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Designing and Writing Online Help COMM 1260

Communication Part-time Studies Course

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Course details

​This hands-on course combines concepts and practice as students work through all stages of designing and writing a quality Help system, including analyzing user needs, designing information and visual schemas, writing, indexing, and testing. Students will have the opportunity to learn about industry-standard authoring tools and publishing formats, and discuss the future trend of online Help. ​

Prerequisite(s)

  • No prerequisites are required for this course.

Credits

3.0

Cost

$608.29

Course offerings

Fall 2022

Below is one offering of COMM 1260 for the Fall 2022 term.

CRN 34584

Duration

Thu Sep 15 - Thu Dec 01 (12 weeks)

  • 12 weeks
  • CRN 34584
  • $608.29
Class meeting times
Dates Days Times Locations
Sep 15 - Dec 01 Thu 18:30 - 21:30 Online
Instructor

TBD

Course outline

Course outline TBD — see Learning Outcomes in the interim.

Cost

$608.29

Important information
  1. Internet delivery format.
  2. Important course information will be sent to you prior to your course start date. Check your myBCIT email account to access this information.
  3. SYNCHRONOUS ONLINE CLASSES: This is not a self-paced course. You will be expected to be available and online on the posted days and times shown on your registration schedule. Course content, type and quality of assignments, and general standards for this online course are the same as the face-to-face course. On the start date of your class (not before), log into learn.bcit.ca to access your course link.
Status

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, the student will be able to:

  • Determine suitable content for a Help system, based on audience needs and logical workflows.
  • Organize information into different topic types (conceptual, procedural, reference, and wayfinding) and know the basic structure of each topic type.
  • Design a consistent and predictable information flow and visual schema to help users quickly and easily find the information they need.
  • Write topics to industry standard guidelines.
  • Provide multiple pathways to access information by developing a table of contents, index, and effective links. They will also be able to explain how progressive disclosure and various search methods affect a user's ability to access information.
  • Ensure the quality of a Help system by testing and completing quality checklists.
  • Understand the differences between standard Help formats such as HTML Help, WebHelp, and Flash Help.
  • Assess industry standard help-authoring tools to determine which will best meet organizational and user needs.
  • Understand how the emergence of XML Help, task panes, push versus pull delivery, and an integrated approach to user-support may impact traditional Help systems.

Effective as of Fall 2006

Related Programs

Designing and Writing Online Help (COMM 1260) is offered as a part of the following programs:

School of Business + Media

  1. Marketing Management - Customer Relationship Marketing
    Associate Certificate Part-time

School of Computing and Academic Studies

  1. Technical Writing
    Associate Certificate Part-time

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Programs and courses are subject to change without notice.