Writing for Instructional Designers (1.5CEU)

Fall 2022

ITEC 9820

This introductory course gives working and aspiring instructional designers a grounding in the basics of multimedia scriptwriting. It's based on the premise that the better you are at writing scripts, the better you'll be at all other kinds of instructional writing. In the course, we'll focus on the process of writing script treatments, the vehicles we use as scriptwriters to conceive and shape our visions for multimedia pieces, then formalize them for review and approval. A worksheet developed specifically for the course will help you gather your ideas and guide you to writing a script treatment and draft script for an instructional multimedia component of your choosing. Along the way, we'll explore many aspects of professional instructional scriptwriting practice, including: the essential steps of the scriptwriting process, the defining characteristics and production possibilities of three major presentational forms (demonstration, documentary, and dramatization), and the various ways you may combine images and words to create the meanings you intend.

Course objectives:
-- To improve your ability to develop effective scripts for instructional multimedia components of various types
-- To improve your ability to evaluate the skills of instructional scriptwriters.