Category: SAS

If repeats are sweet, then the SAS Education e-Learning Technology team is running on a sugar high that would make Willy Wonka (and my young daughters) envious. 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.

In the e-learning world, that feat is like chasing an ice cream sundae with chocolate cake and a hearty sampling of sugar-coated Saturday-morning breakfast cereal. It doesn’t get much sweeter. The STC, a membership organization that dedicates itself to advancing the arts and sciences of technical communication, is the largest group of its kind in the world.

Last year, the e-course SAS Programming Introduction: Basic Concepts won STC’s Excellence Award, proving, as Vice President for Education Larry Stewart commented, that the e-learning team “continues to set the bar high for this type of technical communication.”

Translating the engaging style of a traditional classroom instructor to electronic form is certainly no easy task, but SAS Instructional Technology Manager Nancy Goodyear’s group designed an effective way to transport color, verve and functionality to even the grayest of cubicles with a dynamic computer course that uses audio, Flash movie and demos to present the training. STC judges were particularly impressed with the course’s “exceptional” organization and navigation and its ability to engage the learner through interactive questions, practices and quizzes.

Do you need more proof that the SAS e-Learning team is the cream of the crop? Nope, probably not. But here’s the cherry on top, all the same: To advance to the international competition, the course first had to distinguish itself from all other entries in the remarkably challenging STC Carolina Chapter Online Competition – which includes many Research Triangle Park peers. It did, winning top honors and Best of Show there.

Goodyear said we can expect more new e-courses in the near future, and that’s (dare we say it?) sweet news for SAS users who love the convenience of e-Learning. Have you taken a SAS e-course recently? Tell us what you liked about it.

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We’re taking a break from posting for most of August. We’ll be back in a month with new examples, including R- and SAS-applicable tricks and tools.Please drop us any ideas in the comments or by e-mail. We love feedback of any kind.

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