I didn’t intend to dismiss online workshops or classes.

As I mentioned, many of the results when searching for “web writing classes” in Google were relevant and credible, but none were from educational institutions.

I only intended to make a comment about the relevancy of writing courses at educational institutions and to call attention to something – from a quick amount of research – that they might be missing.

But please don’t dismiss online courses as a lesser option. After 10 years of teaching web content writing in universities, at polytech and in groups face-to-face, I now concentrate on online courses for professional development. (Web site: http://www.contented.com).

Why online courses? Because as you say, these skills are essential for anyone in any job that requires writing. People write web content as part of their “real” job, and a university course is overkill for most.

Also, most of our clients enrol 10-100 staff for our 10-hour diploma, usually when redeveloping a web site or intranet. Mainstream courses won’t help in this typical business situation, which requires the immediate training of a large group of writers on the job.

Of course I love it when universities and polytechs offer full-blown professional courses! But they are meeting a different need.