Process
I created this job aid in Confluence in the following five steps:
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Identify the audience.
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Define the scope.
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Outline the document.
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Write the first draft.
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Add visuals, links, formatting, etc.
Note: Ideally, I would have completed two additional steps - get feedback and revise the document - but I left my position at Florida Atlantic University before I could personally do so. And, if I hadn't also been the subject-matter expert in this scenario, then there would have been an additional step - gathering information - after defining the scope but before outlining the document.
First, I identified the audience. This job aid was intended for new and recent hires on the media team at Florida Atlantic University's Center for Online and Continuing Education. I figured that a new hire would read through the aid before creating their first 360° VR experience and later, as a recent hire, reference the aid as they created their first few 360° VR experiences.
Then, I defined the scope. This was going to be an all-in-one guide that covered the process of creating 360° VR experiences from beginning to end, from pre-production through post-production. I knew I should also include an introduction to the concept, terminology, and goals associated with 360° VR experiences, as this might be an employee's first experience with such media. And, for the post-production section, I knew that CenarioVR had their own extensive "ELB Learning Knowledge Base" of editing guides and that I only needed to cover the general editing process and some important specific details.
With the audience identified and scope defined, I outlined the document. As I thought about the process and steps, I added headings and subheadings and then added a few keywords and phrases for each section.
After the outline was complete, I wrote the document, turning the keywords and phrases into complete sentences. I read through and edited the text a dozen times over the course of a couple weeks.
Finally, I added visuals, links, formatting, and other elements. For example, if a sentence or paragraph was of particular importance, I turned it into a "Panel", a Confluence element, to help that bit of text stand out on the page. Also, in instances where I could add a visual example, I added images - screenshots from our existing 360° VR experiences.
Takeaways
This was my first experience creating a job aid and using Confluence. I enjoyed how easy it was to create a polished and detailed document in Confluence. That being said, I'm sure I underutilized the software due to time constraints and lack of familiarity. Given more time, I'm confident I could have found additional ways to use Confluence to improve the job aid.
There are a few more things I would have done with more time including annotating the images I added to make the visual examples even clearer and creating and linking to video tutorials.
And, again, after the fifth step I normally would have asked for feedback from my colleagues and supervisor and incorporated their feedback via several revisions. Feedback and revision, especially feedback from those who would be using the job aid, is a very important step but I ran out of time before I left my position.
© 2024 by Emily Rose Hearne