Question:
my question is as primitive as my experience in technical writing (i've been a techwriter for 9 months now).
Just recently i wrote a user manual for a particular product and have now been asked to design a training manual for the same. However i am unable to figure out the inputs for the same and the more i try, the more i end up cutting and pasting data from the user manual. So, could all you experts out there help me out ???What are the differences that i have to consider?
Answer:
User manuals are typically meant for short-term reference, in which "transfer" of either performance or learning is not meant to take place. If you forget what you did ten minutes later, at least you got through that task. This makes manuals, used as manuals, relatively free-form. Almost anything will work at some level, for some users.
Training, on the other hand, anticipates that transfer will take place, and that both learning and performance will be different long after training is completed. This requirement introduces a whole host of new decisions.
You can, for example, design training for "blocked" or "massed" presentation, in which you have the student perform a single isolated task until mastery is demonstrated. You can use random presentation as an alternative, or variable presentation. You have to decide how often a task will be incorporated into other tasks, and at what difficulty. You have to decide on appropriate testing. You have to choose levels of presentation difficulty, and define your outcome goals. It matters whether or not the training guide will be used in conjunction with standup training, or as self-paced material.
Or you can just knock together pages and trust that somebody will remember something. That's what most "training" books and manuals do.
At the very least, stop working on the training material right now and work up a set of specific goals you have for the training. That gives you a scaffolding. Break up the total span of knowledge into modules that reflect, as far as possible, the actual use a student has for the product. That gives you subunits of structure.
