CONCEPT
As somebody who is involved in training and development and more recently project work, I am constantly thinking about delivery channels for information. From my own experience, delivering chunks of information (concepts) followed by an activity (process) can be a successful approach to delivering content. Consider a standard e-learning course, information followed by an activity, usually a quiz of some description. Consider a standard power point presentation, mostly conceptual and occasionally an activity added in. While successful, the content is often self-contained from start to finish and can be a challenge for a learner to revisit a certain part of the content only. This in turn might preclude a learner revisiting the content. Additionally, I structure my material to motivate a learner to complete a task, sometimes how to perform a task on a system but also tasks like organising a meeting, leading a team, building a CV, doing some research.
PROCESS
Topic based writing provides a system to organise information. I have adapted some of the concepts of Topic based writing into preparing power points and I am currently exploring using these concepts in my project work to ascertain if this approach will motivate people to complete tasks. You may find some of these useful:
- I now write metadata, before writing training material. I am also currently exploring this approach with a project I am involved with, writing key words for the various stages of the project.
- Writing a brief summary (one or two lines), helps me focus in on the content and what chunks of information I want to use both for training material and project tasks.
- Divide the power point presentation into topics based on the learning outcomes. Write a topic based on each objective as a standalone piece. Structure the order of the presentation once the topics are written. At the end of each topic relate the topic back to the learning outcome.
- Include a background graphic on the introduction slide.
- When writing project tasks I use metadata, a clear title, a short description followed by topic sentences.
- I endeavour to structure project tasks in a way that the task can be used directly in other projects.
In summary I find using the principles of topic writing very effective. It helps me to write with more clarity and appreciate I need to continue to develop a style to prevent a monotone directional style of writing.