This is the syllabus as of the first day of class. Revisions to the syllabus will be made available in the Download area.
Week 1
March 31
Introduction to course
Course logistics
April 2
Writing procedures
Introduction to target software
Assign students to groups
UI and UA terminology
Read course notes, “How to Write Procedures.”
Read course notes, “Writing with a Task Orientation.”
Read Farkas, “Logical and Rhetorical Construction of Procedural Discourse.”
Complete Procedure Exercise 1.
Week 2
April 7
Writing procedures—2
Writing functional descriptions
Discussion of target software
Group meetings
Read Trevor Grayling “If We Build It, Will They Come?”
Complete Procedure Exercise 2.
April 9
Kinds of User Assistance
Enterprise-level technical support
Prepare and deliver oral presentations on functional descriptions.
Read Association of Support Professionals, “Ten Best Web Support Sites of 2007 Site Scoring System.”
Week 3
April 14
Explanations of computer concepts
The UI and UA
Examine the AM/FM Flashlight UI Exercise and be prepared to discuss it in class.
Procedure Assignment Draft (Bring three copies for group discussion).
April 16
Flare demo
UI text and System messages
Read Vista User Interface Text, Vista Help and Vista Style and Tone.
Submit revised Procedure Assignment (10% final grade).
Week 4
April 21
Task hierarchies
Help and user’s guides
Peruse Help systems and user’s guides, as assigned.
Read course notes, “Writing with a Task Orientation.”
Ungraded assignment: Prepare a task hierarchy for Writers Database.
April 23
Discoverability: Context sensitivity, TOCs, indexes,
search, and hyperlinking
Read course notes, “Indexing Online Help.”
Further reading TBA
Week 5
April 28
Wizards and tutorials
Read Boggan, Farkas, and Welinske, “Performance Support Help: Wizards and Coaches.”
Peruse Help wizards and coaches, as assigned.
Submit Support Plan with Prototypes (usability test component may be submitted later).
April 30
Audience analysis and personas
User research
Read course notes, "Evaluation and Usability Testing"
Read Rosenbaum, “Stalking the User.”
Read the Sample TC 407 Usability Test Report.
Week 6
May 5
Graphics and animated tutorials
Peruse UA content, as assigned.
Read Brooks “Online Theater: Making Software Demonstration Movies.”
May 7
Guest class
Instructor returns Support Plans and Prototypes.
Week 7
May 12
KB articles and troubleshooting procedures
Examine Knowledge Base content as assigned.
Read Douglass et al, “The New Face of Procedural Content: A Real World Approach.”
Read Farkas(slide show) “Better Knowledge Base Articles For Complex Troubleshooting.”
May 14
Content management systems
User feedback, user generated content, and community support
Read Fisher, “Moving from Single Sourcing to Reuse with XML DITA.”
Read Day, Priestly, and Schell, "Introduction to the Darwin Information Typing Architecture."
Read Severson, “Dynamic Content Delivery Using DITA.”
Review a forum.
Week 8
May 19
Designing and developing pre-release content
Peruse course notes “Spiral Model of Software Development.”
May 21
SDK documentation
Plan for exam
Read Delaney,"Wallaby Specification” (a strategy document for creating an SDK).
Peruse SDK documentation selected by the instructor.
Week 9
May 26
EXAM
May 28
White papers
Submit Course Projects
Read Radding, “The Whitepaper Whitepaper.”
Re-read Severson, “Dynamic Content Delivery Using DITA” as a sample white paper.
Week 10
June 1
Innovations and horizons in user assistance
Read Jerrod Larson: “Out of the Video Arcade, into the Office.”
June 4
Course wrap-up
Submit and demo Course Projects
Submit and demo course projects (Help System, Manual, Embedded Help).
