Solution Grove - A New Type of Software Manual

(photo by Moodle Teaching Techniques by William Rice)

I love the preface to William Rice's book "Moodle Teaching Techniques".

Rice says,

"While most [software manuals] do a good job of telling you how to perform tasks, that is, what buttons to push and menus to choose, they often leave the two most important questions unanswered:

What effect will doing this have on your audience's experience?

When would you want to do this?"

We are getting very close to having an integrated Moodle+ELGG+LAMS product and I'm realizing that we will need to write exactly this type of manual and/or training. As Rice puts it, "we need to combine 'keystroke-and-click' directions with advice on how to make the best use of the solutions and what effects it will have on student's experiences."

I wonder if there is a book in our future?....