E-Learning 1.0

Write Right: Polishing Your E-Learning Prose
By Laura Francis

You've developed your first e-learning course. The content is brilliant and the design gorgeous. But what about the text? Here's how to make sure your writing is clear, concise, and correct. Your learners will thank you for it.

Picture this: A worker sits at his desk, staring at his computer. He's trying to complete an e-learning course his boss assigned. It's now Monday; it's due by Thursday and he's no closer to finishing than he is to writing the novel he's dreamed of for years. Why? Because the course is poorly written, with incomplete explanations and confusing instructions. As he stares blindly at his computer, the man wonders when someone will produce an e-learning course that's easy to use.

Too often, e-learning course writers fail to keep learners in mind, assuming they'll have a trainer available to answer questions. But that's not always the case. E-learning participants working on their own don't want to spend valuable time deciphering poor writing when they should be learning. To ensure that your writing helps instead of hinders e-learners, keep several guidelines in mind.

Remember the audience. If you want your work to be well received by others, you must first determine who your audience is. For whom is your work intended? Is it for people new to the topic? Is it for subject matter experts? Is it for people whose skills fall somewhere in the middle? Identify your audience and their skill level, then begin writing content that's focused for that group.

For example, let's say you're an instructional designer creating a course on HTML. For a beginner course you may write, "HTML is the code behind documents that appear on the Web." However, a more advanced audience would be bored with that level of content. So, you must refocus the content for those learners, perhaps rewriting the sentence to read, "The SSIs embedded in HTML documents sometimes require CGI script."

Don't use that tone with me. Once you've identified your audience, you should choose the tone of your writing. In other words, the words you use and how they come across to the readers. Should you use an academic tone? A sarcastic one? Maybe you prefer a humorous tone, or a sad one. The tone you choose will depend on your audience and the subject matter. Picking up a newspaper, you'd find it offensive to read an article about someone's tragic death that's written with humor. That's because the subject matter and the tone don't match.

If you use the wrong tone in your e-learning course, you may turn your learners off before they ever begin to see the value of your teaching. Based on your audience and the subject matter, determine the tone you want to use, and then stick to it. For example, writing a course on decision making for entry-level managers, you might choose an authoritative tone to instill confidence in learners.

Good: When you encounter a performance problem with one of your employees, speak with the person about the situation in a confidential setting, address the issue in an objective manner, and allow the person to explain his or her actions.

Bad: Is one of your employees not performing as expected? Don't know what to do about it? What do you think you should do, Einstein? Confront the person, of course!

The first example offers the beginning managers a practical method to follow. The tone is clear, straightforward, and authoritative, matching the seriousness of the subject matter. The second example uses inappropriate sarcasm and insults the learners. See the difference in tone? One last note: Always be careful when using humor. What you find funny someone else might find offensive or sophomoric.

Fashionable lengths. No one wants to read the world's longest sentence or scroll through endless paragraphs of text to find that one snippet of information they need. What learners want is simple: brief, easy-to-read, and comprehensible writing. Don't overload your readers if you want them to retain information. Whenever possible, write short sentences with simple wording that gets to the point.

Long sentence: When you begin the process of decision-making, as all managers and employees must do at some point in their careers, it's important to keep in mind several things: the people you must involve in the decision, because no one can do it alone; the resources you will need to accomplish the goal of your decision, which can be people, money, time, and so forth; and the effect your decision will have on those you supervise, as well as those you answer to--such as your manager, your customers, your suppliers, and even your stockholders and the public--which will help you fully analyze the decision-making situation that you have encountered at work as a professional and experienced manager.

Edited sentence: When you begin the decision-making process, keep in mind three factors: the people you must involve in the decision, the resources you will need to accomplish your decision, and the effect your decision will have on others.

The first sentence is clumsy and confusing. It loses its meaning and impact because it tries to do too many things. To be more effective, the sentence should be broken up into smaller pieces and unnecessary content edited out. The second sentence is a much better length; it retains the main ideas and eliminates the unnecessary descriptions. Supporting sentences can now be written that expand on the three factors.

Crystal clear. It's crucial that readers understand what you've written. Clarity comes from simple and to-the-point writing. Evaluate which words and sentences best convey your meaning, and then select the most straightforward ones. Don't add big words just because you can; show off your intelligence by writing clearly and specifically while using the simplest terms possible.

Confusing sentence: In order to ameliorate your decision-making skills, endeavor to utilize a formal decision-making process that will facilitate optimal results and surreptitiously ensconce you in people's minds as a decision-making guru.

Edited sentence: To improve your decision-making skills, try using a decision-making process that will give you the results you want, while establishing you as an expert in the field.

The first sentence fails to make its point because of the confusing and pretentious way it's written. It loses its meaning and impact because it uses too many large and unnecessary words. To be more effective, this sentence should be written more simply. The second sentence dumps all the unnecessary words, sticking with everyday language that most readers will recognize and understand.

Lights, camera, action. Action sells. Just check out the movie selections at your local video store or the best-selling video games. Popular movies and games put the users right in the middle of the action. The same could be said for effective writing, which uses active verbs to engage readers. Examples of active verbs include: use, look, listen, act, plan, perform, discuss, determine, and other words that indicate an action.

As with all rules, however, there's an exception. All writers sometimes use passive verbs, because it's impossible to completely escape them. Passive verbs include forms of to be (am, is, are, was, were, been) and other verbs that take the focus off the action and place it on the supporting verb (The paper was written by John instead of John wrote the paper). Writers must use passive verbs when they describe a state of being, for example, I am an instructional designer. So, while there are times when you need passive verbs, attempt to use active verbs when possible. They make learning more exciting and enjoyable.

Be kind to strangers. As the designer, you understand how to get around in your e-learning course. But keep in mind e-learners who are viewing it for the first time. The following suggestions will help you create products that are learner-friendly.

• Use headings. These brief statements describing the information that follows offer learners a system of landmarks on their e-learning journey.
• Outline the material. An outline at the beginning of your e-learning course familiarizes learners with the information you'll present and gives them a reference point to return to should they get lost. The outline designations can also be used in front of headings to provide learners with a second level of material recognition.
• Set an example. Often, the most effective way to explain your point is by using an example that brings it to life. Examples are especially useful when describing a difficult or obscure concept, and can also help emphasize the importance of an idea.
• Give specific and detailed instructions. People want clear, straightforward instructions that get them successfully from point A to point B with minimal effort. For example, if users must accomplish several tasks on a page before continuing, tell them that.

Example: Complete each sentence fragment below by typing your response in the space provided. Compile these sentences into a paragraph and type it in the text box titled Your Paragraph. After completing these tasks, click Continue to move on to the next page.

While these instructions may seem obvious, they let learners save their brainpower for more important activities, such as understanding and retaining your course material.

Using these guidelines will set you apart as a learner-friendly designer who understands the frustrations of your audience and wants to fix them. You'll quickly become a trusted ally in the ever-growing minefield of e-learning experiences. So polish that prose, and watch your learners succeed!

Published: April 2001