Cammy Bean_WordsMatter_TechLearn 2022.pptx
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Seven Tips to improve your writing for digital learning content. Slides from my session at TechLearn 2022 - September 22, 2022 in Austin, TX.
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Cammy Bean_WordsMatter_TechLearn 2022.pptx
- 3. It was a dark and stormy day in the city of Instructopolis.
- 5. A lone learning designer looks around and weeps in despair…what happened to everyone?
- 7. The cause? A lifeless e-learning course.
- 8. Where did this go wrong?? Learning objectives!! Time and money!! SMEs involved!! Solid design!!
- 10. Sharpen your quills as we share seven top tips for writing better elearning scripts.
- 11. 1. Give it life
- 12. What are you writing for?
- 14. Keep it simple
- 15. Add some fun
- 16. Activate your writing This? Or this? “The fabulous script was written by you.” “You wrote this fabulous script.” “The process briefing document is used to define our core requirements.” “The process briefing document defines our core requirements.” “Now that you have covered the basics of customer service, in the next section you will learn how to deal with customer issues.” “You’re one step away from maximizing your skills, but there’s a problem—a customer one in fact. Click ‘next’ to put your skills to the test.”
- 17. Don’t patronize or demand “By now you have learned…” “You must do…” “This will take 90 minutes.” “To advance to the next screen click the ‘next’ button in the bottom right corner of your screen.”
- 18. Finding the “write” tone Formal or informal? How do customers describe your products and services? What words do people use to describe what it’s like to work here? What are commonly used words and phrases? What are the company values? Check it out: https://www.distilled.net/tone-of-voice/
- 19. 2. Speak to “Me”
- 20. It’s all about the learner. Make it personal.
- 21. Talk to me baby Less of… “Negotiating effectively is an important skill that we at XYZ Company need to use on a daily basis” More of… “When was the last time you negotiated something? Maybe it was more recently than you think….”
- 22. Object to learning objectives As a result of attending this session you will be able to: • Identify three case studies of Fortune 1000 companies who are successfully using social learning models • Define the three models of social learning and how these map to specific strategies and tools • Evaluate the pros and cons of different social interventions as solutions to specific kinds of learning challenges • Describe their own personal experience in using social media as a practitioner
- 23. You can still tell them where they’re going and what they’ll get from it.
- 24. How can we make this better? Define the three main potential risks of not having an ITAM program in place. Don’t get tripped up at work! In this topic, you’ll learn how to avoid the most common workplace risks and hazards.
- 25. Bring it back to their world
- 26. Give a clear call to action
- 27. 3. Flip the script
- 28. Which are you? Most of us prefer, and most of us learn better through, doing.
- 29. Make a case of it
- 30. Put the “doing” first
- 31. Let the feedback do the teaching
- 32. Let the learner decide. Split the doing versus knowing.
- 33. 4. Tell great stories
- 34. Hook them with a gripping tale
- 35. Put all the content in context—try a guided story instead of an info dump
- 36. Win them with gossip and intrigue
- 37. Be a fiction writer Keep it real Think about the character Give it a lift Add color, conflict, and atmosphere Show, don’t tell Don’t give it all away—add intrigue by letting learners read between the lines
- 38. Keep it real What are the character’s motivations? Are their actions realistic? Can you relate to the character? Does the voice sound genuine?
- 39. Keep it real Is this genuine/realistic/relatable? “This is unacceptable – I’ve done my research and I know I have a right to receive something in writing.” How about this? “Hang on, I thought you're always s'posed to send me something?" Is this genuine/realistic/relatable? “I’m so frustrated by these questions and it’s making me feel like you’re not listening.” How about this? “Stop with the bloody questions! Just do your job, will you?”
- 40. Give it a lift Good writers use the senses to engage their readers. A sight, sound or smell can be a short cut to an atmosphere that might lift the learning from the humdrum. Cut to scene: A hassled parent who works in HR is on the phone trying to call a whistleblowing line to report an incident with his baby crying in the background.
- 41. Show, don’t tell Instead of this… This… “Emma is clearly upset.” “Emma's on the verge of tears.” “Tom is really angry that ACME won’t offer extra incentives.” “Tom slams down the phone after his call with ACME – who do they think they are? Everybody else offers incentives!” “Ted is dreading his appraisal.” “The night before, Ted turns his appraisal over in his mind; he just can’t sleep.”
- 42. 5. Cut it out
- 43. Aim for short and sharp. Less of… “This e-learning module is designed to explain the principles and practical requirements of the 11 step process …” More of… “Need to get your head around our process? You’re in the right place.” Write and then keep cutting words to get to the point. Write and then keep cutting words to get to the point. Write and then keep cutting words to get to the point. Write and then keep cutting words to get to the point. Write and then keep cutting words to get to the point. Write and then keep cutting words to get to the point. Write and then keep cutting words to get to the point. Write and then keep cutting words to get to the point. Write and then keep cutting words to get to the point.
- 44. Conquer the “TL;DR” If more information feels necessary… Summarize into a 1-2 sentence statement—the “TL;DR” version. Deliver the “TL;DR” first. Ensure your audience hears/reads the most important information first. Then deliver the details. Reiterate your TL;DR Reiterate and reinforce your TL;DR statements in feedback and summaries.
- 45. Cut the blather and focus on the doing.
- 46. Link to policies. Don’t replicate them.
- 47. 6. Make it flow
- 48. Stitch your ideas together, connect the dots, make sure the story flows from one piece to the next. If something doesn’t fit in your flow, does it really belong? Is it necessary??
- 50. The state of literacy in the US • The average American can read at about a 7th/8th grade (12-14 years old) readability level.1 • The U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute of Literacy found that some 32 million adults in the United States can’t read.2 • Approximately 50% of Americans read at an 8th-grade readability level or lower.2 • 1 in 4 Americans live with a disability of some kind, and many disabilities impact people’s ability to impact people’s ability to read or concentrate.3 1. Marchand, L. (2017, March 22). What is readability and why should content editors care about it? from Centerforplainlanguage.org website. 2. Strauss, V. (2016, November). Hiding in plain sight: The adult literacy crisis. from Washington Post website. 3. CDC. (2019, March 8). Disability Impacts All of Us Infographic. from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
- 51. August 2022 Plain Language 1 51 Plain language increases our value Poorly written learning experiences contribute to training problems, higher administrative costs, and bad customer relations. • Increases reading speed, reducing seat time in courses • Increases comprehension, reducing resources spent on follow-up training and support (lower those emails!) • Increases retention, reducing errors when applying skills and knowledge on the job Makes translation easier and more effective for our global clients
- 52. August 2022 Plain Language 1 52 Plain language is accessibility • Historically, academic language has been used as a gatekeeping mechanism. It was designed to keep people out of places where power is held, and decisions are made. Specifically, to keep out Black and brown people, people with disabilities, women, and those who are economically impoverished. When we use plain language, we center language access. Accessibility and language access must be priorities so that our services and written materials can reach more people, including people with limited English proficiency and for whom English is not a first language. When we use academic language or discipline-specific language, we prioritize people who already work in our field, and those who use English as a first language. Writing in plain language is a tool to advance racial equity. It is an important step in dismantling white supremacy practices and anti-Blackness.1 1. Taitt-Lamar, M. and Robillard, J. (2021) Why is it important to write in plain language in the gender-based violence movement? From National Resource Center for Domestic Violence
- 54. Read it out loud. Would you want to listen? Would you know what to expect?
- 56. Use your lifelines. Phone a friend. Ask the audience. http://regisfan.proboards.com/thread/428/millionaire-2006-pub-quiz
- 57. Recap
- 58. Repeat after me Give it life. Speak to “me”. Flip the script. Tell great stories. Cut it out. Make it flow. Invite critique.
- 59. Your call to action Pick out a recent course script and re-review it with a CRITICAL eye. Where and how can you apply these tips to improve it?
- 60. Get your copy at td.org/accidentaldesigner or Amazon! More tips and tricks!
- 61. Write home. cammy.bean@kineo.com www.kineo.com Want more ideas? Check out our website! http://www.kineo.com
- 62. Thank you!
Editor's Notes
- Cammy Bean – Senior Solutions Consultant at Kineo Kineo helps improve organizations through learning and development solutions that engage, empower, and elevate their people. Many of these solutions are technology-driven, the what we’ll talk about today can apply in any context. Been with Kineo almost 14 years; involved with elearning and learning design for 25. Worked my way through a lot of dry content – policies, procedures, “they just need to know it” content Help you navigate murky content waters to deliver a learning solution that speaks to and with your learners Let’s re-discover the art of writing together.
- 30 seconds – jot down Set that aside for a bit. We’ll come back to it. Let’s get started with a little story…
- It was a dark and stormy day in the city of Instructopolis.
- A loud bang reverberated through the office.
- Our learning designer weeps in despair - what happened to everyone??
- A short investigation quickly uncovers the cause
- —an elearning course, so dry, so lifeless that it bored everyone into a deep sleep. That bang? The sound of heads crashing onto desks.
- The business leader slams her fist down—we spent the time and money to build this. We were clear about our learning objectives. We had the right SMEs involved to provide the content. WHERE DID THIS GO WRONG?????
- Design = learning design, visual design/interaction design AND WRITING You could go through all the steps of good learning design, have awesome visuals, or even some highly interactive experience. BUT WITHOUT GOOD WRITING, IT COULD ALL FALL FLAT. We need to be operating in that sweet spot; that intersection with learning design, writing, and visual design.
- We’re going to rock and roll our way through 7 tips you can implement to make sure your writing doesn’t sell your course short FIRST WRITE A LEARNING OBJECTIVE THAT YOU THINK REPRESENTS A LEARNING OUTCOME FOR THIS SESSION. Put on your Bloom’s taxonomy hat--make it your best objective yet! “At the end of this course, you will be able to….” SET THAT ASIDE LET’S GO!!
- Think about the last course you wrote and consider the tone. RAISE HANDS – did it sound more like a COFFEE SHOP CONVERSATION with a friendly colleague? A LECTURE? Far too often we fall in the trap of writing in an academic, lecturing tone, rather than a conversational tone. Conversations don‘t always have to be casual. There are many professional contexts to think about. The key here is to anchor yourself in having a conversation with the learner.
- DON‘T OVER INTELLECTUALIZE. IT‘S NOT NECESSARY. This could have been: ”My place of employment requires me to frequently lift a lot of heavy boxes.“ Put that human touch on there; make it conversational.
- When we‘re in a conversation, there‘s usually at least one person who injects some fun for levity! Fun enhances learning! Science says – fun and positive emotions support learning, while stress, boredom, confusion, low motivation interfere with learning.
- We don‘t talk in a passive voice. Why write in a passive voice?
- Avoid command words that DEMAND ATTENTION. Do YOU like to be told what to do?
- You may not be able to apply all of these tips so far—use questions like these to help you define the boundaries. https://www.distilled.net/tone-of-voice/
- Who is YOUR end customer? It’s not the company. It’s not the people who want the training to be made. It’s the people who are going through the training.
- Question: Why is the second statement more effective? What’s it doing that the first statement isn’t? I don’t know about you, but when I read “we” in the first sentence, I kind of tune out – we doesn’t necessarily mean me, so do I really need to pay attention? But the second statement, it’s pulling the learner in. Connecting directly to them. It’s prompting personal reflection. MAKE YOUR LEARNER PART OF THE EQUATION
- Also – OBJECT TO LEARNING OBJECTIVES!! What do most people do when they see a slide like this?. They click the next button. Important to have learning objectives but learner doesn’t nee to see in this format. Important to set direction but we don’t have to set it in this way. So, be honest now…take a look at your learning objectives you wrote earlier. How many of you wrote them with words starting with “identify, define, describe” or something similar? Who might be willing to share one of their “learning objectives” you wrote down earlier? Thanks for sharing...now can I ask, what did you jot down for the response to what YOU wanted to get from this session? See the disconnect in the two different answers? You may need to use these objectives as part of your design documentation, but in now way does that mean you have to make your learners read them. It’s not going to change what they get from the content.
- Conversational, I know what I’m going to get from this experience. Boom. Done. WIFMeeeeeeeeeeeee!
- Bring them into their own world. Get learners to REFLECT on relevance and CONNECT to their world.
- What will you stop, start or continue doing? CONNECT with a clear call to action at the end of every module.
- Get learners involved – activate and engage their minds in doing.
- Unless you really are putting together a piece of Ikea furniture! In that case – read first!!
- We all love to get involved in solving a mystery, puzzle or crime. Can you restructure your content into an investigation that gets learners engaged in the why and then lets their curiosity uncover the content?
- Less elaborate – but still effective. Put the doing first – start with a scenario rather than end with one.
- Even go so far as to let the feedback do the teaching.
- Split the doing versus knowing and let the learner decide. Don’t spend a lot of time on the teaching – focus more on the application/doing where you can deliver the teaching in the moment. This is a more powerful learning experience.
- Narratives all the way, baby.
- Hook them with a gripping tale and make them want to pay attention. How about this course on food safety? Don’t start by telling learners “food safety is important...” TELL A STORY TO ILLUSTRATE WHY IT’S IMPORTANT. Incite the curiosity gap – why do we like to watch mysteries? We want to get to the end to find out what happens.
- Or, use guided, day-in-the-life stories to illustrate your points better than an info dump
- Last but not least – try gossip! Here’s an example where two people are having a quiet little drink but someone is overhearing. Why is this compelling? We love to eavesdrop! And we’re tuned into cautionary tales of what could go wrong. Leverage that instinct for good!
- GOOD FICTION CAN TEACH US A LOT
- Are your characters real? Have you thought about what motivates them? What a genuine response is? Genuine actions? Think of a customer service conversation gone bad – how do you act when you’re at your wits end?
- Don’t forget about the ENVIRONMENT Giving it a lift means looking for opportunities to engage the senses beyond just words and visuals. Sound effects can add to the realism of the situation.
- By using the number one weapon in the fiction writer’s armoury, showing not telling, readers (or learners) experience a story or scenario through action, senses and feelings. So, rather than telling learners how to feel with exposition, summary or description, we show how they feel. Here are a couple of examples of showing not telling in action
- Light is not heavy, wordy, jargon-y. It’s gets to the point.
- Consider how much of what you’re writing is telling vs. showing or doing. The higher your percentage of telling, the more likely you are to see head-nodding.
- Don’t spend all your time reiterating…find out more by going to the resource Again, go back to that coffee shop conversation idea. If I’m trying to explain to you, my new colleague, how expense reimbursements are handled, I’m going to tell you about the general procedure to follow and some tips and tricks I learned along the way. But then, I’ll likely point you to a resource where you can see the full policy and get the expense report template. I’m not going to pull that out of my bag and start to read it aloud to you because I know from experience, reimbursements happen infrequently and it’s impossible to remember all of the details. So I know it’s better to teach you the high-level process and behaviors that work.
- Far too often it’s one idea followed by one idea followed by another idea. Make sure your narrative flow is holding together. Find a way to stitch it all together so it’s an entire narrative. Think about sequencing so that the story builds on itself, rather than taking the learner down various dead-end paths. UTILIZE TRANSITIONS TO KEEP THE FLOW! And if something doesn’t fit...well, ask yourself, does it really belong?
- JLH
- JLH- Historically, academic language has been used as a gatekeeping mechanism. This is the language of white-led educational institutions and many mainstream organizations. It was designed to keep people out of places where power is held, and decisions are made. Specifically, to keep out Black and brown people, people with disabilities, women, and those who are economically impoverished. It is another way white supremacy shows up in our movement and world. The more education you get or the more specialized your field, the more you are trained to intellectualize your spoken and written words. Thus, the more people you leave behind or “keep out.” We’ve all been conditioned into a heavily white supremacist form of academia. It starts with having had the ability to go to school. Then we learn to fluff up our writing to meet required page length/word counts. Then we include fancy jargon or vocabulary that is specific to a particular trade, profession, or group. These function much like the “inside jokes” of vocabulary. Language we use in our professions but that folks outside our profession will not “get.” When we move away from plain language and towards complicated wording and discipline-specific language, we prioritize people who already work in our field, and for whom English as a first language. When we use plain language, we center language access. Plain language is accessibility. Accessibility and language access must be priorities within our organizations so that our services and written materials can reach more people, including people with limited English proficiency and for whom English is not a first language. Writing in plain language is a tool to advance racial equity. It is an important step in dismantling white supremacy practices and anti-Blackness.
- If you’re trying to think and see if something is accessible, read it out loud – check for the flow, the pacing, and whether it has the right touch.
- Use a readability analyzer online to check the readability. Or use the readability check in Word. Or Grammarly