Find out more about our Firehead instructors: Jennifer Goode and Ben Woelk

 

At Firehead, we’re extremely proud of the exceptional quality authors we’ve gathered in our training centre. They are top names and thought leaders in their fields.

Ben Woelk and Jennifer Goode are our Fundamentals of modern technical communication course authors. Both are internationally recognised experts in technical communication and teaching – they’re both professors in the field!

Why is this course important?

This course introduces you to the field of TechComm (technical communication) and the processes, products, and styles used by practitioners in the field that you’ll need to create materials useful today and tomorrow. You’ll learn how to identify the appropriate project purpose and target audience (local or global) from subject matter experts (SMEs) and other organizational sources.

At the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Understand the purpose, goals, and products of TechComm
• Discuss the qualities of TechComm and the skills that make technical communicators successful in the field
• Uncover clues from SMEs and organizational sources that point to TechComm solutions
• Identify target audiences to create fully customized, usable solutions for local, national, and international impact

The course is designed for early-mid career technical communicators and for those who are entering technical communication as a profession, or for project managers who want to understand what a technical communicator contributes to their team.

How will this information help you five years from now?

Five years after taking this course, you’ll be leveraging technical communicator skills to produce higher quality work products that ensure your reader will be able to accomplish their goals. You’ll also be better at interviewing subject matter experts. And you’ll still be working from the founding principles you learned in our course.

Here’s a little bit about the authors

Ben Woelk, CISSP, CPTC, is Governance, Awareness, and Training manager in the Information Security Office at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), where he’s responsible for content strategy, security awareness, and program management. He teaches RIT courses in cybersecurity policy and law, technical writing, and introverts and leadership. His Hope for the Introvert Podcast shares conversations with and about introverted leaders, their strengths, and how they apply them in the workplace and other parts of life.

Ben is a Fellow and Past President of the Society for Technical Communication, He’s been a three-time guest editor for STC’s Intercom magazine and is a frequent conference presenter, including being a keynote for (TCUK), Conduit, and Interchange. Ben teaches STC courses on Introverts and Leadership and Cybersecurity Fundamentals for Technical Communicators, and offers virtual CPTC Foundation exam prep classes.

Ben is co-founder of Your Journey to Leadership, where he lends his experience in introverts and leadership and leadership development.

Jennifer Goode, PhD, CPTC, is the founder at Anypso, a consultancy that specializes in strategic learning systems, organizational change management, and people and performance measurement.

Jennifer has more than 20 years of experience in learning and development practice and has worked with a variety of clients–including those in tech, government, aviation, and higher ed–to provide targeted learning solutions with a focus on learner experience, measurable outcomes, and large-scale organizational change.

Over 16 years as a corporate trainer and higher ed instructor, Jennifer created hundreds of hours of training for thousands of learners. Due to the highly technical nature of these training materials, she relied heavily on her background in technical communication to provide the framework for effectively communicating technically accurate, action-driven information.

Jennifer is also a co-founder of Your Journey to Leadership and founder of Anypso Academy, where she lends her expertise to individual, group, and organizational development programming. She is a frequent presenter and workshop leader at national and international conferences.
In her spare time, Jennifer enjoys adventuring with her family—in the kitchen, in the garden, and on the road.

Here’s a little bit about the Fundamentals of modern technical communication course

Who is this course for?

Anyone interested in the most modern applications of the theory and practice of technical communication – from career changers, to upskillers, to department managers looking to understand the role, to beginners in the field looking to get in.