Flash 5: Level 2 FrontPage 2000: Level 1 GoLive 5: Level 1 HTML 4.01: Web Authoring, Level 1 Illustrator 9.0: Level 1 Paint Shop Pro 7.0: An Introduction Photoshop 6.0: Basic Skills 1 Photoshop 6.0: Tips and Tricks QuarkXPress 4.0: Level 1 Understanding DHTML (FREE) Web Design and Usability Techniques Web Pages Made Easy (FREE) |
www.free-ed.net: The listing here shows the lessons available in three different sections from the College of Career & Technology area's Elements of Technical Writing course on this website.
Applications of Technical Writing Lesson 1: Business correspondence and resumes Lesson 2: Technical reports: structure and process Lesson 3: Types of technical reports: an overview Lesson 4: Business plans Lesson 5: Proposals Lesson 6: Progress reports Lesson 7: Instructions Lesson 8: User guides Lesson 9: Organizational policies and procedures Lesson 10: Recommendation and feasibility reports Lesson 11: Abstracts, introductions, and conclusions Lesson 12: Oral presentations Document Design Lesson 13: Book design overview Lesson 14: Page design overview Lesson 15: Headings Lesson 16: Lists Lesson 17: Special notices Lesson 18: Graphics and tables Lesson 19: Report format and final packaging Lesson 20: Highlighting and emphasis |
Processes and Guidelines Lesson 21: Writing process: from audience to rough draft Lesson 22: Audience analysis Lesson 23: Power-revision techniques Lesson 24: Libraries, documentation, cross-referencing Lesson 25: Basic patterns and elements of the sentence Lesson 26: Common grammar, usage, punctuation problems Lesson 27: Common spelling problems Lesson 28: Strategies for peer-reviewing and team-writing Lesson 29: Information structures |
Have you located any online free training for technical communicators? Share that with our membership. Any amount of learning that we can do to continually improve our skills is worth an article in Technically Write.