Agenda

Webinar instructions will be emailed 24-48 business hours before the date of the webinar.
Please log into the webinar 10-15 minutes before start time.


Wednesday, July 22, 2026
8:30 am – 5:00 pm CDT


Agenda:
Presented by Dr. Mark T. Decker

Planning, Designing and Creating Documents  

  • Writing as an AI-assisted design process
    • The writing process as engineering
    • The impact of AI on the writing process
    • Best practices for AI-assisted documents
  • Defining purpose and audience
    • Audience types
    • Identifying and prioritizing a document’s audience
    • Adapting the document for audience needs and expertise
  • Designing documents
    • Adopting an appropriate tone
    • Using effective sentence construction to communicate with your audience
    • Creating documents that meet the needs of multiple audiences

Writing Documents (Continued) 

  • Designing documents
    • Page layout and design considerations
    • Using sentence variety (emphasis, parallel structure, subordination) to connect with your audience
    • Grammar, style, and audience-appropriate documents

Writing Documents (Continued) 

  • Designing documents, continued
    • Visually appealing writing
    • Displaying data and visual information
    • Creating integrated visuals
    • Using common document sections to establish the order of content in document front matter, body, and end matter
  • Best Practices in correspondence and technical cocuments
    • Principles of persuasive and informative correspondence
    • Document types specifications, reports, instructions, and proposals

Document Elements  

  • Best practices in document formats
  • Validating content
  • Checking accuracy, completeness, and effectiveness
  • Checking unity and coherence

 

Webinar Instructions 
 
All attendees must log-on through their own email – attendees may not watch together if they wish to earn continuing education credit. HalfMoon Education Inc. must be able to prove attendance if either the attendee or HalfMoon Education Inc. is audited. 

Certificates of completion can be downloaded in PDF form upon passing a short quiz. A link to the quiz will be sent to each qualifying attendee immediately after the webinar. The certificate can be downloaded from the Results page of the quiz upon scoring 80% or higher. 

Webinars are presented via GoToWebinar, an easy-to-use application that can be run on most systems and tablets. Instructions and login information will be provided in an email sent close to the date of the webinar. It is highly recommended that you download, install and test the application before the webinar begins by clicking on the link in the email. 

GoToWebinar App requirements:  
Windows 10 or higher, macOS 11 or higher, Linux, Google Chrome OS 

Web Browser:  
Google Chrome (most recent 3 versions) 
Microsoft Edge (most recent 3 versions) 

Internet connection: 1 Mbps or better 

Hardware:  2GB of RAM (minimum), 4GB or more of RAM (recommended) 

For more information, visit the Support section at www.gotowebinar.com 

Credits

Engineers
7.0 PDHs

PIE - Practicing Institute of Engineering
7.0 PDHs

Architects
7.0 CE Hours

AIA - American Institute of Architects
7.0 Elective LUs

 

Continuing Education Information

This webinar is open to the public and is designed to qualify for 7.0 PDHs for professional engineers and 7.0 continuing education hours for licensed architects in all states that allow this learning method. Please refer to specific state rules to determine eligibility.

HalfMoon Education is an approved continuing education sponsor for engineers in Florida (Provider License No: CEA362), Indiana (License No. CE21700059), Maryland, and New Jersey (Approval No. 24GP00049300). HalfMoon Education is deemed an approved continuing education sponsor for New York engineers and architects via its registration with the Practicing Institute of Engineering (PIE) (Regulations of the Commissioner §68.14(i)(2) and §69.6(i)(2)). Other states do not preapprove continuing education providers or courses.

This webinar has been evaluated for compliance with NYS Mandatory Continuing Education requirements for professional engineers and architects by the Practicing Institute of Engineering, and has been approved for 7.0 PDHs.

The American Institute of Architects Continuing Education System has approved this course for 7.0 Elective LUs (Sponsor No. J885). Only full participation is reportable to the AIA/CES.

Attendance will be monitored, and attendance certificates will be available after the webinar for those who attend the entire course and score a minimum 80% on the quiz that follows the course (multiple attempts allowed).

*On-Demand Credits*

The preceding credit information only applies to the live presentation. This course in an on-demand format is not pre-approved by any licensing boards and may not qualify for the same credits; please consult your licensing board(s) to ensure that a structured, asynchronous learning format is appropriate. The following pre-approvals may be available for the on-demand format upon request:

7.0 Elective LUs (AIA)

Speakers

Dr. Mark Decker, PhD

Professor and Department Chair in the Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania’s English Department

Dr. Decker teaches in support of Commonwealth University’s Professional Writing minor. He is Professor and Chair of the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Writing at Commonwealth. Dr. Decker has PhD and MA degrees in English from The Pennsylvania State University (2001, 1997) and he graduated summa cum laude in English from Utah State University (1995).

While an undergraduate, Dr. Decker worked for several years as a staff writer for Aerotech News and Review, an aerospace and defense industry trade newspaper published in Lancaster, California. During graduate school, Dr. Decker was a member of the Leonhard Center for Technical Writing Initiative, a collaboration between Penn State’s Department of English and College of Engineering designed to promote an exchange of ideas between technical writing instructors and the scientific and engineering communities. Dr. Decker also taught Business Writing, Technical Writing, and an Advanced Technical Writing course that enrolled graduate students from technical and scientific disciplines.

After graduate school, Dr. Decker spent four years at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, where he taught Technical Writing in support of that school’s major in Technical Communication and served as the advisor for the student chapter of the Society for Technical Communication. Dr. Decker has given presentations at several national and international conferences and has published both a book and a co-edited book as well as several scholarly articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia chapters.

AIA Info

AIA Provider Statement: 

HalfMoon Education Inc. is a registered provider of AIA-approved continuing education under Provider Number J885. All registered AIA/CES Providers must comply with the AIA Standards for Continuing Education Programs. Any questions or concerns about this provider of learning program may be sent to AIA/CES (cesupport@aia.org or (800) AIA 3837, Option 3). 

This learning program is registered with AIA/CES for continuing professional education. As such, it does not include content that may be deemed or construed to be an approval or endorsement by the AIA of any material of construction or any method or manner of handling, using, distributing, or dealing in any material or product. 

AIA continuing education credit has been reviewed and approved by AIA/CES. Learners must complete the entire learning program to receive continuing education credit. AIA continuing education Learning Units earned upon completion of this course will be reported to AIA/CES for AIA members. Certificates of Completion for both AIA members and non-AIA members are available upon request. 

Course Title:  Technical Writing Workshop for Design Professionals

Delivery Method: Live Online 

Course Description: This 7.0-hour course is designed to improve architects’ and engineers’ writing skills, which is a valuable, but often overlooked, communication skill, since it lacks the back-and-forth nature of spoken communication. Miscommunication in written exchanges can lead to design and construction errors.

Learning Objectives: 

Learning Objective 1: Learners will be able to plan and design written documents from identifying the document’s audience and writing for that audience and/or multiple audiences.

Learning Objective 2: Learners will be able to adopt appropriate writing style and tone, use effective sentence structure, use sentence variety, and ensure clarity in their written documents to engage the audience and communicate clearly.

Learning Objective 3: Learners will be able to create visually appealing documents with effective page layout and organization.

Learning Objective 4: Learners will be able to edit documents for grammar, style, accuracy, completeness, and effectiveness, and they will be able to follow best practices for business letters, memos and electronic mail, reports, instructions, and proposals.

LUs: 7.0

LU Type: LU|Elective

Prerequisites:  None

Advance Preparation: None 

Program Level: Intermediate 

Course Expiration Date:  05/04/2029

Complaint Resolution Policy: 

Complaints regarding this course can be emailed to fchapman@halfmoonseminars.org or by calling (715) 835-5900. A HalfMoon Education representative will respond within 72 hours to resolve the complaint, which will include, but not limited to, access to another CE activity at no or reduced cost or a full or partial refund. Each instance will be resolved on a case-by-case situation. 

Streamable MP4/PDF Price: $339.00

Add to Cart

7 Knowledge Points

Purchase this course using Knowledge Points by clicking the button below.

(Account login required. Knowledge Points can only be redeemed by the owner of the points. Cannot be combined with any other forms of payment)

Log in to redeem Knowledge Points

Learn more about Knowledge Points.