The concept of ‘putting the pen to paper’ for me, was – still is – an irresistible proposition. And, a very charming one at that.
I used to reflect, how things have become so simple these days! Do I feel like writing something? And, want the whole world to read what I have written? All I have to do is, just open my laptop, translate my thoughts into words and ‘publish’ them. That’s it. Mission accomplished!
In a way – In every way, to be precise - this charm of writing is what has brought me around into ‘Instructional Design’.
But, why ‘Instructional Design’, of all things? Why not? It’s like, as they say, any craft could manifest itself through different mediums. Writing for ‘Instructional Design’ is one such.
Awright! Sounds great!
Now, on to the practical side of the whole ‘charm’! Getting into the attire of an instructional designer and writing, is not the same thing as my writing whatever I feel like.
In addition to keeping in mind a few specific things while handling this craft, I need to also arm myself with a set of language tools. These help me in chiseling my writing, for the target audience I’m designing the courses for.
‘Chicago Manual of Styles’ (CMoS) and ‘Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications’ (MSTP) are two such.
A couple of days ago, I found myself hearing this question coming from within. ‘Why not share some of the insights of one of these tools – MSTP - with my fellow instructional designers?”
And, that’s how this blog piece is coming about.
Maybe, I should pause here, considering this as an introduction to a long, interesting study into this aspect of the language.
Stay tuned! Will be back with a few installments of notes on MSTP.
(Nirmal Ranganathan, Instructional Designer, C2 Workshop)
