Interpretive Writing Course - e-LIVE
Our interpretive writing course is a college level course
in developing interpretive text/copy for museum exhibits, interpretive panels,
AV scripts and interpretive tour guides as well as other interpretive writing
assignments. You can start the course at any time an complete the course at
your own pace.
First, check
out my YouTube video about the course: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhJhAeYT0xo
How does
e-LIVE work? e-LIVE means that unlike
other internet courses you can chat with the course instructor when you need to
via e-mail, SKYPE or phone. Like a
college course, each unit is set up as if it were part of a semester college
course with each unit being a lecture during the semester, with the exception
that you can work as fast or slow as you need to.
For each Unit:
- You'll receive a copy of our new text book
"The Interpretive Writers Handbook".
- You'll
be given course content to read and writing assignments to be submitted for each unit.
- JV will
provide you with reading assignments, e-text books and reference articles as part
of the course. That you keep for your library.
- You'll
be given writing assignments for each unit which you'll send to John for
review, comments and writing coaching. You'll be able to talk with John about
each assignment via SKYPE, or by e-mail or phone. Thus the e-LIVE opportunity.
John will be your instructor and writing coach who you can talk with at any
time about your assignments. Remember that John is in Michigan (Eastern Time
Zone), so it's best to e-mail John to set up a time to chat.
- When
you've completed each course unit you'll be sent the next unit for the course.
Again, you'll be given writing assignments, YouTube video and materials for
that unit for assignments to submit to John for review, comments and writing
coaching.
- When
you've completed the eight units you'll be awarded a Certificate of Completion
and 2 CEU (Continuing Education Unit) credits.
Additionally,
you can work on writing assignment for actual projects you may be working on -
museum labels, marketing materials or other interpretive writing projects. That
is the benefit of e-LIVE - we are flexible in designing the course to meet your
real-world needs.
The
estimated completion time of the course is about 20 hours - and again, you can work at
your own pace.
What are the units?
Unit One - What is "interpretation"
anyway? What makes the writing "interpretive" instead of just informational?
-
Review of Tilden's Interpretive Principles
- How to
use Tilden's principles in basic text writing.
- Examples
of interpretive text using Tilden's Interpretive Principles.
Unit Two - Planning for Interpretive Writing
Projects.
- The
model of interpretation - planning for developing interpretive text/copy.
* Writing
to illustrate an interpretive theme.
*
Developing and writing to accomplish interpretive objectives:
+ Learning
objectives
+
Behavioral objectives
+
Emotional Objectives
* Who is
your audience - writing to connect with different learning styles.
* Where
will the writing appear? (Interpretive Panels, Exhibits, leaflets, web sites?).
* Time,
energy and costs for writing interpretive text/copy.
*
Implementation - getting ready for the final copy.
*
Evaluation and pre-testing your copy.
Unit Three - Tangibles, Intangibles and Universal
Concepts.
This
unit will explore the use of tangibles, intangibles and universal concepts in
your interpretive writing. We will provide examples of each in handout materials.
Using these concepts is how you'll really be able to connect with and relate to
your audience. A house is a tangible, a home is a intangible for example. This is an important unit in learning how to have text relate on a more emotional level with your reader.
Unit Four - Writing with feeling and imagination. In
this unit we'll look at using a variety of writing basics in creating really
wonderful interpretive copy.
*
Active verbs
* Colorful
nouns
* Personal
words
* Powerful
adjectives
*
Metaphors
*Analogies
* Similes
Unit Five - Writing for Museum Exhibits. In this unit
we'll look at how the label copy needs to work with the graphics and artifacts
in the exhibits as well as be interesting and interpretive. For museum exhibits, we try to limit text to 50 words of main text, and 50 words or less for 2nd level text. More about text research too.
* Writing
toward exhibit objectives.
* Writing
layers (headlines, main copy text, sub-copy text, captions.
* Copy
point size and fonts for museum exhibits.
* Say it
in 50 words (Provoke, Relate and Reveal).
* When a
word becomes a picture.
Unit 6 - Writing for interpretive panels and wayside
exhibits.
This unit will follow many of the concepts in the exhibit label copy text
writing. Writing for interpretive panels needs to be theme and objective based
as well. It also needs to reflect the interpretive plan for the total site the
panels will be located in, contributing to the total site interpretive theme
presentation. For outdoor panels - try to have only 100 words or less of copy. Again research supports this.
Unit 7 - Writing for self-guiding trail or tour
leaflets.
One of the most common writing assignments is developing copy for self-guiding
trails or self-guiding walking tours. This unit will look at developing one
story illustrated with 7-10 stops.
Unit 8 - Writing to accomplish management objectives. This can
include traditional issues such as marketing issues, safety rules and
regulations, and related management issues unique to your organization.
Projects will be individualized for your particular issues.
Course Costs and Registration.
The
cost for the estimated 20 hours training with live interaction with the instructor is
$200.00 USD.
You can
pay via credit card or Pay Pal. You can also pay by check or purchase order to
bill your agency.
Here is how to register for the course:
Go to the
course web site page and scroll down to the bottom to the "Pay Now"
button. Click it and pay the course
tuition. When you've done that I will
send you the first Unit and you can start the course right away.
In you
have any questions at all, please feel free to ask.
John
Veverka
Director,
HITC
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