““Administration: The administration was very well organised. The enrolment and payment for the course went smoothly and the questions I had prior to enrolment were all answered very clearly. This enabled me to make the right decision regarding enrolling on the course. The arrangement of the reading material and the assignments was very clear on the CD-ROM. The instruction pages for each training pack were very useful and helped me to keep track of my progress throughout the EDL2D course.

Course Content: The layout of the course was excellent. The beginning of the course provided the basics of Technical Writing and then, moving through the course, the topics become more complex. The coverage was very wide and I feel that I now have a good all- round knowledge of the subjects that a Technical Author should know about. I felt the syllabus tests were very useful, as they enabled me to obtain a good understanding of Technical Authorship. They gave me the opportunity to really think about the different topics in detail. Going forward I will be using the course content to help me in my day-to-day job.

Tutorial Support: The tutorial support was excellent. My tutor Wilma Cowie was very supportive and provided good feedback when I did well and explained where I could improve. Grades were sent to me within 24 hours of submitting my assignments, which was excellent service. If for any reason Wilma was unable to mark my assignments, Stan would mark them and send me my grade. If I had questions regarding an assignment, Wilma would provide a clear answer, again within 24 hours of asking.

General Comments: I am very happy to have completed the EDL2D course. I feel that I have learnt a lot and can now move on to become a working Technical Author. I will be taking on the role of Technical Author at my company; the EDL2D course has given me the knowledge to be able to take on that role and I am looking forward to put in practice what I have learnt. I would like to thank Wilma and Stan for all their help and support for the duration of the course. They helped me to achieve excellent grades for the assignments.””

““Administration: The administration was excellent. From the day of enrolment to completion, I had no problems with the way the course was run. I was particularly impressed with the speed with which queries, and exercises sent for grading, were dealt with. Quite often, I received a response within a couple of hours, even at weekends. On the single occasion when I had to wait more than 24 hours for a grading, I was sent an e-mail explaining the reason, with an apology.

Course Content: I would have to say comprehensive. Having worked in an IT environment in the past, with a degree of responsibility for documentation, I had an idea of some of the requirements needed for successful authoring. However, I learnt many new concepts and practices that will be invaluable in both a job interview situation, where the extent of my knowledge can be demonstrated and, within the workplace, where the skills can be applied.

The exercises encouraged the use of skills and techniques taught in the study notes and, when appropriate, offered the opportunity for some creativity. Not all of the topics studied would be directly relevant to the modern working environment, for example, some aspects of printing processes. Nevertheless, these subjects were appropriate when considering an overall grounding and understanding of technical authorship.

Tutorial Support: Relevant, constructive, lucid and, like the administrative backup, timely. From my own experience, Stan McKerron’s enthusiasm for the subject and for the progress of his students’ is obvious and I thank him for his support.

General Comments: As previously mentioned, I have had some previous experience of authoring in a software environment but, in addition to filling large gaps in my knowledge, the EDL2D course offered a number of new and very useful concepts. The techniques used in note making and note taking, the tools used to summarise, the importance of the synopsis and checklists used in the editing process, are just a few of the subjects that will be very relevant in the workplace.”

“Administration: The principles of course administration were clearly laid out in the preliminary information pack and were easy to understand. I preferred…

Course Content: The course content gave me an excellent overview of technical authorship for mechanical, electrical and electronic products… I have already found myself helping developers to prepare text for the human/machine interface for my company’s latest generation of electronically-controlled level meters.

Tutorial Support: I cannot find fault with the tutorial support. I particularly appreciated your encouragement and forthright comments. A good mix of the two made me want to work harder and excel at the work you set for me.

General Comments: I understand that there is only so much that can be learnt in approx. 300 hours of self-study and that technical authorship is a wide field. After I have had a short time to recover, I might be interested in further study. I have one question on this subject: why don’t you advertise your Simplified English and Software Authorship courses at appropriate points in the EDL2D course material? You could explain what points they cover and why further study may be useful to certain students. I’m sure that many will come back for more, if they have appreciated your training methods as much as I have.”

“Administration: Excellent. The course material arrived promptly and the ReadMe First file was a great introduction to the course.

Course Content: Excellent. I shall be keeping the EDL8T CD-ROM with the study notes to hand as a reference when I’m writing Simplified English and other documentation in the future.

Tutorial Support: Excellent. Very fast turnaround. Always ready to answer questions and queries. Very helpful when I was getting stuck on how to approach some of the questions. The tutorial responses were encouraging and constructive.

General Comments: I have really enjoyed this course, and have already started to apply what I have learned to the Simplified English that I write at work. More generally, the Simplified English course has really made me think more about how my use of language and choice of words affects the readability of a document.”

“Administration: I generally thought that the administration side of things was very good indeed…

Course Content: I enjoyed the course. The modules were interesting, fair and contained the correct amount of information…

Tutorial Support: Support was very good; my course work was returned promptly.

General Comments: I think that you should state that students should purchase a copy of the BS4884 standard (for Technical Publications). I know that you strongly recommend that students should obtain a copy of this standard, and that it is possible to get a copy from your local library (and photocopy it for educational purposes). I contacted my local library and they told me that I could only copy up to10% of the standard. I think it would help if you specified at the beginning of the course that it is a pre-requisite. If a student does not wish buy it, it is up to them. But, at least they know at the beginning of the course and can decide whether or not they can afford it.

I hope these comments are not seen as negative in any way. I thoroughly enjoyed doing the course and I would certainly recommend it to other people.”

“Administration

Excellent; all of the exercises were returned promptly… and all relevant course updates were despatched swiftly. Also, there was no delay in answering questions.

Course Content

Very interesting, practical and clearly explained. The general format is sound and easy to organise for permanent reference. All of the course exercises were useful and challenging.

Tutorial Support

Excellent throughout; the ESTON tutors were always friendly and helpful. All of my course work was conscientiously evaluated and pertinent advice was always offered on how to improve.

General Comments

This is first-class training from a knowledgeable and well-organised provider. I would not hesitate to recommend ESTON Training to friends, family or work colleagues – in fact, I already have done!”

“Administration: Excellent – no problems at all; very efficient.

Course Content: The EDL2D Technical Authorship Diploma course actually covered more subjects than I had at first imagined. I enjoyed the assignments that I could relate to with my engineering background more, but I could see the distinct benefits of all the other assignments. I can honestly say that distance learning is definitely the way to do it!

Tutorial Support: Again, excellent – I always received prompt, fair and accurate responses to my assignments. The tutorial support went “beyond the call of duty”. I cannot thank the tutors enough for their patience, understanding and kind words of encouragement.

General Comments: Having spent more than thirty years in industry as a maintenance electrician, I am presently employed as a Technical Author with Komatsu (preparing Parts Books for large and medium-sized excavators).”

“I have found the course very useful and I have been able to immediately apply what I have learnt in the office. No other course I am aware of treats the subject at such a practical level and supplies such pertinent advice on how to run a technical publications department…I found the tutors to have such a passion for and a mastery of the subject. I cannot fault their teaching skills and availability to help me progress through the course.”

“I have been a student with ESTON Training for three months… Each module that I have completed has been very well presented and laid out… I have found the level and standard of tutor instruction to be excellent. Well done! I have also found my tutor extremely helpful... This course is enjoyable. Many thanks.”

“I thought they (the course exercises) were well designed, and each one was mentally stimulating.”

“Thank you so much for the prompt response and the positive comments. I am now working regularly on the course and I must admit I am thoroughly enjoying it. I will take your advice and spend some time looking through magazines to see how they present information. Re the exams – it is years since I took an exam but I must admit I usually enjoy them – providing I have done my revising of course. I shall look forward to them!”