A Sweet Reward: Multimedia e-Course Earns Highest Honors in STC International Judging
Society for Technical Communication judges laud Education team's work on multimedia e-course as "exceptional"
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It's a sweet repeat for the SAS Education e-Learning Technology team - this time, with a rather special icing on the cake. Not only did it just earn honors from the Society for Technical Communication's (STC) international competition for the second consecutive year; it took home the highest accolade possible: an Award of Distinguished Technical Communication, for the multimedia e-Course SAS Programming 2: Data Manipulation Techniques.
Last year, the e-course SAS Programming Introduction: Basic Concepts won STC's Excellence Award. The team's latest winning e-course uses audio, Flash movies and demos to dynamically present the training. Interactive questions, practices and quizzes help to assess and reinforce knowledge. Among the many benefits of this new series is that the training material covers all of the content found in the extremely popular instructor-based classroom and Live Web courses. Keeping the content as engaging as an instructor-led course was a challenge, said SAS e-developer Karen Feldman, but she added that it's also the most rewarding part of the job. "We try to make the content interesting and understandable, with appealing concepts that illustrate the SAS code we're teaching," said Feldman, who served as the project manager for the winning effort. "That's what really makes our courses stand out. And we have a very rich set of assets with which to present the material, from graphics to audio." In their report, STC judges cited the course's "exceptional" organization and navigation and were impressed with its ability to successfully engage the learner. Nancy Goodyear, Instructional Technology Manager, praised her team for this latest accomplishment. "These new e-Courses produce high-quality multimedia training options, and our staff has worked diligently to make them accessible, convenient and functional," Goodyear said. "We're so gratified that STC has chosen to recognize all that hard work with its highest international honor. The courses have proven to be so popular with our customers, and they're also a great way to prepare to become a SAS Global Certification Professional. We have introduced seven new e-Courses in the last year-and-a-half and are currently developing JMP and Statistics courses." To be eligible for the international competition, an entry must first win in its chapter competition; this year, the SAS team repeated its Distinguished Award and Best of Show honors at the Carolina Chapter Online Communication Competition to advance. "Our e-Learning team continues to set the bar high for this type of technical communication," said Larry Stewart, Senior Director for Education at SAS. "The Carolinas are a tough region to make your mark; the competition is excellent. The fact that Nancy's team has distinguished itself not only regionally, but at an international level, is just remarkable. It is truly no small achievement." The STC is an individual membership organization dedicated to advancing the arts and sciences of technical communications and the largest organization of its type in the world. Each year, STC's awards program recognizes products that reflect its high standards for technical communication. Its International Online Communication Competition honors those technical communicators whose online documents clearly fulfill the intended purpose, possess superior quality, successfully integrate and organize content, and use the available media and technologies of the platform to the best advantage. Learn more about SAS e-Learning. |
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