Research Exploration: Research Gap
I just turned in my first ever literature review. In it, I was able to build a research-based foundation for principles of technical communication. I was also able to find instances in online courses where technical communication principles make a difference. I didn’t see anything asking online instructors about how they utilize those technical communication principles in course design. My research is looking to fill that gap. I want to conduct a qualitative study where I interview online instructors at my local university about how they design their courses and whether they consider principles of technical communication when they do so. I’ve organized the principles I want to focus on in this chart: Table 1.1: Technical Communication Goals That Apply To Online Instruction Helping users find information Helping users understand information Usability Testing Course Organization Information Organization Remediation Plain Language Effective use of visuals Instructors might not be famili