The Office

Sunday - July 10 - Update on grades

2011-07-10T10:26:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update; I know many of you are quite anxious to see your grades.

I am trying to wrap up grading on all of your outstanding projects today. WebCampus is cranking quite slowly and really resisting my efforts to download, save, or re-attach documents. (That is I can VIEW but not download to the desktop to comment on your documents.)

Thank you for your patience. I will do my level best to get everything in the gradebook by the end of the day, so I can file final grades through MYUNLV in the morning.

Dr. S

Week 5 Day 1

2011-07-05T07:59:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone --

Welcome to the home stretch. We have a few days of hard work left, and this is a work day for me as it for most of you.

I had some travel delays yesterday, so I'm working my way home today. I'm likely to have spotty internet access. I'll upload your Intro Memo grades ASAP. Grades are done, WebCampus is just making me jump through hoops to access your documents.

My next priority will be to provide feedback on Final Report drafts for anyone who has posted drafts. I'll get that back to you by mid-day Wednesday.

Your mission this week is to wrap up your Final Reports for the group project and get those job documents done. I believe the deadlines for final submission of work are listed as 5 p.m. on Friday. I'll take those items due on Friday all the way up until midnight without a late penalty.

Dr. S

Merging Documents?

2011-06-30T17:58:00.000-07:00

We had lots of problems merging documents on Friday. If you're having trouble getting that to work in Word following the directions on our handout, try following the directions under Help for your version of Word.

In Word 2007, you'll have to search for the topic Where is the Insert File Command? (One of the top least useful changes in new word, if you ask me.) In older versions of Word, you should be able to just look for Insert File; you'll need to follow the instructions for inserting section breaks.

This is a total pain, I agree, but it's one of the most valuable things you can learn to do when you're drafting a team-written project in Word; it will save you time when you compile drafts of your final report. If the Word thing just won't work for you, try saving your documents as .pdf files and merging them into a single document; worst case scenario, send them to me as a zip file.

Week 4 Wednesday

2011-06-29T06:44:00.000-07:00

Good Morning,

I hope to have Introductory Memos back to you by the end of the day. I'm having a bit of trouble with browser compatibility and Web Campus this week, and it's slowing me down just a bit. (WebCampus insists I sign in with my ID and password multiple times in order to download your attachments. Kind of a pain.) Overall, many of you still need to do a better job with introductions, conclusions, and – most of all – using multiple short, succinct paragraphs in every section. So, that's a lesson learned from the memo assignment that you can apply to your work going forward.

Audience, Purpose and Context: Recommendation Report
Remember, your primary deliverable for the International Project is a Recommendation Report. You are not creating any kind of workshop or travel guide or documents for employees. You are only making recommendations to the company as to the kinds of information that they should gather to help prepare their employees for the move.

A note about formatting your Final Report: You should use the final report template as your base. The other materials are separate documents that are included with the final report. In other words, if you were submitting the Final Report as a hard copy, all of the materials would be presented in one folder, even if they are saved as separate files electronically. Since you are required to submit your materials electronically for this class, your electronic submission is no different. All of the materials are submitted as one file even if they are separate documents. If you're having trouble with the file merge process, you may submit your final report in a zip file if you wish.

I'll have family obligations out of state this weekend and will not have internet access from Friday morning until Sunday evening. Practically, what this means is I won't be able to grade anything you turn in on Friday until Sunday evening. Thus, if you need extra time to get anything due this week turned in, you can submit it up until 11:59 p.m. Sunday with no late penalty.

I’ve decided to give everyone until Tuesday to submit a draft of their Final Report to me for response. If you can get me drafts by noon on Tuesday, I can return them to you on Wednesday morning. That will, technically, give you three full days to work on the revisions, since it’s not due until Friday night. The more complete the draft you submit to me, the easier the final revisions will be.

Once again, you can submit separate documents of your Final Report to the Peer Review space, but you probably should get the formatting correct from the beginning and offer a single file for peer review. Just a reminder, that there is a single peer review space for the entire class for the final report. I encourage you to share your draft, look at drafts posted by other teams, and offer feedback to other teams. Seeing how other groups are approaching this writing problem will be incredibly helpful.

Have a great day!

Julie

Week 4 Day 1

2011-06-27T09:38:00.000-07:00

Good Morning,

I hope that you all had a productive weekend. I hope to have all Introductions Projects graded by late in the day on Tuesday or early on Wednesday.

This week is quite busy again. Since next week is the last week of the session, we need to get a lot done this week so that everyone will have time to finish up next week.

Job Project
If you haven't already submitted first drafts of your job project to your peer review group, you might want to do that soon. You can submit any or all of the four documents.

International Project
This is a critical time for your group project, so keep working hard. You all need to finish the revisions on the Research Design Plan and you all should be starting to put your Recommendation Report together. This is a difficult and time-consuming process, so get started early and revise often.

By Friday at the latest, you'll also want to submit a first draft of your Recommendation Report to your peer review space. Remember, this is a first draft, so don’t worry if all the content is not there. You should, however, have it formatted correctly and have all of the required sections in place, even if you don’t have all of the content.

In fact, at this stage, if you're missing content, it's helpful to pencil in the names of the people responsible for completing each section. Who's doing the research? Drafting the section? Developing any needed visuals?

You should have the beginnings of Front Matter material, a formatted report, and Back Matter material.

What's due Friday
Your team's final Research Design Plan is due in the Assignment Dropbox on Friday.

Your Faux Pas Case documents are due on Friday. Once again, please put all of the documents in one file. If you try to submit them separately, they will be returned ungraded. See the separate blog entry on how to merge documents if you're having trouble.

Good luck with the rest of the week.

Dr. S

Tips: Faux Pas Case

2011-06-27T09:35:00.000-07:00

Here are a few general comments about the Faux Pas Case that you all should pay attention to:

The introduction of any memo needs to set the context for the memo, state the purpose, and preview the memo, especially the internal document for the case project. Similarly, any conclusion you write needs to summarize, offer to answer any questions the reader might have, and provide an open avenue for communication.

The first part of the memo should describe the situation so that everyone understands the problem in the same way. In other words, the background section is important in that it establishes the situation so that there are no misunderstandings and so all of the details are out in the open.

The rest of the memo needs to outline possible solutions and then make an argument for the best solution. Each of the options needs to be discussed in detail in terms of both strengths and weaknesses. You need to convince your supervisors that you have carefully considered all possible options before selecting the one that you feel is the most appropriate. You should include a discussion of your plan to revise Nestor’s letter and get him on board. Remember, the key to this memo is that you SHOW your boss that you have thought about this problem in great detail and that you have made an INFORMED decision.

The key to revising Nestor’s letter is to write something that will solve the existing problem without creating new problems for the parties involved.

What's the difference between a Recommendation and a Finding?

2011-06-27T09:27:00.000-07:00

A couple groups have asked about what goes in the Findings section of the final report...

In the recommendations section, you make clear brief recommendations about what the company should do (in terms of preparing employees to go oversees).

In the findings section, you present the results of your research. Even here, you don't just throw in everything you looked at. Instead you tell the client about how the research you did supports your recommendations.

Say, for example, that up in the recommendations section you recommended the client prepare employees for the language differences by having them go to Berlitz for two weeks.

In the Findings section, you would tell the client what you found out about the language barrier and the problems it causes. You would also tell them how you arrived at the recommendation to send employees to Berlitz.

In my pretend example, it would be something like this...

Our research showed us that English is the official business language in Japan (cite source). However, SOURCE advises that if employees make any effort at all to speak the native language -- no matter how poorly -- that effort goes a long way toward ensuring positive personal relationships with co-workers and associates. We examined the costs and benefits of three language training options (describe them in some small detail), and recommended sending students to Berlitz for two weeks because it (SOURCE) shows Berlitz students learn more vocabulary, more quickly, and are happier with the outcome than people using the other options.

Week 3 Thursday

2011-06-23T07:28:00.000-07:00

Some notes to keep you on track as the week winds down...

Faux Pas Case

As you're working on those Faux Pas drafts, feel free to brainstorm approaches and share drafts with other people in class. The memo to Nestor is especially hard to do well, and having someone else check your draft for appropriate tone is always a good idea. In addition, seeing how other people are approaching this tricky situation might help you refine your own approach.

Taking a look at the Evaluation criteria on the Evaluation page in the module as well as the peer review worksheets on the Peer Review page might help you evaluate and revise your work as well.

International Project – Progress Report and Research Design Plan

I'm doing some feedback on Research Design Plan drafts this morning, so check your mailboxes later today.

Remember, we're NOT doing the Progress Reports; I'm checking in with teams via the discussion board instead. So, that's one less document you have to produce.

If your team hasn't started doing research, you'll want to hop on that soon. The work you’ve done on the RDP so far should be enough to get you going on the research you need to do in order to pull together the first draft of your Recommendation Report. The feedback I'll give you should help you improve the RDP as a product so you end up with a better product, but you should be able to put your research game plan into action immediately, without waiting for my feedback.

You'll want to be able to pull together a first (probably sketchy!) draft of your final report by the middle of next week.

Job Project

You’ll notice that I’ve created a Peer Review space for your Job Project drafts. You might want to post preliminary ideas or drafts to that space by Sunday.

Your first step for the Job Project is to locate a real job listing or advertisement for a job that you could apply to within the coming year. Your best bet for doing well on this project is to choose your job ad carefully. I know it seems like a job ad that is kind of vague and non-specific seems like a better bet than one that is quite detailed and fleshed out.

My advice to you, stay away from blind ads on places like Monster.com. Check out the job and internship listing through the UNLV Career Services website. If you're in hospitality or gaming, go directly to the employment/jobs pages for the companies you want to work for.

The job listing you choose provides the raw material you use to develop the documents for this project. Again, choose carefully and pick something with more detail not less.

If you're having trouble finding a good job ad or have questions about the ad you've chosen, go ahead and post it to the peer review space. If you have a sketchy first draft - or even an old resume you're thinking about revising -- you can post that, too.

Hang in there everyone, this is the roughest patch in the whole semester.

Dr. S

Mid-Semester encouragement

2011-06-23T07:27:00.000-07:00

Just a quick reminder...

This week is about as bad as it gets in terms of workload. Introductory Memos are due Friday; International teams are humming; Faux Pas documents need drafting; and it's even time to start looking for a job you can use for the Jobs Project.

We’ve reached the official halfway point, and it's about the time in the summer session when folks who are taking multiple classes and/or working full-time while taking classes begin to hit the wall.

There is no shame in dropping a class that requires you to complete four months worth of course work in five weeks.

If you intend to drop the class -- or if you're just checking out, taking a failing grade, and retaking in the fall -- please notify the instructor and/or your International Project teammates, so your team is not left hanging. If you're just temporarily derailed and can compensate by contributing more at another stage of the project, let your team know that, too.

Hang in there, folks!

Dr. S.

Tips: The Faux Pas Case

2011-06-22T08:17:00.000-07:00

If you're finding the Faux Pas Case a little baffling, you're probably not alone. It's a complicated situation for a writer. In addition, as I reviewed the learning module and the textbook this morning, I found the assignment to be a bit confusing.

Thus, I offer these clarifications and tips.

What are you supposed to produce? A letter of apology to Madame Jeaneaux AND a memo to Nestor explaining why he needs to sign the letter of apology. You do NOT have to write the internal report memo to Phillips. You do not have to write a Project Assessment memo. In short, what you will turn in for a grade are items 4 and 5 on the Exercises list on page 159 in the textbook. If you wish, you may do Item 3 the internal report in memo form to the CEO for extra credit.
Aids to developing your draft. Even though you will not turn in for a grade items 1-3 on page 159, working your way through them will help you do a better job of solving the problem. Item 1 highlights the need to do research; you don't have to write the internal report called for in Item 2 but thinking about what you would say in an internal report will help you get a handle on the content for the Jeaneaux letter and your approach in the Nestor memo. The planning worksheet in the course module helps step you through some of the issues identified in Item 3. Ignore Item 6 altogether.
Sources of information. All of the information you need about the incident itself can be gleaned from the initial case description on pages 153-155 (up to the point at which lunch concludes). If you triangulate that information with the complaints lodged by Madame Jeaneaux in her letter, you can identify some areas where you may need to do some research.You need to look for sources that explain why particular parts of the lunch meeting caused problems; the web is full of resources on cross-cultural communication problems in business settings.
The letter to Jeaneaux should include a clear apology but emphasize the positives. It must be written from Nestor's point of view on behalf of the company. You may choose whether the letter will be written and signed by Nestor alone (with references to you) or be written and signed as if it were from both of you (with Nestor as the first signatory). If you opt for the first approach, then the letter should be written using "I" when referring to Nestor, your last name or "my assistant" when referring to you, and "we" or "Bellcom" when referring to the company. If you opt for the second option, the letter should be written using "we" to refer to you and Bill collectively, your individual names to refer to either of you individually, and "Bellcom" to refer to the company. You might find some of these resources helpful.
Emphasizing positives
Tone in business letters
Sample letter of apology
Another sample
The memo to Nestor in which you explain why you can't sign his letter and then convince him to sign the letter you wrote is the most challenging part of this assignment. You need to pay careful attention to your tone and stay keenly aware of the power differentials that are coming into play. Your goal with this memo is to preserve the following relationships: 1) your relationship with Bill, 2) your relationship with Phillips; 3) Bill's relationship with Phillips, and 4) your family's relationship with Bill. That's a lot to pull off in a memo where you're telling somebody older, more powerful and in a position of authority over you (to whom you are indebted for your job) that they were in the wrong originally and that their letter is making a bad situation worse. This memo should use "I/you" or "we" language appropriately. Oh, and you can assume that Phillips can see anything you write at anytime, so don't badmouth the big boss.

Week 3 Wednesday

2011-06-21T00:01:00.000-07:00

Good Morning,

Just a few reminders today:

Introductions Project
Final versions of the Introductory Memo are due for evaluation (grading) on Friday. Make sure you submit in the proper format and with the proper filenames. (See "Submission" page in the project module for details.)

Faux Pas Case
I see that many people have posted drafts of their Faux Pas Case project for peer review. Please take the time to respond to these drafts to the best of your ability as soon as possible – in whatever fashion works best for you. Remember, the more feedback you give and get, the better your revisions will be.

It’s important that you consider and make your revisions based on sound thinking. This project, especially, requires you to analyze the situation critically and respond in a way that will satisfy as many people as possible without doing harm. When I'm grading, I'm looking at the quality of your solution, and your rhetorical savvy in smoothing the situation over.

International Project
If your team has a draft of a Research Design Plan you'd like to me take a look at, please post it to the peer review space as soon as possible (by Thursday at the latest), and send me an email to let me know you'd like some feedback. If you have specific issues or concerns, please mention them, and I'll try to focus my feedback on those issues.

Remember that we're not doing formal progress reports for this project, so you can ignore any references in the module or textbook to the progress report.

If you have any questions/comments/concerns, please let me know.

Have a great day!

Julie

Tips: Revising and editing your Introductory Memo

2011-06-19T18:55:00.000-07:00

I've spot-checked drafts of the Introductory Memos that were posted in the peer review space.

Memo Tips

Some of the suggestions here are specific to this assignment, but most of the tips below can be applied to any memo you write.

First, remember that you must use the Memo Template. A copy is available in the Templates folder on the course main page, so if your memo is not using the template you will be downgraded.

Memos need to be purposeful, which means more than just fulfilling an assignment. You have to understand why your readers want/need to read your memo, so make sure that you show your readers why your information is important to them or to the situation. I can’t emphasize this enough. Memos (like all writing) are done for a reason. You need to know what that reason is and convey that understanding.

Sections in memos should (almost) always have multiple paragraphs. Sections are the primary means for organizing your memos. They help you present your information in a clear and logical manner. But sections should be more complex than a single paragraph. Sections are combinations of ideas that present a larger point for the memo. If you don't have enough content to warrant more than one paragraph under a heading, reorganize your content under different headings. For example: Instead of the heading "Computer Experience" with a single paragraph and the heading "Computer and Internet Access" with a single heading, come up with a new heading that addresses all of the computer-related paragraphs and put those paragraphs under that heading.

Remember, one idea per paragraph. Very specific, very focused. Each paragraph should begin with a topic sentence that states that one idea and follow with sentences that support or offer evidence for that idea.

More specifically, introductory paragraphs need to set the context for the memo and state the purpose for the memo so that readers can understand why they should read the memo; then the introduction should also provide a preview of the memo so that they can find information quickly and easily. Oftentimes this preview takes the form of a bulleted list.

You need to think about guiding your readers through the memo by using signposts like a preview list for your section headings. This may not have been as important for this memo of introduction because it was fairly short, but it’s a good habit to get into.

The body paragraphs need to be a logical presentation of your main points. You need to decide the best way to present this information. It could be most important to least important or vice versa. Or it could be specific to that particular situation. But you need to make that decision based on your understanding of your readers and the purpose for writing the memo. Do not just give me the list of topics from the assignment with 1 paragraph under each heading as if you were filling out a form.

Finally, the concluding paragraph needs to summarize the memo, offer to answer any questions that the readers may have, and offer a preferred avenue for communication. Never assume that your memo has answered all of the readers’ questions and never assume that they have your contact information, even if you have provided it elsewhere in the memo. Don’t make them search for contact information; always provide your preferred contact information in the concluding paragraph. Not all of your contact information, but just the preferred method that you want the reader to use.

Grading criteria

I will evaluate your memo using the Introductions Memo criteria and the Introductions Memo Evaluation Sheet. You can get a copy of these files on the Evaluation page of the Introductions Project module. As a reminder, the criteria that I will be using are:

Format - Document(s) is formatted properly Audience - Document(s) shows sensitivity to target audience
Information - Document(s) provides required information
Access - Document(s) are constructed to provide easy access to information
Rhetorical Awareness - Document(s) shows an awareness of the rhetorical situation for this project.
Organization - Document(s) is organized effectively
Business Style - Document(s) uses appropriate business style
Detail - Document(s) provides sufficient detail
Visual - Document(s) is visually consistent and appealing
Grammar and Correctness - Document(s) shows an understanding of grammar and punctuation

Week 3 Monday

2011-06-19T18:53:00.000-07:00

Good Morning,

I know some folks may be running a bit behind owing to Faather's Day festivities yesterday.

I encourage you to swap drafts of your Faux Pax Case documents through the Peer Review board if you haven't already done so. Likewise, if your team has even a very sketchy draft of the International Project Research Design plan (could be nothing more than your primary and secondary research questions), get them posted to the Peer Review space today and I can get you some feedback.

Here's what you should be focusing on this week:

Complete the assigned readings as well as Exercises 8-10 and Quizzes 9-10.
Conduct your research for the International Project
Revise and edit your Faux Pas Case Documents (strongly encourage you to exchange drafts with other people)
Revise, edit and submit your Introductory Memo for grading

As always, post questions as they arise over on the discussion board.

Dr. S

Week 2 Friday

2011-06-16T20:17:00.000-07:00

Good Morning,
As of 8 p.m. on Thursday evening, the online section of this course has two groups that appear to be working more or less actively on the group project. Unfortunately, we have a total of six groups in the online class. Hybrid class, you all seem to be in at least okay shape.

As a reminder, here is what you need to know about this class:

As stated in the course syllabus, in order to do well in this class, you need to have about 20 hours per week to devote to it. (It is difficult to pass this course if you are taking another course and working a job.)

You cannot pass this course if you do not complete each and every major project (see syllabus.) This includes the two main components of the International Project - the Research Design Plan and the Recommendation Report, which you must complete as part of a team.

The International Project is a group project that is worth about 40% of your semester grade.

If you have not yet made contact with the other members of your team, you are extremely far behind. Your options at this point are to 1) step up and take a leadership role in getting your team off the ground, or 2) drop this course. This course is offered every semester in live classroom, hybrid classroom and online formats. You may find another format or a less compressed schedule is a better fit for you.

I want to reiterate that the Research Design Plan is a group-written document. You should not be writing this document individually. Depending on your group’s process, one person may write the initial draft, but this should be part of a collaborative process.

One more note about the International Project: as I mentioned prieviously, the peer review space for the Research Design Plan is a multi-group space, and you should use it to your advantage to have a conversation with people in other groups about strategies for creating a strong document, including what sections you might use, what information should go in each section, and what are the best methods for convincing the reader that you have a well-conceived research plan. If your team posts a draft on to the Peer Review space on Sunday -- no matter how wobbly or incomplete the draft is -- I'll take a look at it and get you some quick feedback on your research questions and your approach to the project.

Just because I'm looking at drafts, doesn't mean you shouldn't also take a peek. One of the benefits of looking at other teams drafts at this stage of the game is that seeing the other teams' vision of the project usually helps you get a better understanding of your own project. It's a win-win.

That's it for the housekeeping business for today.

Folks who are working hard in here, keep up the good work!

Folks who are significantly behind, I recognize that you're probably working very hard somewhere -- or several somewheres -- even if we're not seeing much of you in here. Please don't take my advice to drop the class as an indictment of you as a student. Usually students in summer session are extremely hard workers and good students. Even excellent students, however, can find themselves in over their heads during the hectic summer session. If you do decide you need to drop the class, please send me a quick note through WebCampus.

Have the best possible weekend!

Julie

Week 2 Thursday

2011-06-16T07:14:00.000-07:00

Good Morning,

International Project: Let me know which members of your team have failed to check in/participate by the end of the day today. In the event that we have orphans (only one person appears to be participating in a group) or missing in action (one person in a group not participating), I can make some adjustments to the team rosters this evening. If you get a new member, please greet them with open arms and put them to work.

As I mentioned on Tuesday, there is an optional peer review for your Research Design Plans that starts on Sunday. I encourage you to post whatever you have, even if all that you have is your list of research questions. If you'll post a draft I can get your team some feedback. The most important part of this project is asking the right research questions; if your questions are taking you off course I can help you get back on track.

Faux Pas Case: I haven't seen too much discussion or any questions about the Faux Pas case yet. Don't be afraid to launch a conversation about approaches to this project over on the discussion board. The writing task here is actually fairly complicated and calls for a lot of diplomacy and sophisticated problem solving.

Due dates

A number of people seem to have persistent questions about when final versions of documents are due. This is the last time I will answer this question in any forum:

The course master schedule in the Syllabus and Schedule folder on the home page shows everything that is due each week.
The Quick Reference document in that same folder shows an overview of the major project due dates only.
Web Campus Calendar shows what is due by day, week, and month. (To see what's due click the Calendar tool and then go to Friday for the week we are in. All major assignments are due on Fridays. Peer reviews are on Sundays.)
The Assignments page shows every assignment and includes its due date.

No major projects are due for a grade during weeks 1-2.

In closing
One last point: As I stated in my first daily message, this class is not meant to be easy. I expect you to devote time to it, especially when it comes to the group projects.

If you are unable to devote the requisite time to the work, then you either need to drop the class or let your teammates know so that we can make adjustments to the workload and your potential grade. There’s nothing wrong with negotiating this with your team in advance (doing less work for a lower grade); there’s a great deal wrong with not negotiating it and then expecting to get the same grade as the people who did the work.

In other words, if you are only able to devote minimal time to a project, then you should only expect to get a minimal grade, especially in the group projects. Remember, I reserve the right to adjust the grades of individuals in any group project.

Keep moving forward.

Have a great day!

Dr. Staggers

Tips: Getting started with the International Project

2011-06-15T07:17:00.000-07:00

It's very easy to get bogged down with producing individual documents for the International Project, and in the process you lose track of the actual project.

Here's how the project works:

The first document you produce is the Research Design Plan. The whole point of the research design plan is develop a plan for carrying out the research you need to do in order to produce your final recommendation report. Because you're learning how to write this type of a document, the final version won't be due until fairly far into the whole project. It's important that you figure out right away what kind of research you're going to do and who's responsible for doing it, because you'll want to get started on your actual research as soon as possible.The Research Design Plan should include the specific questions you plan to investigate, the specific sources you plan to use to find answers to your questions. Make a table and assign particular people on your team to particular, specific bits of research.
Next, you conduct research that corresponds to your plan for doing research.
Finally, you'll produce your recommendation report. In your recommendation report you're going to tell you client what the most important things are to include in the material for employees, why that info should be included. In this document, you'll be acting as a research consultant and making an argument to your client based on the research you've done.

Getting off to a good start
You'll set yourself up for success on this project if you

appoint a project manager who keeps the project moving forward,
develop an audience profile for both your client (the company that's hired you) and your client's end-user (the people who will use the material the client eventually produces) -- ask yourself -- what does this user already know? need to know? want to know?
identify your client's problem and then frame the problem as a series of research questions.

I do like what I’m beginning to see in the group discussion spaces. Keep up the good work.

If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know.

Dr. S.

Week 2 Wednesday

2011-06-15T07:04:00.000-07:00

Good Morning,

Things seem to be moving along smoothly.

All of your International Project teams have been set up. Check the discussion board for your group's discussion space. You'll only see the group for your team and team members are listed.

If you participated in the Introduction Project peer review, you should have already returned (or be returning ASAP) any feedback to other authors. Whether or not you participated in the peer review, you should be revising your draft memo now. Professional tip: If you receive what looks like a simple assignment on June 7 and it's not due until June 24, the bar may be higher than you think.

Remember to check the WebCampus calendar to see which exercises and quizzes are due by Friday.

The Faux Pas case is a very tricky writing assignment, in that it asks you to develop an ethical solution to a problem while you MAINTAIN positive relationships with all of the parties involved (you and Bill Nestor, you and the big boss, Bill and the big boss, your company and the French company.) I encourage you to work on drafts for this assignment and submit them for the optional peer review by Sunday evening. In general, students who participate in peer review tend to score almost a full letter grade higher on their final drafts than students who do not participate.

You'll also notice that there is an optional Peer Review on Sunday for the first draft of the Research Design Plan. Most teams won't be very far along with this, but if each team shares where they are with that assignment (even if its just very rough notes), you all can draw on ideas from the other teams. Also, I'll take a look at anything that is posted and give you whatever advice I have about your research direction. There is just one peer review space for this assignment; each team can post up whatever they have under that heading on the discussion board.

I think that's about it on the logistics side for today. I'm going to sign off now, but I'll be back on shortly to post some general tips for the International Project.

Have a good day!

Julie

Week 2 Tuesday

2011-06-14T05:58:00.000-07:00

Good Morning,

Just a reminder that I'll be assigning to groups late this afternoon anyone who has not already signed up for a group. It was interesting to see yesterday that the groups for people who like to get things done early were filling fast and those for people who prefer to work closer to deadline were still empty. I'm hoping that means we'll have some groups that are compatible in terms of work styles.

Again, the best advice I can give you for getting this project off the ground is to make sure you have a handle on what the project is asking you to do, and then appoint a project manager.

What the project is asking you to do is to pick a city, develop a plan for doing research on that city (this becomes the Research Design Plan), do the research, and tell the company what information employees need to have before they arrive in their location (this becomes the final Recommendation Report.) You're trying to answer this question: What are the most important things for employees to know before we send them off to Tokyo or Christchurch?

A collaborative project does not mean you all have to meet face-to-face and collaborate on every aspect of the project. If you work out roles and responsibilities at the outset and put someone in charge of keeping things on track, you can do this without any face-to-face meetings.

I reserve the right to adjust the grades of individuals based on participation and contribution. Everyone – and I mean EVERYONE – must contribute to the development and construction of the texts for this project. It is up to the group to define what a fair and equal contribution is for everyone. It is your responsibility as an individual to do your part and to let everyone else in your group do their part.

In my experience, the “slacker” has derailed far fewer projects than the “overachiever” and the “gradegrubber.” I will reduce individual grades for each of these behaviors. In terms of learning, the benefit of doing this project is in learning how to collaborate and to produce work online with a group of people scattered all over the place. If you are a type-A student, don't let your concern with grades or with producing the perfect product trick you into believing that if you just do the whole thing yourself and make it perfect you'll get an A. I am as concerned with your process here as with your products.

No matter how important or unimportant your grades are in your mind, you have to allow everyone to participate and contribute fairly and equally. I understand how collaborative projects work. To document your process, it’s very important that your “conversations” take place in the Discussion spaces: that way I can see who is participating, who is not participating, and who is over-participating. This is also why the the Final Project Assessment Memo is so important for this project; it gives you a final chance to make an argument for what you learned from the parts of the project that went well, and the parts of the project that went less well.

I want everyone to have a positive and successful experience with this project. You have to trust that I have your best interests at heart. If there is something in particular that you think I need to know, please contact me individually and let me know.

Discussion spaces for the International Project groups are available on the disussion board this morning. I've posted an activity in each space to help you start thinking about what kind of research you'll need to do for this project. You don't have to do the activity formally, but you should give it some thought and perhaps discuss the questions.

Each team also has it's own chat room. If you find you have trouble using the WebCampus chatroom (last semester one team just couldn't get it to work because of incompatibilities with their home computer setups), you can use any chat forum online that works for you. Chatting is not necessary, but is sometimes helpful.

I'll be evaluating group activity on Wednesday and Thursday. If we get to the end of the business day on Thursday and your group still has team members who have not checked in, please do let me know. I have an empty group where I can reassign people who are getting a later start on the project. I find it works best if we can keep the "early in the week" people in their own groups and the "late in the week people" in their own groups. Improves productivity and reduces bloodshed.

Have a great day!

Julie

Week 2 Monday

2011-06-12T21:12:00.000-07:00

As we begin the second week, your workload once again concentrates primarily on developing your skills before the real writing begins. Your quizzes, exercises, and (optional) discussion posts are all due throughout the week. I recommend that you get your work done early, working ahead as much as possible.

You will also need to start reading for the Faux Pas Case project this week.

You also need to complete five (5) quizzes this week (4, 5, 6, 7, and 8). So far, people seem to be doing rather well on the quizzes overall. Keep up the good work.

The International Project should take a majority of your intellectual time this week. I'm making some adjustments to the project to make just a little bit easier for you to negotiate. First, I'm going to give you the option to sign up for groups today and tomorrow (Monday and Tuesday). I'll assign everyone who has not signed up for a group by 5 p.m. on Tuesday to groups as spaces are available. Check the group sign-up sheet on our course homepage in WebCampus. The sign up sheets give you the option to join/form a group with anyone else in class you've already found to be compatible.

NOTE: Students in Wed/Thursday hybrid class will form groups in class on Wednesday.

Also, to limit the amount of time teams spend debating about the best city to choose, I'm limiting your city options to just two: 1) Tokyo, Japan, or 2) Christchurch, New Zealand. Both of these cities have been in the news this spring following major earthquakes.

By the end of the day Tuesday, each group will have a discussion space and a chat room; group members will be listed on their discussion space. I’ve had groups with people in Hong Kong, France, Nevada, and California do this project quite successfully without ever having a face-to-face meeting.

To get everyone started, I'd like to offer some words of encouragement and some tips for this initial stage. You CAN manage this project without meeting face-toface, but that means you have to work smart right from the beginning. A good place to start is by reviewing the readings on Collaboration and applying those principles to your work group.

One of the most important things you can do is to establish some clear roles and responsbilities for team members early on; find out who the best project manager in your group is (not the best writer, not the hardest worker, the best manager) and make them your manager.

I want to emphasize that it is to your individual advantage to have your team do the bulk of your communication about this project through Web Campus.

While this is a team project, every person receives an individual grade. By “meeting” in your chat room or discussion space, or at least by posting meeting minutes consistently in your chat room or discussion space, your team creates a record of the work done. That helps me assess the quality of your work process and of each individual’s contributions.

It also helps keep your team moving forward: I cannot stress enough how very much keeping actual meeting minutes – time/date/location of th meeting, who was there, who was late, what topics were discussed, what action items were assigned to which individuals, what deadlines were set – will help you keep this project on course.

By the end of the day on Wednesday, you should know:

Who every member of your team is, what their strengths/weaknesses are on this type of a project, what roles they are comfortable playing, and how each member plans to contribute to the project
How to contact every member of your group by email and telephone, and when during the week they are available by phone, email, or chat.
When during the week each team member usually has time to work on this class and how those availabilities match up with the work that needs to be done.
How and when you will hold team meetings – in the chat room? email only? conference calling? meeting on campus?
What each team members’ assignments are for the first part of this project – the Research Design Plan – and what the schedule is for completing the work.

I’ll have more tomorrow.

Have a great day!

Dr. Staggers

Week 1 Friday

2011-06-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Today is the end of the first week. You should have done quite a bit of preparation for the rest of the semester. The workload is heavy, but not unmanageable if you work steadily.

How to participate in Peer Review
See the instructions on the Peer Review space on the Discussion Board for specific how-to info on sharing drafts.

If you're participating in the peer review (which is optional), you should post a draft of your Introductory Memo by the end of the day on Sunday, and comment on at least two other drafts by Tuesday.

NOTE: Check the announcements from Web Campus (on your main Web Campus page, not on our course page) to see if there is scheduled down time for Web Campus this weekend. If downtime is scheduled, plan accordingly, such as downloading peer drafts to your home computer so that you can read and respond offline.

Take your time and give your peers feedback that is helpful. Be kind, but don’t be afraid to offer your opinion to make the text better. Again, the more we help each other, the better we all will do. Often, I find people focus on the small things (spelling, punctuation, grammar) and lose sight of the big things (doesn’t use effective memo format, lacks an introduction and conclusion, the argument isn’t clear or isn’t as strong as it could be.)

You can help your partners the most by carefully reviewing the requirements and grading criteria for the assignment and giving them feedback that helps them write a more effective memo.

Finally, after you have received feedback, remember that, as a writer, the text is yours. Consider each of the comments from your peers seriously, but don’t make changes wholesale unless you firmly believe that the comment is one that is helpful.

International Project

I had originally planned to assign people to their International Project teams today. Because we’ve had a lot of flux in enrollment (as usual), I’ll hold off on official team assignments until Monday.

At that point, these will be the groups for the rest of the semester. Get to know your International Project group members. Introduce yourself and prepare for the group work that you need to complete by the end of the term. The group that you are in will be listed in the Discussion link under International Project Groups on Monday morning. If you do not find your name, please let me know as soon as possible so that I can make the necessary corrections.

Also, this weekend (or early next week), you need to read the International Project materials and begin working your way through the quizzes and exercises. This is a group project, so you need to begin to work with your teammates and begin the discussion for meeting all of the requirements for this major assignment. Overall, I think this is a very manageable project for the summer session, but you have to make connections with your teammates immediately.

Workload and deadlines
As I said yesterday, you have a lot of things due by the end of the day today. Many of you have submitted everything, so you don’t have to worry. However, there are still some stragglers out there who really need to pick it up.

What do I do if I am hopelessly behind?
If you've just checked into the class, or if you checked in earlier in the week and didn't quite get back to it, you may find that you are quite far behind. Take a look at the calendar in WebCampus for a complete list of all of the work that is due before midnight tonight. If you anticipate that you will routinely be unable to begin the week's work until Thursday or Friday, you may wish to drop the course and take an online or hybrid version during the regular semester when the workload is less compressed.

If you are behind, you might consider writing off the points for minor assignments this week (exercises, quizzes) and throwing most of your energy and limited time into the Introductory Memo Project; it is worth more than the week's minor assignments all combined.

There is no need to contact me to find out if I will extend or reset deadlines for assignments. (I will not.) There is a late work policy in the syllabus, and the Web Campus assignment dropbox automatically stops accepting work when the late-work window has closed.

See you here again on Monday!

Dr. Staggers

Week 1 Thursday

2011-06-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

Good Day,

There have been a few questions that I’ve received that I want to address for the whole class.

Re: The Introductions Project

There is some confusion about the “length” and the size of the font for the Introductory memo. The book says one thing and the module says something else. I’m going to tell you now that if you're focused on "length" rather on audience, purpose, and context for the memo, you're focused on the wrong thing.

You might find it helpful to stop thinking about the assignments in here as writing assignments, like those you remember from freshman composition. Business writing is about solving problems with words. For every assignment in this class,

you have a context (that's the sum total of all of the elements of the situation you're writing in -- ranging from this is a class so there is an unequal balance of power between teacher and student, to you don't have a lot of free time, to you really want a good grade)

you have some kind a problem pushing you toward a particular purpose (what's the purpose of the document you're writing? what problem do you need to solve? how does this document help you do that?)

you have one or more audiences (for this first memo, the instructor is your audience) who already know some things and may want to know additional things. In addition, you as the writer may have some things you want the audience to know that your reader(s) may not even know they don't know.

As a general rule, if you have a good handle on context, purpose, and audience -- and have some understanding of the genre requirements of the type of document you intend to produce (memos don't look like novels), the length of the document you produce should be just about right. If it's too long or too short, it's because you don't understand the purpose or the context or haven't figured out what your reader needs and doesn't need.

In this course, think about page length in terms of parameters. If a length is stated, don’t worry a whole lot if you are a little under or a little over. If you’re in the ballpark and you’ve said what you need to say, then you’ll be OK. If the assignment says to make it 1- to 1.5 pages and you give me 1/2 a page (or 3 pages) you need to review the assignment's context, purpose, and audience to determine why you are short or long.

If you're having trouble with length, peer review can help you. A reviewer’s job is to identify the ways in which the document can do a better job of meeting the needs of the reader. (In this case, I’m the reader and my basic need is that the memo do all of the things the assignment asks it to do.)

As for font, just use Times New Roman 12 pt. I've been doing document design for 30 years; I can tell when you're fiddling with fonts to try to cheat space. No need to do; your document either achieves its objectives or it doesn't.

International Project
I will assign everyone to an International Project group on Friday.

Discussion board

Overall, I’m happy with the work that I’ve seen to this point. I'm especially pleased with the people who have taken the time to post questions to the discussion board rather than emailing me.

When you have a question about class (assignments, problems with technology, anything that is not of a personal, private nature) the entire class benefits if you post that question on the board. And as several people have already discovered, our classes are full of smart and generous people who have stepped up and shared answers/solutions more quickly than I can.

As of Friday morning, I will no longer answer questions about technology, assignments, projects, etc. submitted via email.

If you're having run of the mill issues, please post them to the discussion board, and reserve email for private/sensitive issues (i.e. "We have a group member we would cheerfully shoot out of a cannon, if only we could find him/her.)

Keep working hard and continue to stay on task.

Have a great day!

Dr. S

Tips for the Introductory Memo

2011-06-08T06:02:00.000-07:00

A few hints about the Introductory Memo Project. Keep in mind, first and foremost, that you must follow good memo format:

the introduction of every memo should set the context for the memo and answer the question, “What is this about?”
get in the habit of previewing every memo at the end of the introduction, usually with a bulleted list of headings so that readers can find the sections they want quickly and easily;
use headers strategically to help guide your readers through the text; each header represents a section; you should use multiple paragraphs in each section; in business writing, keep your paragraphs short and to the point;
use topic sentences to lead every paragraph so that your readers know exactly what the point is;
the conclusion of every memo should summarize the memo and leave an open avenue for communication, normally an email address, so that readers can contact you if they have any questions.

That's a quick list, but it covers the essentials of competent document formatting for business writing. If you have questions about formatting or MS-Word functions, be sure to raise them over at the class discussion board.

Good luck with your memo. Remember, if you want to participate in the peer review, you should post your first draft to the peer review space on the discussion board by Sunday.

Week 1 Wednesday

2011-06-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

Good Afternoon,

It looks like the real fun has begun. I’m happy to see so many happy, smiling faces swarming through these modules.

IMPORTANT: Keep your eye on the WebCampus calendar.

Assignments, Quizzes, Exercises, and Modules

It has been my experience that people in this class get really hung up/freaked out about exercises and quizzes (which are worth 1 or 2 points each, respectively) and kind of lose track of the fact that all the quizzes and exercises are worth less than just one of the big writing assignments.

Budget your time and energy accordingly. Exercises are an opportunity to polish some basic skills; quizzes are a chance to see whether you got the big ideas from the readings that you’ll need so you can do well on the writing assignment.

Where to find things you need

Also, as we are getting more people filtering in and our Friday deadline starts to loom, the tendency to just start doing assignments without reading anything (syllabus, modules, textbook) will increase.

I cannot emphasize enough that if you are simply going to the Course Calendar and blasting through assignments (quizzes, exercises, writing) without having looked at the modules they are associated with, you are going to have a very rough time in this course. This course is set up on a series of modules. Go to the module, read through it, follow the directions, do the readings, do the exercises, do the quizzes, do the writing. This week our modules are Course Introduction and Introductions project (which you’ll find in the Projects folder).

If you’re not sure where to find something, your best first course of action is always to go to the module for the project we’re working on. The modules are all set up in the same way, so if you’re looking for exercises, or quizzes, or reading assignments for a particular project, the fastest way to find what you’re looking for is to go to the “Exercises” or “Quizzes” or “Readings” page for the desired module.

There is a direct link to each exercise for a given module at the bottom of the navigation links (left-hand column) for that module. Click on the link to open the submission page for the exercise; read the instructions and download any handouts or worksheets if necessary. Do the exercise (they are all multiple choice, true-false, matching, etc.), save your answers, and submit it when you’re ready to turn it in.

The Peer Review process

You’ll notice that the Discussion Board has a space set up for peer reviews for drafts of major assignments. Peer review is optional. You do not have to participate. Especially during summer session, many students find that exchanging drafts and getting feedback helps them with the revision and editing processes. See the instructions for participating in peer review on the discussion board.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please let me know. And, of course, the best way to do that is post your question on the class discussion board in Web Campus.

Have a great day!

Dr. S.

Week 1 Tuesday

2011-06-07T05:59:00.000-07:00

Good Afternoon,

I see that many of you have made your first forays into WebCampus. I hope that you have bought the textbook. There is no grace period. I expect work to begin immediately. We have a lot to do this semester.

You'll find all of the materials you need to complete our course are available from our Home Page. This week, you should start by reading the Course Introduction Module, then the Syllabus and Schedule, and then this instructor's message. After you've completed the Course Introduction Module, you should go on to complete the Introductory Memo module, which you'll find in the Projects folder.

Every module is set up the same way; all you need to do is click the link for the module, read the opening page, and work your way through the module beginning to end.

Where you should be today

You can check either the downloadable course schedule on the home page or the WebCampus calendar to see all of the things that are due by the end of the week.

At this time, you should be well into the first module. Within the next few days you should complete all of the readings and take the quizzes. Remember, posting to the Discussion spaces is optional during Summer session. However, you may want to review the prompts and questions on the Discussion page in the module. If you don't have answers to the questions posed, you may not fully understand the concepts in the readings. If you are someone who learns best by talking things out, you'll find the whole-class discussion space to be very helpful.
Also, you should be completing Exercise 1 and Exercise 2 today. You’ll find links to the exercises at the bottom of the list of links for the Course Introduction module. You’ll need to download the worksheets for these assignments (just click on the link in the instructions and save the document to your desktop).

The worksheet for Exercise 1 asks you to check off a series of checkboxes. You can either just type an X or write YES over the top of the checkbox, or you can right click on each checkbox, select “Properties” and change the setting to “Checked.” Exercise 1 is a test of your ability to follow directions and use course technology. Read the directions carefully and follow them exactly to get full credit for completing this exercise.

Be sure to NAME YOUR FILES CORRECTLY. If you do not, I will send them back, and they will be considered late if they are not named correctly and submitted by the due date.I know this seems like a nitpick, but the file naming conventions ensure that your work will not be overwritten by the work of another student in this class.
You should also begin the reading for the Introductions Project by tomorrow at the latest.

There are a number of things due by Friday (including quizzes, exercises, and discussion posts); however, you should be completing these tasks during the week, rather than waiting until the end of the week. Stay on top of things. Work ahead. You may find that if you wait until Friday, you won't have time to complete everything.

If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know.

Have a great day!

Dr. S.

Week 1 Monday

2011-06-02T13:18:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Welcome to English 407A: Fundamentals of Business Writing. Complete materials for this course will be available on Monday, June 6, but the syllabus, schedule and Course Introduction module are available now.

This is the first of your daily messages. I’ll use these messages to remind you of deadlines, keep you on track, and answer questions that are relevant to the whole class.

As you will read in the syllabus, I will be at my computer every morning (M-R) from 11:30-12:30 pm working on English 407A. I will use this time to respond to your individual questions, update the WebCampus site, review/respond to your work, and keep track of your progress.

How to contact me

You have four avenues for communicating with me for the duration of this course:

For questions about the class, assignments, or anything else that is not a personal, private matter, use the Web Campus discussion board.

The discussion board has a special section specifically for questions about this class, our assignments, course technologies, etc. If you have questions about the class, you should post them on the discussion board under the space called "Questions about this class." You'll usually get the fastest response that way, because often another student has the answer and can help you out before I even see the message. (Students who are consistently helpful in this way definitely can enhance their class participation score.)

When you do have a question, you should check the discussion board to see if your question has already been asked and answered. I'll only answer questions publicly once. The discussion board works best when you include a clear, specific, detailed subject line. (Bad subject line: Problem, Better: Problem creating a PDF file; Bad subject line: Question, Better: Question about best way to write survey questions.)
If you have a question of a private/personal nature use WebCampus email.

By private/personal, I mean "I don't understand what my grade means" or "I need to drop the class." Communication via WebCampus email should be rare. I will only respond to messages on WebCampus mail. DO NOT send messages to my personal university account; I will delete them unread.
Chat me.

During my posted office hours (11:30-12:30 Mon-Thurs.), I am generally available online through the Web Campus live chat feature. If you see that I'm online, just send me a chat invitation. I'm happy to chat online.
Call me.

During my office hours ONLY, you may contact me by telephone.. I will only answer calls from students during my office hours.

What to expect from this class

For this first message, I want to offer a little free advice. This class is not meant to be easy, especially as online delivery. In fact, this class is hard work, and I expect you to work hard to be successful in this class. So it’s important that you take the work in this class seriously. That is your responsibility.

This is not a self-paced course. Even though this is an online class, there are still due dates for all of the work that you are required to do in this class. Due dates are VERY IMPORTANT to me. If you miss deadlines, your grades will suffer and there are no opportunities to make up missed work or to do extra credit. Be sure to read closely the Class Schedule (located on the Course Content page).

So you must keep up with the work every week. Don’t let yourself get behind. Check the calendar regularly and be vigilant about when work is due. Pay particular attention to how much work is due on Fridays, especially during the first couple of weeks. Work ahead in this case. Do not try to do all the work on Friday. There is just too much.

Workload. Standard workload during the regular semester is three hours outside of class for every hour in class. Just because this is a summer course does not mean that you will do less work. This course is a three-credit course just like the course during the regular semester. With that in mind, I expect you to spend at least 20 hours per week on this course. That includes all of the reading, quizzes, exercises, and writing projects. You need to set time aside every day to work on this course. You will not be successful if you think that you can complete this course in a great burst of energy at the end of the semester (or even at the end of the week each week). If you don’t keep up with the workload every week, you will fail the course. I guarantee.

Also, you are expected to participate in the class on a regular basis. Whole-class discussions and peer-review activities are optional during the summer, but participating in these online components will help you get a better handle on course content and (usually) helps you produce more polished work.

This class is hard, but if you all work together, the class can be more manageable. If everyone participates and helps everyone else, we all can succeed. I guarantee.

Academic integrity

Finally, you will also notice as you peruse the materials on this course that we have some assignments that are the same and some that are different. We have had some problems recently with recycling the projects of other students.

I expect everyone to do their own ORIGINAL work in this class. We have a lot of samples for you to work with, but I want each of you to do your own thinking and your own writing. Don’t think that because this is an online course that you will be able to sneak things past us. Our searchable database that has all of the old papers written by every student in English 407A. If you cheat, or try to take shortcuts by recycling old projects, you will fail. I guarantee.

And on a cheerier note

And now that I’ve acted the mean professor, I hope that you get a lot out of this class. This class is for your benefit, and we’ve worked hard to give you the necessary materials for success. We believe firmly that you will improve as a writer if you take the work seriously and think reflectively about HOW you write. What you write will certainly be graded, but you will do better for yourself if you think deeply about your writing process and learn to develop the skills for writing that you will need to be successful in the future. I will do everything that I can to help you achieve all of your goals in this class.

Good Luck. I look forward to a great semester.

Julie Staggers

Daily Message for Dec. 3

2010-12-03T07:51:00.000-08:00

Good Morning,

I'm sad to say that it's our last day of class. I'm sorry to see our semester ending; I've enjoyed the opportunity to work with you. This will be my final post here in The Office. I'll check into the Web Campus discussion board at least once a day during finals week, however, to answer any questions about the final project.

Remember that your Module 8 documents are due today, and your final project (see Module 9 for details) is due no later than 5 p.m. on Friday of finals week.

Just a few comments on the Final Project...
For the Promotional Project, I’m more concerned with the quality of your design than I am with the quality of your document. In other words, you can easily do all of the components on MS Word, or something similar, to construct your documents. You pamphlet can be created using the table function (3x1 for a trifold).

I’m most interested in your application of the skills we’ve developed over the course of the semester (and your ability to talk about them in the reflection). I should be able to do an analysis of your three documents using the 9-Cell Matrix, so be sure to think about these three separate but related documents from that perspective.

Also, remember that all three documents must be promoting the same product, service, or event. The key to success on this project is showing an understanding of how these documents work differently to deliver a message and how these documents might target different readers. In other words, don’t think that you can just cut and paste the same thing in all three.

Think about how a flyer works, how a sales letter works, how a pamphlet works.

What is the purpose of each?
Where might each be delivered?
What is the level of detail that can be used in each?
How much text is too much?
How many graphics should you use? Should you use the same graphics?
How do you “hook” the reader in each format?
How much time will readers spend on each document?
What are intra-, inter-, extra-, and supra-level decisions you have to make for each document?
What are the textual, spatial, and graphic decisions you have to make?

Again, your ability to use a piece of software is not as important to me as your ability to show an in-depth understanding of document design. This project is the culmination of the semester, and it’s important that you show me what you have learned.

I see that some of you have started posting your drafts to the peer review space for Module 9. I encourage you advantage of the opportunity get an assist from others (on a project that is essentially your "final exam") and to take peer review very seriously. The better response you give, the better response you’ll get. It’s important that everyone participates as much as possible on this final project. It’s a complex project and needs a lot of attention. It’s also worth a lot of points. Similarly, I would suggest sharing your final reflection for feedback on your peer review space, as well.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please let me know.

Have a great day!

Julie

Daily Message for Nov. 22

2010-11-22T07:03:00.000-08:00

Good Day,

I trust that you all had a good weekend. This will be my only office post this week; I'll start with some notes on Module 8 and then move on to Module 9.

Module 8 drafting and review

Unless you've worked out an alternative schedule within your group, you should be posting something from your Web Site Analysis Project by the end of the day today (and getting feedback returned by Wednesday.)

I want to remind you that posting at this stage of the process is important, but keep in mind that what your post does not have to be a “finished” product of any kind. In fact, you may be more comfortable posting an outline or a series of statements that you want to expand on or a series of questions that you hope to answer. You may just post your criteria at this point, for this is clearly the most important component of this project.

But use the peer-review space to your own best advantage to get the feedback that you need at this point in your document production. Be sure to prompt your peers for that kind of feedback. Don’t assume that they know what you need, but you have all been through the whole course together, and you are all capable of giving quality feedback if only given the chance and asked the right questions. Any perspective is a good perspective if you take the time to use it.

Some pointers for Module 9

Just a few comments on the Final Project of the semester.

First, I think you guys have all been working so hard, and Thanksgiving break is hitting at such an awkward time, that I am going to CANCEL EXERCISE 9 and give everyone full credit for completing it. It's a fun exercise, if you'd like to do it just for giggles, I will give you a point of extra credit in the Exercises column of the gradebook.

For the Promotional Project, I’m more concerned with the quality of your design than I am with the quality of your document. In other words, you can easily do all of the components on MS Word, or something similar, to construct your documents. You pamphlet can be created using the table function (3x1 for a trifold). If I can find some basic brochure templates, I'll share them over on the discussion board. (I want you to do as much original work as possible on these documents, so please don't use any template other than those I provide.)

Again, I’m most interested in your application of the skills we’ve developed over the course of the semester. I should be able to do an analysis of your three documents using the 9-Cell Matrix, so be sure to think about these three separate but related documents from that perspective.

Also, remember that all three documents must be promoting the same product, service, or event. The key to success on this project is showing an understanding of how these documents work differently to deliver a message and how these documents might target different readers. In other words, don’t think that you can just cut and paste the same thing in all three.

Think about how a flyer works, how a sales letter works, how a pamphlet works.

What is the purpose of each?
Where might each be delivered?
What is the level of detail that can be used in each?
How much text is too much?
How many graphics should you use? Should you use the same graphics?
How do you “hook” the reader in each format?
How much time will readers spend on each document?
What are intra-, inter-, extra-, and supra-level decisions you have to make for each document?
What are the textual, spatial, and graphic decisions you have to make?

Again, your ability to use a piece of software is not as important to me as your ability to show an in-depth understanding of document design. I encourage you to use the 9-cell matrix to plan your document before you start playing around with the design. This project is the culmination of the semester, and it’s important that you show me what you have learned.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please let me know. I'll be checking in regularly on the Web Campus board this week.

Keep up the good work with your projects, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Julie

Daily Message for Nov. 19

2010-11-19T09:52:00.000-08:00

Folks,

Just a reminder that Module 7 is due today. I expect we might have increarsingly spotty participation as we start moving closer to Thanksgiving break. Don't lose track of the fact that Module 8 will be due on the Friday after we return from break.

I'll post here next on Monday, with information about Module 9 (our "final") for this class, but probably won't post here again after Monday next week.

I will check into WebCampus quite regularly over the weekend and all next week to put out brush fires, answer questions, and so forth.

Module 9 involves producing a set of promotional materials (a sales letter that is primarily text, a flyer that is mostly visual, and a brochure or pamplet that combines visuals and text) for a real organization or enterprise that is of interest to you. Thought I'd mention that now so you can be thinking about your target "client" this week. (You don't have to work with an actual client. You should choose a group or organization or event you're already involved with.) Examples: civic groups/events, school groups/events, social groups/events all make good projects.

As always, don't be afraid to ask questions or kick around ideas over on the discussion board.

Have a good weekend!
Julie

Deadlines from here to end of the semester

2010-11-17T09:01:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Taylor, who pointed out early this morning that we had quite an impressive logjam of deadlines piling up here at the end of this week.

In my zeal to get you free and clear of the drafting stage of Module 8 before the Thanksgiving break, I had you trying to do way too much this week. I've pushed back the due dates for Exercise 8 and Module 8 peer review to give you all a little more space to concentrate on wrapping up Module 7 this week.

Peer review deadlines for Module 8 are my suggestions; teams might want to negotiate different schedules for reviewing drafts that better suit team members' holiday schedules.

Here's a rundown on deadlines from here through the end of finals week:

Friday, Nov. 19 - Module 7 Instructions Analysis and Reflection
Sunday, Nov. 21 -- Exercise 8
Monday, Nov. 22 -- Submit Module 8 draft for peer review (recommended deadline)
Wednesday, Nov. 24 -- Return Module 8 peer response (recommended deadline)
Friday, Dec. 3 -- Module 8 Web Site Analysis and reflection; Exercise 9
Friday, Dec. 10 -- Module 9 Promotional Materials (i.e. your "final" for this class) due no later than 5 p.m. No late work accepted.

That's it. That is all we have left to do.

As I alluded to earlier, Module 9 functions as your final exam for this class. You DO have to complete the exercise associated with this module before the end of the semester, but how you approach the rest of the module will be up to you. The module will be set up pretty much like every other module. It will have supplemental readings and samples you can refer to if you like, but none of the readings are "required." You are absolutely welcome to continue discussing and peer reviewing with people from class, but there is no compulsory peer review.

I anticipate that I'll have this module up and available for you on Friday so that people who want to get a jump on it can do so.

Daily Message Nov. 17

2010-11-17T07:34:00.000-08:00

Good Day,

As you are all aware, your group-written Instructions Analysis is due by 11:59 pm. Friday. In addition, each team needs to submit a single reflection for the entire group OR each member of your team must submit an individually-written. Make sure there is crystal clear understanding on your team about how you're doing the reflection. Grade penalties come into play if everyone on your team doesn't follow the same game plan

If you have a team that has had difficulties with this project owing to lack of contribution from a team member, please address that in your reflection. While this is a team-based assignment, grades will be assessed individually. In your reflection, please do your best to honestly assess the contributions/roles played by each member of your team. You cannot receive full credit if you do not participate fully in the planning, drafting, revising, and editing of this report.

Your team should be well down the road to pulling together, revising, and polishing up the final draft. If you have not already received section drafts from every person in the group and assembled them into a draft, then you are quite far behind. If you have been remiss to this point, you better get a move on.

You'll have to do more than just paste your individual drafts together. Revising and editing will take some hard work. The report should sound like it comes from one voice, one perspective. This is not easy, so you’ll need to address language and tone throughout AFTER you have agreed on the higher-order concerns.

Module 8

As things are winding down on Module 7, they'll be ramping up on the Web Site Analysis for Module 8. The most important feature of this assignment is the set of criteria that you use to evaluate the web site.

Be sure to take your time developing a strong set of criteria. In your report, you will want to define each criterion and justify its use. Let me repeat that: Define each criterion and justify its use. Do I need to say it again? If you don’t have a strong set of criteria for analyzing web sites, then this project will suffer.

At this point in the semester, you have done all of the reading and understand page and visual design. You need to show your understanding by articulating criteria necessary for evaluating texts. A web site is just your vehicle. Once again, the web site you choose really doesn’t matter, your discussion and use of criteria for evaluating the web site is the key to success on this project.

If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know.

Have a great day!

Julie

Daily Message, Nov. 15

2010-11-15T08:45:00.000-08:00

Good Morning,

Dr. Staggers is ill and will be unable to respond to discussion posts or email today.

Continue making progress on your group projects for Module 7, and take a look at Module 8 if you haven't already done so.

Dr. S.

Daily Message Nov. 12

2010-11-12T07:09:00.000-08:00

Good Day,

Module 6 enhanced resumes and reflections are due today, but as I mentioned on the discussion board last night, I'm inclined to be fairly lax on this deadline. I'm delighted to see so many people seem to have really gotten on board with this assignment. If you haven't quite worked out the technical kinks and you need a bit more time, you can turn this assignment in up until 11:59 p.m . Sunday without a late penalty. (I'm not going to go back into the system and change the settings on the assignment dropbox, though. Just trust that I'll disregard the "late" flag on the assignment if it comes in any time on Saturday or Sunday.)

Don't forget to do the reflection for this module. Use the PROMPTS in the reflection section of the module overview.

Members of your team should be contributing your individual chunks of the first draft of your instructions analysis for Module 7 right about now, too. If your team has not settled on a set of instructions, had a preliminary discussion about your strategy for analyzing the document, assigned portions of the analysis to individual team members and started to analyze/draft, you are falling seriously behind.

Module 8 is ready and available for you to access through the course home page. I've pushed the deadline for Exercise 8 (originally Sunday night) back to next Friday. Get this exercise done, turned in, and out of your way sooner rather than later so you can concentrate on the website analysis, which should be fun.

As always, if you have questions or concerns, post them at the discussion board and we'll get them tended to ASAP. Thanks to all of you have been such frequent participants and helpers on the discussion board this semester. You make our online learning community a better place!

That's all from my side. Have a fabulous weekend.

Julie

Daily Message Nov. 10

2010-11-10T07:54:00.000-08:00

Good Day,

It looks like people are mostly busy and relatively trouble-free today. No email, and just one question on the discussion board. Thus, I have just two quick notes for you today.

First, as people are getting more experimental with their resumes, they are getting frustrated with some of the limitations of MS-Word. If you're having trouble getting things to "line-up" in Word, take a look at the responses to Tara's question from last night on the discussion board. Remember that you have more options for controlling/organizing space in Word than you might be familiar with. There's a column feature that lets you create columns on your page; you can draw space for text or images on the page using the Text Box feature and other Word drawing tools; you can use the table feature to create an invisible grid over your entire page (make a table, then choose "none" for borders). For details on how to work with any of these features, check out Word help. You can also use a page layout program like MS-Publisher (or the free, open source Scribus) or move from Word to Powerpoint and use the drawing/text block tools there.

Second, if you're like me, your finished product for this assignment might tend to fall a little short of what you were aiming for. Something just would align. You couldn't get a color just right. You're not happy with a particular graphic, but it was the best you could find. That means your reflection will be MORE important for this assignment. Use the prompts in the Reflection section of the module, but also feel free here to discuss problems/solutions and things you'd change next time around.

As always, shout out loud on the discussion board if you have questions.

Enjoy the sunshine.

Julie

Daily Message Nov. 8

2010-11-08T08:06:00.000-08:00

Good Day,
We're in work mode in earnest this week. Module 8 will be available on Friday, but until then Modules 6 and 7 should keep everyone plenty busy.

Module 6
Your enhanced resumes and reflections for Module 6 are due by Friday. The biggest weakness I saw across the board with the drafts I reviewed was that people were going far enough in terms of "re-envisioning" the resume. Most drafts that I looked at were very attractively packaged but still very much in the vein of a resume that you really could send out for a (creative type) job. You might find it helpful to stop thinking of the resume as a job-seeking document that you're going to send off to some employer, and instead think about the ways your resume could be re-envisioned as a starting point for a document that represents the "real you."

Melissa quite kindly agreed to share her draft, and I've posted it over on the discussion board. Remember, resumes are due by Friday.

Module 7
Your team should already have settled on a set of instructions and agreed on a strategy for developing your analysis. There are a variety of ways to do this, but the key is to define the sections for the document and be absolutely clear about who is responsible for what. On the project page I've given you sections that should be in the report, but you can add sections if you believe that they would be helpful. You might look at the samples in the Reading section for ideas about how to construct the report and what other sections might be appropriate.

You can divide the sections of the analysis among group members or each person can do an analysis and write up a draft to share. Then you can combine the drafts. Just be sure to discuss how you plan to put the work together so that everyone in your group is clear about the process.

To stay on track with this project, each person’s contribution should be delivered to the group by this Friday (Nov. 12). Of course, as a group you can agree to push the due date for the drafts back, but I would recommend that you get drafts to each other no later than next Monday The final draft for submission, along with your individual or group reflection is due next Friday (Nov. 19).

As a reminder, here are the sections that I recommend you use in your report:

Introduction
Summarize the rhetorical situation
Describe in detail the instructions and the target demographic. This, of course, will include a discussion of the rhetorical situation (writer, reader, text, and context).
Describe the visual language
Describe the visual language in detail--everything from typefaces to the size and shape of the pages to the kinds of graphics used.
Discuss the rhetorical impact of the document's visual language
Analyze how the visual language responds (or doesn't respond) to the rhetorical situation. Use the six cognates as the basis for your discussion.
Assess the role of visual conventions
Describe the degree to which the visual elements do (or do not) follow visual conventions for instructions and the impact that these conventions have on the visual rhetoric.
Overall assessment of the instructions
Provide an overall assessment of the instructions and make any recommendations appropriate.
Conclusion
If you count the Introduction and Conclusion as one, then in most groups each member should be responsible for two sections. As I said yesterday, you really should have a detailed conversation about style, content, tone, and format before each person begins drafting.

This memo should be no more than 5 pages (and probably no less than 2 pages). Be sure to follow good memo format (including an introduction and conclusion), and don't forget to offer an open avenue for communication.

As always, let me know if you have questions or need some advice when it comes to solving problems.

Otherwise, have a great week!

Julie

Daily Message Nov. 5

2010-11-05T07:04:00.000-07:00

Good Day,

I have some quick updates and housekeeping issues today, and then I'll talk about collaboration strategies for the group project.

Housekeeping

First, grades have been posted for exercises 5-6, and most of the Module 5 exam grades have been recorded. (I have about 4-5 of those left and will get them back to you within the next 24 hours.) I'll also be returning your enhanced resume drafts within the next 24 hours. I'll also work on getting the grading slushpile (all those odds and ends of grading that have come in via email in the past few weeks) cleared out before the weekend is over.

Overall, the people who have turned in drafts have done a fairly effective job of making their resumes more visual and more visually appealing. If you did not turn in a draft for instructor review, the best advice I can give is you that you should really take the "re-envisioning" part of this "Re-envisioning Texts" module seriously. You need to move past thinking of this as a resume you might send out to an employer and instead think about how your resume can serve as a visual representation of you. Thinking outside the box is the objective for this assignment.

Collaboration and Module 7

Today I want to talk a bit about collaboration because you all are going to need to do it, and do it well, if you wish to be successful in Module 7.

Each group is going to need to take what I call the One-For-All approach. this means that each group member is individually responsible for a specific section of the document or for a certain amount of text. As a group, you all need to agree to an internal deadline for completion of the sections so that you have plenty of time to work together to stitch the pieces together to create a whole document. Revision and editing are critical, for the group needs to work hard to create a seamless product from disparate parts.

Good planning can help if the group can agree on questions of voice, style, form, and organization before individuals begin drafting. You should have a discussion about the selected instructions and how you plan to review the instructions and what your major findings are going to be. Don't begin drafting until you all agree on your major findings. This way everyone is drafting from the same perspective.

For this project, everyone is required to participate. Since each person is responsible for a chunk of text, then each person has to participate in the writing of the document. However, the difficulty will be in putting the whole text together. In an online environment like this course, I would recommend that you take turns.

There is plenty of time for you to take the text one at a time for revision and editing. In other words, once everyone has submitted their section, Group Member 1 takes all the pieces and creates the first "whole" document. This person should focus on transitions and trying to create a seamless text. Then Group Member 1 passes the text to Group Member 2. This person begins to look at style, perspective, and language, trying to make the text sound like it was written by one person. This person passes the text to Group Member 3 (and 4) who does a complete top-down edit of the document, from document to section, to paragraph, to sentence. Then this draft is given back to the whole group for a final proofread.

At this stage, one person should be responsible for the final text and submitting it for evaluation. Any proofreading comments should be sent to this person who will make the final edits and submit the final product.

This is one strategy that has proven successful for online groups in the past. Of course, the most important consideration is that you talk to each other early and often.

DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE!

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Have a great weekend!

Julie

Daily Message for Nov. 1

2010-11-01T07:52:00.000-07:00

Good Morning,

This week, you have two projects to focus on but ---- good news -- no new quizzes, readings, or exercises.

This week you need to:

Submit a revised draft of your enhanced resume for instructor review by Wednesday
Have a preliminary discussion with members of your group regarding Module 7 and settle on a set of instructions you'll use for your analysis.

Note: I've eliminated the mandatory peer review for Module 7. Because you're already working in groups on this project, you're already getting the benefits of many good heads. If your team wants to exchange drafts with another team, you can use the Module 7 Peer Review thread at any time during the run of the project.

I hope to have your Module 5 exams back to you by Wednesday. Grading these exams is much slower going than grading projects, but I'll get them back to you as quickly as I can.

About the Enhanced Resume Project

First, I noticed a number of people posted their resume drafts in the Peer Review space for Module 7. I believe most of you have already figured out that you posted in the wrong place. I'll go in tomorrow (Tuesday) and clear out any posts that are there, so make sure you post in the correct space for your individual peer group in module 6.

Second, I know some people are feeling really challenged by this assignment because they haven't taken the recommended pre-req classes or just don't have a resume they think is "any good." The good news is, you may be at an advantage on this assignment because you're more likely to think outside of the box of the traditional resume.

To do well on this assignment, it's important that you expand your thinking beyond the traditional English 407A/Business Writing resume. Your "enhanced resume" does not have to be -- and probably should not be -- seen as a resume that you actually send out. The title of this module is "Re-Envisioning Texts" because I want you to re-envision a document genre that everyone is fairly familiar with. To do well on this, you'll need to move past manipulating text and adding more bullet points. Also, it's okay to have fun with this assignment.

As I mentioned on the discussion board over the weekend, you're not completely locked into Word as your design tool for this assignment. If you know how to use Publisher or Front Page or In Design or html and you want to use them, knock yourselves out. Just make sure I can open/read your final product.

Module 7: Group Analysis of Instructions

Module 7 is your one team-based assignment for this semester. You will remain in the same groups for this module as for Module 6. You’ll need to find a set of instructions fairly quickly so that you can perform your analyses and write up your findings. As a collaborative project, you’ll need to divide up the work as efficiently as possible, so don’t hesitate. Jump in and start talking.

There are literally thousands of instructions to analyze for strengths and weaknesses of document design. Each person in the group should recommend one set of online instructions for the group to review and then you need to agree on the one you want to analyze. If you don’t know of a set of online instructions off the top of your head, just google “how to” and you’ll find all that you want.

Once you’ve decided on a set of instructions, then you need to develop a strategy for creating your analysis document. There are a variety of ways to do this, but the key is to define the sections for the document and be absolutely clear about who is responsible for what. On the project page I've given you sections that should be in the report, but you can add sections if you believe that they would be helpful. You might look at the samples on the Reading page for ideas about how to construct the report and what other sections might be appropriate. You might find it helpful to use Kostelnick and Robert's matrices to help guide your analysis/help you focus on the language/concepts from the textbook.

You can divide the sections of the analysis among group members or each person can do an analysis and write up a draft to share. Then you can combine the drafts. Just be sure to discuss how you plan to put the work together so that everyone in your group is clear about the process.

I’ll talk more about this over the next couple of days.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please let me know.

Hope everyone had a groovy Halloween. Have a great Monday!

Julie

Daily Message for Oct. 27

2010-10-27T07:56:00.000-07:00

Good Morning,

Just a quick reminder that you should be submitting drafts of your enhanced resumes for peer review sometime today. Because this is kind of a free-wheeling and experimental assignment (that is not code for "skip peer review, throw something together at the last minute, and it will still get a good grade"), I encourage you to submit whatever you have in whatever form it is in currently for peer review sooner rather than later.

Mod 6 Peer Review
Use peer review as an opportunity to really pick the brains of your colleagues and find ways to push your project further, rather than as a review of a nearly finished product. Because everyone is starting with different documents and the assignment constraints are quite loose, you should be able to get quite a bit of inspiration from each other. Be sure to ask your partners for specific response on anything you're struggling with.

Remember that the peer response prompts in Mod 6 are primarily aimed at traditional resumes. Your group should discuss strategies for reviewing/commenting on the visual elements of the resumes, as well.

Aim to have response back to your partners by Friday.

Looking ahead
Module 7 officially starts on Friday. This is our only group project for the semester, and it requires you -- as a group -- to analyze a set of technical instructions. If you happen to already have some instructions lying around that seem promising for this assignment, you might want to round them up.

Otherwise, keep your eyes open for all of the places you encounter instructional documents as you go about your week. For this assignment, you're looking specifically for print-based documents.

I anticipate leaving you for the most part in the groups you are in for Module 6 peer review for Module 7. I'll make final adjustments to groups on Friday. If you find, after peer review for Module 6, that your group requires some adjustment, please contact me through WebCampus email by Friday morning.

That's all from here today. Be sure to ask if you have questions.

Otherwise, have a great day.

Julie

Daily Message for Oct. 25

2010-10-25T08:55:00.000-07:00

Good Morning,

Module 6 got off to a bit of rough start.

About Exercise 6

A number of people were confused by this instruction for Exercise 6:

For Exercise 6, use the grid template (see project module) and respond to the following: Designing Visual Language, complete #3 under Exercises at the end of Chapter 6 (see page 255 in textbook 1st edition, or 238 in textbook 2nd edition).

By that, I meant "use the grid to plan your response to the exercise and then do the exercise."

I provided the grid for your convenience. You should be using the grid, or at least working through the grid in your head, for every document you produce at this point. My apologies to those who were confused; as I mentioned on the discussion board, if it appears you made a sincere attempt to do the exercise I'll grant you full points on this one. Don't let the bummer start to this project taint the whole thing; while I do want you to be purposeful and deliberate and thoughtful with this enhanced resume, I also want you to have fun with this assignment.

About the enhanced resume

That said, if you have not started to think through your enhanced resume from the perspective of the grid, that would be an excellent place to start your work on this module. One of the biggest weaknesses I saw across the board with the Mod 4 presentations was insufficient thought connection between audience, purpose, and context of use and the choices made with respect to textual design and choice of graphics. Using the grid will help you short-circuit that problem on the enhanced resume. Since I'm envisioning this as a fun assignment, and there isn't a specific universal real-world audience/purpose for this assignment, using the grid as a planning tool will help you be more deliberate in your planning and give you something to talk about in your reflection.

I suspect the graphical/non-textual aspects of the resume project will be the most challenging. As you can imagine, graphics can play a key role in your enhanced resume project. You will want to try to present your skills and abilities on as many levels as possible, in as many ways as possible. So the question for your enhanced resume is:

How can you present yourself in both textual and graphical forms?

As you think about graphical use, the primary thing to keep in mind is that pictures, logos, icons, etc. are both design features and elements to be designed. In other words, when you consider the use of graphics in your text(s), you always have to think about the context in which these elements appear.

Graphics should be purposeful -- that is they should convey information(maybe they're just helping you establish ethos or set a mood, maybe they're helping the reader understand an idea) -- and not be merely decorative. Try to steer clear of clip art altogether. Ask yourself why you're including a graphic "here" and whether the graphic you've chosen helps you achieve your purpose.

If you're looking for visuals, an excellent place to start is Wikipedia's Public Domain Image Resources page. A couple of other sites I like: Morguefile and Stock.Xchng. If you come across a useful resource for this assignment, feel free to share it over on the discussion board.

Finally, your draft is due for peer review on Wednesday. You'll notice the peer review prompts for this module are pretty much limited to the review of a traditional resume. I expect each group to develop and use (or at least talk about) a separate set of prompts specific to this enhanced resume project. Think about using graphics, think about using multiple pages, think about presenting yourself in both linear and non-linear ways. Challenge each other to expand your resume as fully as possible.

I'll be checking on group activity later today and make any adjustments that seem necessary before I activate your peer review/discussion groups for this go-round.

In the meantime, have a great day!

Julie

Daily Message for Oct. 22

2010-10-22T09:25:00.000-07:00

Good Morning,

Just a couple of brief reminders as you head into the weekend.

First, the exam for Module 5 is due today. As I mentioned on the discussion board yesterday, I'd heard from a number of people who were having trouble getting the exam finished by today's deadline owing to life/work schedules or midterm schedules in face-to-face classrooms. I will accept Module 5 exams until 11:59 p.m. Sunday without late penalty. Reflections are due at the same time.

Second, even as you're wrapping up the exam, you should be kicking into high gear on Module 6. Remember that Exercise 6 is due Sunday, and your enhanced resume drafts are due for peer review by next Wednesday.

That's all from here.

Have a great weekend!
Julie

Daily Message Oct. 18

2010-10-17T22:30:00.000-07:00

Good Morning,

Your main mission this week is to complete the essay exam for Module 5. Because this is an exam, there is no optional instructor review for this module.

However, you can and should discuss, braintstorm, peer review your responses with others in our class. I am looking for polished essays that put forward a professional caliber discussion of the issues. I am not looking for "short essay answers" like you might give on an in-class midterm.

Both the exam and the reflection are due before midnight on Friday. Please use one or more of the reflection prompts in the project module overview to guide your discussion in the reflection.

If you've been over to the course home page today, you'll notice that links for Modules 6 and 7 are available now. I've made the links available now because I know some of you are keen to see where we're going and work that into your larger schedules as the semester starts to speed past the halfway point.

Module 6 is a short project that asks you to create an enhanced version of your resume; Module 7 is our only group project. If you've taken other classes in the Professional Writing Certificate that have had very extensive group projects, you'll be pleasantly surprised by the minimal nature of this project.

Don't feel that you have to dig into either of these projects now; Module 6 isn't technically supposed to be available until Thursday. I did want to make them available now, though, just in case anyone was trying to work a bit ahead.

I'll be grading at the auto-mechanics this morning, and I hope to have Mod 4 back to you by day's end.

Be sure to ask if you have any questions about exam 5.

Have a great day!

Julie

Daily Message for Oct. 15

2010-10-15T07:57:00.000-07:00

Good Morning,

Your Exam 5 questions are available now. As with the last exam, you are not only free but you are strongly encouraged to discuss, brainstorm, peer review your responses to this essay. Peer review/discussion spaces have been set up on the discussion board in WebCampus.

I realize that many of the exams that you take are designed to simply assess your basic knowledge of the subject matter. This exam assumes that you've been doing the readings, that you have learned something, that you are intelligent, and that you can synthesize what you've learned and apply it to a professional-level discussion of issues in document design. Read the directions for the exam and the exam questions themselves carefully. If you have questions, I will be happy to answer them.

I am on track to have the most recent round of grading -- including your work on Module 4 -- completed and returned to you by Sunday or Monday.

Have a great weekend!

Julie

Module 5 Exam

2010-10-15T00:21:00.000-07:00

Questions for Exam 2

Caution! These are not "essay questions." This is an essay exam. Your responses should take the form of well-developed essays. Responses to questions 1-2 are likely to be somewhat shorter than your response to question 3.

Directions
Respond to all three questions.

Your response to each question must put forward a clear argument; your answers do not have to look like an essay, but the academic essay is a good model for the type of focused, sustained, coherent response I am looking for.

Each response must have

a clearly articulated thesis
well-developed support (with inline citations from the text in MLA format)
a coherent and focused argument
a works cited page (since you'll primarily be citing from the textbook, a works cited for the entire set of questions will suffice)

Warning! As this is a document design class, and a heading or title that cues the reader to the content of the text is a basic building block of document design, you must include a clear and informative heading for each response. A lack of headings, or headings that force me to consult the exam questions to try to figure out what you are talking about, will receive a one-letter grade penalty for each missing heading.

Question 1
Using the UNLV logo below, analyze the logo for clarity, tone, and ethos. You may use the prompts that follow to guide your analysis, but your final response must present an argument about the UNLV logo based on your analysis.

Clarity. How accurately does the logo represent the nature of the organization? How concrete or abstract is the logo, and how does this affect clarity?

Tone. How would you characterize the tone of the logo? Formal/informal? Aggressive/passive? Serious/friendly? How well does the tone match what you know about UNLV as an organization? (Note: It is not enough to say the "tone is informal"; you need to provide a concrete and detailed discussion.)

Ethos. Does the logo give the organization credibility? Why or why not? Does it match your perception of this organization's identity? How does the match (or mismatch) affect the logo's ethos?

Question 2
Respond to Question 2a, 2c, and 2e on Page 429 (1st edition of the textbook) or Question 2a, 2c, and 2e on page 377 (2nd edition of the textbook). Again, I'm looking for more than description here. You must present an argument that focuses on usability, tone, and ethos.

Question 3
Using a specific example (find something online or that you can easily get into pdf format), explain to a novice how a change in the rhetorical situation might affect text design on either the intra, inter, extra, or supra level.

Assume that the reader has little or no knowledge, so you'll need to define any terms that they may not understand. Remember, you only need to explain one level, not all four. Attach a copy of or a link to your sample document.

Daily Message for October 13

2010-10-13T09:13:00.000-07:00

Good Day,

Just a very brief note today. We're basically at the halfway point of the semester today, and I'm trying to keep your workload light this week as many of you have midterms in other classes.

You should be getting close to finishing the readings for this module.

If you're working in the 1st edition of the textbook, the discussion on graphical elements (pictures, logos, icons, etc.) is spread into two chapters (8-9); Chapter 10 addresses supra-textual design issues.

If you're working in the brand new 2nd edition of the textbook, the discussion of graphics was all consolidated into Chapter 8; for you Chapter 9 addresses supra-textual design issues and there is no Chapter 10.

Exam questions will be available here on Friday.

As with the last exam, I'll set up peer review groups and you are encouraged to peer review drafts. I'll be making some adjustments to the peer review groups to keep people in compatible units. Let me know if you need to moved to a new group.

Have a great day.

Julie

Daily Message for Oct. 11

2010-10-11T08:05:00.000-07:00

Good Morning,

It looks like most of you have already turned in your Module 4 documents; I'm excited to see what they look like. If you're running a bit behind, WebCampus will continue to accept late work for a day or two. Do turn something in. Some points are better than no points.

Most of your time this week will be taken up with Module 5. Most of you rightly disregarded the part of my post from Friday regarding Mod 5 quizzes and exercises being due by yesterday. I should just stick to bulleted lists; I'm doing a bad job of editing/catching text that should be deleted in this blog form for some reason.

To clarify and confirm, here's what's due this week:

Friday, Oct. 15: Exercise 5, Quizzes 9 and 10
Exam 5 Questions will be available Friday, Oct. 15 in this space.

As I mentioned in a post on the discussion board over the weekend, what you need to read for this module will depend on which edition of the textbook you're using. People who have the first edition of the book need to read Chapters 8-9-10. People with the (brand new right before the semester started) second edition only have nine chapters, so you'll just read chapters 8-9. The basic content for both editions is the same, but chapter structures were re-organized in this new version into fewer overall chapters.

Regardless of which version of the textbook you're using, you should be okay for the exercise and for the quizzes. Exercise 5 comes from much earlier in the textbook, and the quizzes are generally broad and conceptual, not at all focused on trivia or "gotcha" questions. Feel free to share compare/answers for the quizzes if that puts you at ease. And, I'll keep an eye quiz answers for quizzes 8, 9, 10. If I see trends where it looks like people are consistently missing some question, I'll spot everyone the points for that question.

I think that's about all for this morning.

Have a great day!

Julie

Daily Message for Oct. 8

2010-10-08T11:25:00.000-07:00

Good Day,

Just a quick end of the week check-up.

Module 4 documents are due Sunday, along with the exercises and quizzes associated with Module 5. I strongly encourage you to review my posts here over the past two weeks as they relate to Module 4. I will be grading these looking for professional quality (not of execution but of thought and approach to the project).

You should review my discussion of the three ways to fail the assignment from Sept. 22. You should look at the examples and inspiration sites and review the supplemental readings.

Have a good weekend.

dr. s

Daily Message Oct. 6

2010-10-06T11:26:00.000-07:00

Good Morning,

Apologies for the later than usual post today. I know some of you who are early-birds or have tiny children pop in early quite early to get the update. I did want to hold off, however, until I could say that every last blessed essay exam for Module 3 had been returned. And they have.

On the whole, these were not great. Raw scores ranged from about 48/60 to 57/60. Those don't sound like terrible scores (80-95%), but I was grading very, very gently, and I will not be grading gently on the next exam.

I'd like to take a day to think about these (and finishing reviewing your Module 3 reflections) before I comment further on the exam. Based on these exam results, we'll need to make some changes with the process for Module 5, which is right around the corner and also requires a written exam.

As for this week, remember that if you're going to submit a draft of your Mod 4 project for instructor review, you must do so by 11:59 p.m. tonight. I'll do my best to get you some quick feedback by the end of the day on Thursday.

For those of you who are cruising along and looking for stuff to do, Module 5 is up today and available on the course home page.

Have a good day.

Julie

Monday, Oct. 4

2010-10-04T08:09:00.000-07:00

Good Day,

First, I want to apologize for my long and unintended absence from The Office. It appears that the Daily Messages from last Wednesday and Friday didn't publish. Apparently the autopublish function works best if you plug in dates for the current year and not corresponding dates in 2011.

I've republished the message from Wednesday, which had general info and advice about writing the reflective memos for each module. There's nothing in that post that pertains critically to the work you're doing right now on Module 4, but it's worth taking a look at sometime this week before you start working on your reflective memo for Mod. 4. Friday's post was just a quick reminder to contact your partners if you need to alter the peer review schedule, so I won't republish that.

Due this week
Remember that I have adjusted the original schedule for Module 4 so that we'd have a bit more time for both a peer review and an optional instructor review. That means, for this week you'll need to:

ASAP - Wrap up your peer review ASAP (you should have returned response to your partners last night or today at the latest)
By Wed., Oct. 6 - Submit your revised draft for optional instructor review by 11:59 p.m. (do not submit a draft to me if you did not participate in peer review and revise your draft based on peer review)
By Sun., Oct. 10 - Submit your final Module 4 documents (ppt and reflection) for grading
And read Chapters 8 and 9 in Designing Visual Language.

So I should have your materials from Module 3 tomorrow and will have some general comments about the materials on Wednesday.

Advice/comments on Module 4

Today, I want to offer a few comments about the PPT project that you’re working on.

A few things to keep in mind re: your ppt slides:

First, the choices you make in constructing your slides should be simple and based on a clear understanding of good document design. This should show up both in the slides themselves, but also in your Reflection, which should describe your choices in detail using language from the textbook.

Second, it is imperative that you select what you believe to be the most important information from the chapter. Your slides cannot be successful if the readers do not get the most important information simply and concisely. You should understand the chapter well enough to select the most appropriate information to present.

Third, the reader must be able to understand the chapter completely in a brief slide show. So, not only do you need to select the most important information, but you also need to convey the depth of the chapter, as well.

Fourth, your slides need to be clean and legible, which means that you should not use an overabundance of text. Keep you bullet points to a minimum and try to avoid big blocks of text (which is good format in any case).

Finally, try to incorporate examples if possible and where necessary so that your readers can get a more complete understanding of the chapter.

Simple, eh? I'm really looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please let me know.

Have a great day!

Julie

Daily Message Sept. 29

2010-09-29T00:01:00.000-07:00

(NOTE: This is repost of a message from Sept. 29)

Good Day,

Everything related to Module 1 and Module 2 has been graded and returned to you. It will take me until Monday or so to get your essay exams graded and returned.

In the meantime, you all have Module 4 to work on. Remember that you should be exchanging drafts for peer review no later than Friday. Peer review groups are set up at the discussion board for this module now. I've done some minor shuffling of teams to balance things out.

If your team is ahead of schedule and wants to exchange less finished drafts earlier in the week feel free to do so. This is precisely the kind of creative assignment where you might find it more helpful to bounce around ideas and get feedback earlier in the process.

Some general comments on work so far
First, I expect your projects to be quality, error-free documents. I was a bit disappointed at the number of typos and simple grammar errors that I saw. These don't appear at this time to be "problems" with anyone's writing, but, rather a bit of laziness. At this level, I expect you to be able to find these errors and expect that you will if you take a few extra minutes to edit before you submit. If this continues to be a problem in the future, I will point them out and begin to deduct points.

Second, this is a document design class. You've been reading about different ways to construct documents from a visual perspective. To me, this means that you should apply these principles to ALL of your documents, even academic essays. So I expect you to follow at least the basic principles of document construction. No section should be only one paragraph long. If it's complex enough to be a section, then it should offer multiple ideas within the section.

In this respect, construct shorter paragraphs that center on one idea, provide a topic sentence, offer support/evidence to back up the claim made by your topic sentence, and use formatting devices to highlight important information. In other words, guide your readers through your texts more effectively so that they understand your points more completely.

Third, understanding section/paragraph development is a way to help you be more concise. On the other hand, remember that being concise does not mean just fewer words. You need to offer sufficient detail so that your reader believes you, so that your reader understands the points that you want to make. You have to understand your reader and the context of the situation fully to know the difference between too much and too little information.

Fourth, I want you all to be more analytical. The single biggest weakness I saw in the Mod 1 Analytic memo was the Context section. Most people simply offered up their individual general understanding of the “purpose” of each memo without really addressing the very sophisticated and comprehensive view of context and rhetorical situation detailed in the readings. If I ask a question or provide a prompt that uses language from the text, that’s a pretty good sign that I’m looking for you to respond in kind.

I also saw (in all of the reflective documents) a lot of description of "what" you did, but I saw little description of "why" you did it, "how" you did it, and the ways that those were influenced by your understanding of the rhetorical situation. For example, many people made passing references to establishing a certain type of “ethos” without defining the term, explaining why it was important, or providing a detailed description of how exactly they established a professional ethos.

I expect you to use the language from the textbook, not because it's fancy-schmancy, but because it more precisely captures the ways to talk about the analysis and production of professional writing, as well as the ways for understanding the complexity of professional writing situations. Anyone can analyze a document, but a professional analyzes a document in a way that applies criteria in a more sophisticated and complex way. This class is designed to introduce you to a more professional approach to document design, both as user and producer.

Now, having said this, I see real potential in this class. I sometimes get caught up in what is lacking, but I truly did see some interesting ideas, interesting turns of phrase, and interesting insights. In some ways I was probably both too hard and too easy in grading these documents. I'm not sure if they balance out, but if you have any questions or wish to discuss my comments or your documents in greater detail, just let me know.

Likewise, don't be afraid to ask questions as you construct your documents in the future. I'll be happy to do what I can to help guide you through the process. It will be both a more fun and a more challenging process as we shift more into production mode.

I can’t encourage you enough to really share your creative processes with one another. Don’t be afraid to bounce ideas off your partners, or off the class as a whole at the discussion board. If you find great resources that are worth sharing, please share.

Go forth and conquer!

Julie

Daily Message Sept. 27

2010-09-27T06:49:00.000-07:00

Good Day,

We're shifting gears and moving into production mode this week, so you should concentrate on getting a draft of your chapter outline for Module 4 pulled together.

I'll set up new peer review groups in the next day or so. (I had hoped to do these over the weekend, but I have been waylaid by some kind of fierce fall crud. I'm working slowly and in short bursts.) You should probably have a quick conversation with any of your new peer review partners about timelines/deadlines/availabilities right at the outset.

By Friday, Oct. 1, submit a draft of your chapter outline for peer review
By Sunday, Oct. 3, finish responding to drafts from your group members and return drafts to authors
By Tuesday, Oct. 5, submit your revised draft (with a copy of your original) to the instructor for the OPTIONAL instructor review. Remember, this option is not available to you if you did not submit a draft for peer review, comment on your partner's drafts, and revise your own document based on the feedback you received.
By Sunday, Oct. 10, submit your final documents (chapter outline and reflection) for grading.

That's alll on this side for now. I'll hop over to the course space and see what's popping over there next.

Julie

Daily Message Sept. 24

2010-09-24T04:48:00.000-07:00

Good Day,

I am significantly under the weather today, folks, so this will be quite short.

Remember that your Module 3 Essay Exams are due by 11:59 p.m. tonight.
If you have preferences for peer review partners going forward (i.e., you have a whole group that would like to stay together, you are two people who are working well but you need a third person to work with, or you would like me to place you with brand new partners going forward) please send me a quick email via WebCampus. If you have no particular preference, there is no need to contact me. I'll have a sign-up sheet for new groups online this weekend.
Be sure you check the calendar to make sure you've completed the required elements (quizzes, etc.) of Module 4 by Sunday.

It may take me another day or two to get all of the grading out of my Inbox and back to you. Thank you for your patience.

Have a great weekend.

Dr. S.

Daily Message Sept. 22

2010-09-22T08:31:00.000-07:00

Good Morning!

First, a bit of course management business...

I know some groups are working well together and others are having some difficulty. Keeping in mind that we have one collaborative project coming up (in which you have to produce something as a team), please let me know your preferences re: your discussion/peer review group. If you're in a happy and fully functional work group and you'd all like to continue working together, please send me one WebCampus email on behalf of your whole group. If you have one partner you'd like to continue working with and need a third party, or if you'd like to work with entirely new people let me know that, too. Please send me email with your preferences by Friday.

And now for Module 4...

I have to confess to being super-amped to (finally) be getting to Module 4, which marks the official beginning of our opportunities to apply the theory we've been reading and create amazing things.

For this module, you'll choose one chapter that we've already read from Designing Visual Language (that's Ch. 1-7), and you will create an outline of the chapter in PowerPoint. What I'm looking for is comprehensive application of principles from both textbooks in a visually-oriented chapter outline that uses PowerPoint as the development medium.

What I'm not looking for? A PowerPoint presentation as you probably think of it. Not interested in anything that looks like this. Or this. Or any of this. What I am looking for is serious thought and effort in your attempt to take all of the content in that big, fat chapter and present in a visual way that helps readers get the concepts from the chapter without reading it, in 12 little slides.

Three ways to FAIL this assignment.

Give me a "chapter outline" that is an actual outline done in bulleted list form on PPT slides.
Use a pre-existing Powerpoint template. You must do your own slide design.
Present content in a way that is predominantly textual and doesn't embrace the challenge of thinking visually

What we're really after in this project is some serious thought about designing visual language, especially when it comes to non-linear components and data displays. I'm hoping that by the time you've finished this module and are writing your reflection you'll have some new insights into the ways that presenting ideas visually (instead of something that looks like an academic term paper) helps us see and understand ideas differently. Some examples of what I mean:

Online Dating and the Real "Stuff White People Like"
The video below is rather long, and I don't expect you to sit through the whole thing (although you might like to.) It offers some powerful evidence of the way changing the way we communicate an idea visually helps change our perceptions of reality. this Red State/Blue State election map series illustrates the same principle.

Some sources of inspiration for this module:

David McCandless' information design blog, Information Is Beautiful.
Anything from Garr Reynold's Presentation Zen site, but start with these tips.
Really Bad Powerpoints

That's it for today. Remember that peer review on those essay exams is strongly encouraged.

Julie

Daily Message Sept. 20

2010-09-20T00:01:00.000-07:00

Good Day,

Most of your energy this week should go into the essay exam for Module 3. Remember, this exam is open book and phone-a-friend (i.e. talking about the exam with others in class, peer reviewing your answers, etc. is entirely encouraged.) Remember, I am not looking for a brain-dump single-draft fill-in-the blank type of exam response. I am looking for very thoughtful and very polished essays.

Module 4 will be available on Wednesday. I'll be grading whatever work has accumulated in the assignment dropbox today and tomorrow.

As a quick reminder, here's what's due this week:

Read/review

Designing Visual Language, Chapters 6-7
At your discretion, peer review of essay exams on Web Campus.

By Friday, Sept. 23

Module 3 Essay Exam and Reflection for evaluation

By Sunday, Sept. 26

Quiz 7,8
Exercise 4

That's all for now.

Have a good day!

Julie

Module 3 Essay Exam

2010-09-17T05:44:00.000-07:00

EXAM 1: First half of the textbook
Everyone must respond to TWO (2) questions in Part I.
Everyone must respond to both parts of the question in Part II.

Part I: Everyone must respond to TWO (2) questions in Part 1.

Using specific examples, describe how you might use the Visual/Verbal Cognates to a plan a document.
Define verbal and visual conventions, then discuss Kostelnick and Roberts' principles of conventions in terms of the rhetorical situation (writer, reader, text, context).
Describe how Gestalt Principles of Design should work in conjunction with Kostelnick and Roberts' taxonomy of visual vocabulary.
Below are several versions of a sentence from a set of instructions. Discuss how the meaning of each sentence changes as the emphasis shifts to different words. Discuss the impact of these changes on clarity, tone, and ethos.

A. Please check all controls before starting the engines.
B. Please check all controls before starting the engines.
C. Please check all CONTROLS before starting the engines.
D. Please check all controls before starting the engines.
E. PLEASE check all controls before STARTING the engines.

Part II: Everyone must answer both parts of this question

Using Kostelnick and Roberts' Visual Language Matrix as a starting point, analyze the set of documents in Chapter 1 of our textbook (Figures 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5 -- In the section "How Fred's Document Responds Visually...." starting on page 7). A blank grid template is available in the Module 3 folder on the course home page.
Then, in your own words, offer both a description and a critique of the documents that extends beyond the discussion offered by Kostelnick and Roberts. Be sure to use the language from the textbook to show your understanding of the concepts. Be sure your answer uses good document design to guide your readers through the text.

Daily Message September 15

2010-09-15T08:03:00.000-07:00

Good Day,

Just a short message today.

Remember that your revised Module 1 Analytic Memos are due by 11:59 p.m. tonight. I should have them graded and returned to you by Monday.

Your comprehensive mid-textbook exam will be available here in this space at 12:01 a.m. on Friday. That will give you an entire week to draft and revise. Note the emphasis on "draft and revise." You'lll have a week with our own big juicy brain, two textbooks, and the collected wisdom of the big juicy brains of your associates here in class. I'm looking for a high level of thought and polish on these.

We're bumping up against the first spot in the semester where we start to lose people (major financial aid deadline on the 20th, I think.) If you must drop the class, please drop me a quick a line through WC email or post a quick note to your discussion group to let us know.

That's it from my end today.

You all enjoy this beautiful weather!

Julie

Daily Message for Sept. 13

2010-09-13T08:34:00.000-07:00

Good day,

I hope that you all had a good weekend. I spent a pleasant very early morning this morning responding to your Analytic Memo drafts for Module 1. If you participated in this process, you’ll find my comments on the assignment link in your Assignments dropbox.

Advice based on drafts I reviewed
Some general advice based on the drafts that I looked at.

You need to work hard to make connections between what you read in the assigned readings and what you did in your documents. Be specific; don’t just reference “the textbook” or the “readings.” I’m looking for clear ability to discuss what you did in the language of the text. Don’t just throw in language from the text without demonstrating you understand it. A discussion of “Context” should in some way demonstrate that you read something about “context” or “writing situation,” that you understand that principle, and that you applied your understanding strategically. Ditto, for “ethos,” for example
Be specific in supporting your claims. If you say you were trying to create a “professional ethos” you need to make clear your understanding of “ethos,” and then you need to give me examples of what that looks like in your document in terms of both language and visuals. It’s okay – necessary even – to quote yourself.
Watch the verbal super-structure. You need clear introductions for every section and transitions that move the reader from one section to the next. If you eliminate all headings, the document should remain coherent and connected. Verbal markers to signal organization (first, second,; Next,) are never a bad idea.
You are writing to me directly about work that you did. Use first-person. Get rid of as much passive voice as humanly possible. Do not refer to “Dr. Staggers” anywhere.
Most openings are doing a pretty good job of identifying purpose of the memo and forecasting content and a terrible job of establishing context. The situation that is causing you to write should be immediately clear to the reader (i.e., you’re providing analysis I asked you for as part of an assignment)
A more detailed subject line is more helpful than a less detailed subject line. (Imagine a reader looking for something in a crowded inbox where every document has the subject line “Analytic Memo.”)
White space in between a subheading and the text that follows it serves to set your Level 1 heading (major section heading) apart from the section and helps the reader’s eye. Conversely, eliminating the blank line of space between a level 2 heading and the text that follows it helps the reader see clusters of information as distinct sub-topics
Using a contrasting (sans serif typeface)for subheadings will also dramatically enhance skimmability. Do not use underlines on headings. Do not use end punctuation on headings.
You can’t go from heading to heading without text in between. After a major section heading in most documents, you need at least a line or two of text that sets up your section. Opening paragraphs have the same function within this document as the introductory paragraph. You need to make purpose/function and content of this section clear. “Next, I’ll discuss the documents I produced:”
Be careful not to conflate “context” and “purpose.” To fully explore “context” you need to consider not just purpose but the entire writing situation.
Bulleted lists count as paragraphs. If your format is using spaces between paragraphs, include an empty line before your first bullet and after your last…

A reminder about how the instructor review works
As I mentioned on several occasions during the past two weeks, in order to receive feedback from me during the optional instructor review, you must participate in peer review (both giving and receiving in a timely fashion), revise your documents following peer review, and submit both your original and revised drafts on time.

A number of people who posted their drafts early missed the reminder about submitting both original and revised documents. That wasn’t a big deal this time around; I simply used the MS-Word compare documents function to compare the content of the draft you initially posted for peer review with the draft you submitted to me. (If those versions were identical, I returned your draft without any comments.) In the future, for the instructor reviews, please make sure you include both your original and revised documents; every minute I don’t have to spend rooting through the Discussion board for your original is a minute I can spend looking at your revision. Please don’t waste time submitting an unrevised draft for instructor review. I don’t have time to look at first drafts, ever. Period.

On tap for this week
You should be finishing up any lingering work for Module 2. As I said, this is a quick trip in and out, focusing primarily on the reading. You should have also started Module 3, which will put you halfway through the book. This module concludes with an exam. I’ll post it early and provide you with a space to share your answers. Use it as you wish. For me, the exams offer an opportunity to show what you know, but they also offer all of us an opportunity for sharing what we know and helping each other understand the concepts in more complex ways.

Here's what's due:

Read

Designing Visual Langauge, Chapter 5
Non-Designer's Design Book, Chapters 9-11

By Wednesday, Sept. 15

Module 1 Analytic Memo and Reflections for final evaluation

By Sunday, Sept. 19

Quiz 6
Exercise 3

About Chapters 3-4
I want to conclude with a few comments on Chapters 3 and 4 as a recap to last week.

There is always a fine line between analysis and design. Both work hand-in-hand as we both construct and (de)construct what we read and create. And as you have read, Kostelnick and Roberts offer a taxonomy that helps you cross back and forth over that line seamlessly. As I’ve stated before, familiarize yourself with the language, but more important familiarize yourself with the way that these concepts can help both your reading and writing processes. The book will continue to build on itself, and it’s up to you to apply these ideas to your own writerly repertoires.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Have a great day!

Julie

Early morning Monday

2010-09-13T06:12:00.000-07:00

Good Morning,

It's the crack of dawn, and I know some of you early birds are probably already out here looking for a daily message. I'm finishing feedback on your Analytic Memo drafts right now (should be done within the next couple hours), and I'll post a more detailed daily message once I've finished those and have a better sense of topics we need to address this morning.

Julie

Daily Message Sept. 10

2010-09-10T00:01:00.000-07:00

Good Day,

I see that I'm starting to get revised Analytical Memos in the Assignment Dropbox. Remember that you can take until 6 p.m.(ish) on Saturday to submit your revised draft for the optional instructor review. Just submit your draft through the link the Module 1 Analytic Memo on the Assignment dropbox. (Submit your original and revised drafts as separate documents.) Also, to participate in the optional instructor review you must have submitted your peer review drafts on time, provided feedback to your peer partners (unless no one else in your group posted a draft), and revised your memo. I'll get feedback on your drafts back to you by the beginning of the day on Monday.

You should have started Module 2. I want to emphasize your understanding the taxonomy for visual vocabulary. I expect you to be able to use the concepts explained in this chapter throughout the course and use the language when you perform the various analyses that you will be asked to do in the exercises and the projects.

You will also want to familiarize yourself with his matrix. And while you may not use it in all of its glory, it really is a marvelous tool for understanding documents (those you read and those you create) more fully and in more complex ways.

As always, if you have any questions, please let me know. I'll check in on class again later today to make sure there aren't any problems simmering before the weekend arrives. If there are problems, I'll address them on the discussion board in WebCampus. If not, I'll check in here again on Monday.

Have a great weekend!

Julie

Daily Message Sept. 9

2010-09-09T00:01:00.000-07:00

Good Morning,

No mail, discussion posts, or anything else for me today! Should I feel lonely? Excluded? Or should I feel like people are finally getting a little comfortable with the course? I'll take the latter! :)

After the disruption of the holiday, things seems to be settling into a routine, which means I can cut back a bit on the daily message volume. You can look for posts from me on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I won't post anything new on Tuesdays or Thursdays unless problems crop up.

Status settings in gradebook
Speaking of problems, I have received over the last 24 hours, quite a bit of concerned commentary about those items in the gradebook related to Module 1 with status listings (Complete, Not Complete, Non-Participant.) If you have Not Complete or Non-Participant status on anything, it means that as of Tuesday morning you had missed a posting of some sort for the Introductions or you had not posted anything at all (drafts or response) to your peer group. I'll revisit these status settings next week when I grade Module 1. These status settings are not intended to provoke undue concern about grades, but they are a sign that I take participation in the "ungraded" portions of this class seriously. They give me a baseline for estimating your level of class participation at the end of the semester.

Deadline extension for optional instructor review
They also help me assess where the class is as a whole in terms of making progress on a module. As of now, our class as a whole is slightly behind schedule with Module 1; a number of people are still awaiting feedback from their peer groups. Consequently, I'm going to adjust our deadlines for this project slightly. The final revised documents are still due next Wednesday, but if you need a little more time to revise your draft for the optional instructor review, you can get it to me up until 6 p.m. on Saturday, and I will get feedback to you by 8 a.m. Monday.

Some issues with the exercises
I want to say a word about doing the exercises. As I work my way through your first exercise (I'll post the scores tomorrow), I find myself being a bit lenient. That is my first reaction in these situations because maybe I haven’t made my expectations for a proper answer clear. So here it is: a proper answer needs to answer the question explicitly while using the concepts and the language from the textbook. The only way that I can tell that you have read the material and understand the concepts is if you refer to the textbook or use the language employed by the textbook. You can’t give an answer based on just what you think and just from your perspective. You must go deeper than that. So in the future, you can be sure that I will be much tougher evaluating your exercises.

Discussions: What's the dealy-o?
Remember that for Module 2, you don't have a project to complete, but you do have to participate in a discussion with your group partners. For now, I've left everyone in the same groups they were in for peer response. If you believe you have been irretrievably let down by your partners during the Module 1 peer review and you wish to be assigned to a new group, please let me know. Everyone will have a chance to sign up for a new group when we get to Module 4. Everything I said about the caliber of the responses for exercises in the previous section also applies to these formal class discussions. You should complete your discussions by Sunday night.

Some notes on Chapter 2
I also want to make a few points about Chapter 2. In my mind, perception is the real key to understanding this chapter. Similar to perception is the term perspective. These two terms in conjunction can tell you much of what you need to know about constructing documents effectively. How do people see a document? What is their perspective for understanding? The better you understand these two terms and how they guide a reader through a document, the more successful that you will be as a writer.

Finally, building on the point I made in the previous paragraph, be sure that in your next exercise that you use the language of the chapter, like Gestalt Principles, figure-ground contrast, grouping, patterns, etc. Work hard on incorporating the skills that Kostelnick and Roberts describe in the section on Gestalt into your own writerly repertoire.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please let me know.

Have a great day!

Dr. S.

Daily Message Sept. 7

2010-09-07T05:31:00.000-07:00

Welcome Back,

Your mission this week is to continue forward progress on your Analytic Memo (and reflection) for Module 1 and to complete the readings and reflection for Module 2.

What's due this week:

Read

Designing Visual Language, Chapters 3-4
Non-Designer's Design Book, Chapter 7

Optional, by Friday, Sept. 10

Submit REVISED draft of your Module 1 Analytic Memo for optional instructor review

By Sunday, Sept. 12

Quizzes 4, 5
Exercise 2
Submit your Module 2 Reflection for evaluation

Ignore the item on the original course schedule that says "Introductions draft (teacher)" for Sept. 5. I've juggled some deadlines to better accommodate the Labor Day weekend, and I've pushed the original deadline for submitting your revised draft for optional instructor review from Thursday until Friday this week.

Analytic Memo revision and instructor review
Everyone should have submitted a draft to your peer review group and each of you should have feedback from your peers for your draft by today. If no one else in your group posted a draft, please let me know today and I will assign you to a group with more responsible parties.

You have a week and one day until the final draft is due to me for evaluation. As I said before, think deeply about the comments that you received and determine if they are right for you. Then revise your draft. After you revise, if you have time, I would suggest that you re-submit it to your peer review group and/or find a person or two from your peer review group that you might exchange second drafts with.

Reviewing second drafts more closely for the higher-order and, especially, lower-order concerns (see background reading on top-down editing) will help your paper achieve everything that you want it to achieve. One draft, one peer review, and one revision does not always make for good final product, especially in a professional writing course.

How the optional instructor review works
For each of the major "project" assignments in this class, you have the option of submitting your work for feedback from me.

To take advantage of this option you must:

Participate actively in the peer review process. This means, you must have submitted a draft for peer review on time, and you must have provided feedback on the other drafts submitted in your group. I must be able to see your participation, which means you'll need to exchange drafts and feedback through the discussion board. If you did not submit a draft to your group (at all or not reasonably on time), or provide feedback to your teammates on time, please do not submit your draft for the instructor review.
Submit a draft to me that has been REVISED based on the feedback you received from your partners and/or your own rethinking of the work after a few days away from it. When you submit your work, submit the draft you submitted to your peer group (as a separate file) with the word "orginal" in the file name. Submit the draft you'd like me to review with the word "revised" in the file name. Revision is a key skill you'll be learning in this class; if the differences between the first and second documents are inconsequential, I will not provide feedback.
Submit your draft on time through the link for the assignment in the Assignment dropbox. You'll use the same link to submit your draft for instructor review as you will to submit your final document. When I've finished reviewing your draft, I'll return it to you electronically through the assignment link.

A word of caution about the instructor review...

Submitting your document for the optional instructor review does not in any way ensure that you will get a particular grade -- or even a better grade -- on your final product.

I am not editing your work. I am not identifying all of the problems in a particular document. I am not giving you a list of "things to fix" that will move your document from its current state to a state of perfection...or excellence...or even greater adequacy.

I'm looking at your document the way I would look at it if I was your supervisor on a writing team; I'll tell you where the biggest problems are. If I have a specific tip that I think might be helpful to resolving a particular problem, I'll share it.

If you have particular questions about your document or are struggling with resolving some thorny issue, by all means leave a note for me in the Comments box when you submit the draft. I'm always very happy to do the instructor review with an eye toward helping you sort out whatever you're having trouble with.

As a general rule, in the introductory courses in the Professional Writing Certificate (business writing and technical writing), participating in the instructor review tends to improve students' grades roughly one letter. This is largely due to the rather large number of students who have simply missed the boat on one or more key components of the assignment, and who would be in F, D, or low-C range because they didn't do the assignment correctly.

I can't give you any similar statistic for this course, because this is the first time I've taught it here at UNLV. I CAN tell you I do not expect to see revised drafts coming my way that fail to execute the assignment fully. If your first draft has missed the boat in some fashion and it gets to me in the same off-kilter condition, either you or your peer partners have not done your job.

I'm thinking that's about it for today, folks. I hope everyone enjoyed our last long summer weekend.

Have a great week!

Dr. S.

Daily Message Sept. 3

2010-09-03T00:01:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

You should post a draft of your analytic memo (only) in your peer review/discussion group by tonight. (The only group you'll be able to see/access is the group to which you are assigned. If you have questions about group membership, go to the Roster tool, select the Groups tab, and locate the group with your name in it.)

For peer review, you can attach your draft or paste the text in the discussion box. However, when you submit the analytic memo to me, you must use the memo template and submit the document as as attachment through the in the assignment dropbox. You have nothing to submit to me at this time.

Please do not send me copies of your drafts with requests to "just look it over." After you've finished peer review, and revised your draft in response to peer review, you'll have an opportunity to submit your revision to me for review (purely optional).

At this point everyone still on the course roster has been assigned to a peer review group. There may be some glitches if people have dropped the class. Although I will be monitoring the peer review discussions, be sure to let me know if there is no other activity in your peer review group so that I can make adjustments quickly.If you've been orphaned by your teammates, I can hook you up with another orphan so you can get some feedback.

Read and respond to your peers' drafts using the prompts in the Peer Review section of the Module 1 assignment sheet, along with the peer response sheet, which you can download from the module. You also might want to review your peers' informal profile and professional introduction. While you don't need to respond to these two texts, they may give you some context for responding to your peers more effectively.

Our general rule of thumb is that peer review responses should be returned within 48 hours. This being a holiday weekend, that may not be possible for everyone. If you're anticipating a delay in getting feedback to your partners, please be courteous and let them know when they can expect to hear from you.

That's all for this week.

I hope everyone has a pleasant Labor Day.

Julie

Peer groups are available now

2010-09-02T17:45:00.000-07:00

Good Evening,

Your peer review/discussion groups are available now. You'll only be able to see the group to which you are assigned. If you'd like to see who else is in your group, you can go to the Roster select the Groups tab.

You should post your draft analytic memo as soon as you have it ready.

Please let me know if you find that you have not been assigned to a group or have been assigned to more than one group.

Dr. S.

Daily Message Sept 2

2010-09-02T00:01:00.000-07:00

Good Day,

By this afternoon, everyone will have been assigned to a peer review group. I'll give people until noon today to sign for a group if they wish; after that I'll assign anyone who isn't already in a group to a group. Remember, you don't have to completely fill a group. If you have a partner you'd like to work with, and only the two of you sign up for a group, I'll add a third person to your team before the day is over.

I suspect there are probably some questions out there about how "peer review" works in a class like this.

Here's the skinny:

Substantive editing vs. copy editing vs. proofreading

If you hate peer review and have previously found it to be a waste of time, you might want to rethink "peer review" as "developmental" or "substantive" editing. (If you hate giving and getting feedback on work in progress, professional writing is NOT the career for you.) This video provides a pretty good explanation of the different types of editing profesional writers routinely do. In this class, your role in peer review is to act as a substantive editor, focusing primarily on making sure the document is doing what it is supposed to be doing as effectively and efficiently as possible.

Review process

Here's how it works:

You respond only to those memos in your peer review group. You'll only be able to see/access the discussion space for the group you belong to.

We're aiming for groups of three, so most people won't have to review more than two drafts; a couple of groups will have four members, in which case you should review drafts from all three of your partners.

Once people have posted their drafts to your discussion space, you can download them and comment on them. Read drafts once without making any comments; review the assignment description; then reread the draft and make comments. Use the questions in the Peer Review section of the Module 1 assignment overview, as well as the peer review worksheet in the module, as a guide to responding to the text.

Use the Track Changes and Comments features in MS-Word to make comments directly on the draft.

Here's one business group's approach to substantive editing, which you might find interesting, or helpful....or not.

Once you've received peer review, revise your text and begin working on your reflection. Both are due on September 15. You'll have a chance before then to submit your analytic memo to the instructor for review (this is optional).

Please sign up for a peer/discussion group

2010-09-01T08:57:00.000-07:00

We need to assign people to peer review/discussion groups in the next day or so.

Since many of you have taken classes together previously, I thought I'd give you the option of signing up for a discussion/peer review group this semester (and choosing your own partners). You can accomplish this by clicking the "Sign up for discussion/peer group now" link on the home page, and following the instructions.

If you'd like to work with people you already know, please sign up for a group by Thursday. (We're aiming for groups of 3, but we may end up with a group or two of 4.) You don't have to completely fill a group; if you know one other person you'd like to work with and you want to sign up for the same group, that is fine and dandy.

I'll fill in any holes and assign people who don't have a group preference to groups on Thursday afternoon. If you don't have a group preference, you don't have to sign up now; I'll set you up with partners on Thursday.

J.S.

Daily Message Sept. 1

2010-09-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

Good Day,

Today, I want to talk briefly about the rhetorical situation.

Background readings vs. K&R

I know that you have all read the background readings in the Course Introduction module, and I know that you have all read the first chapter in our textbook. I hope that you can see how the two discussions of the rhetorical situation blend together.

In the background readings we talk about the need for understanding writer and text, along with audience (reader) and context/purpose. Keep in mind that these are seeking the same goals although from slightly different angles. Kostelnick and Roberts make certain assumptions about writer and text. Not that they don’t exist or that we don’t need to account for them, but they see them as less important in the scheme of constructing your documents.

From my perspective, especially for students who are still developing the skills that they will need to be successful writers, accounting for your role as writer in any given situation is extremely important. Too often in academics the writer is assumed to be less knowledgeable than the reader (the teacher), but more often than not outside of academics, the writer is writing as an expert or in a position of authority.

This difference in role of the writer makes a huge difference in the language that you use and the kinds of facts/details that you must present. Similarly, accounting for the kind of text that you are constructing will help guide you effectively in its organization and visual makeup (see background reading on genre).

As I said, while the book does not discount these features, they focus on the features they believe are most important for their work. You need to understand and apply all of the features (writer, reader, text, context, and purpose) as you develop into a successful writer in any rhetorical situation.

Why do we do reflections?

While I'm waxing philosophical, I'd also like to say a bit about the reflective component for each module. I do so because I want to reemphasize the importance of this activity.

For me, the real worth of any learning environment is the opportunity to begin to try to articulate what you have gained from a particular assignment or a particular activity. I realize that you may not fully appreciate any part of your university education until years later; however, I also believe that developing a habit of mind that examines your work critically on a regular (if not daily) basis is extremely important.

Your learning and application of concepts is your work for this course, and I want you to think deeply about what you've learned, what you need to learn, what you need to do to prepare yourself for the future. Be vigilant. And this class will be a positive influence on the writing that you do for the rest of your life.

Julie

Daily Message Aug. 31

2010-08-31T08:09:00.000-07:00

Good Day,

Other than some technical issues with WebCampus last night, things seem to be perking along fairly trouble-free today.

If you had trouble posting or uploading to the discussion boards or roster in WebCampus last night, give it another try today. If you created your professional introduction in Word and you'd like to preserve your formatting, you can always save your document as an .rtf file, and then just attach it. Attachments are kind of a pain, I know, but may be a better option than fighting with the HTML creator in WC.

If you haven't started drafting your analytic memo, turn your attention to that soon.

That said, the rest of today's message is really in the form of a lecture (or amplification of thoughts from last week's reading), rather than nuts-and-bolts housekeeping matters.

Less jumping through hoops, more critical thinking

I want to repeat an idea that you should already have in your mind (based on the Background Reading) in the Course Introduction module, but I want to put it in the context of document design.

For most of you, writing – especially academic writing – has primarily been about content and words on the page: if you expressed the ideas “correctly” or if you regurgitated appropriately, you would get a good grade. But with this course, you need to begin thinking about “writing” in more complex ways. You need to see the larger text in terms of the visual, as well, and you need to make appropriate choices according to your understanding of your own process and the rhetorical situation.

This means that you not only need to anticipate what your reader and the situation calls for textually, but also how that information should look on the page and how it can be presented in the most effective way.

Most of you have not been pre-conditioned to think about writing in this way. The type of writing you do in college -- from freshman composition to advanced classes in your major -- mostly rewards you for jumping through the hoop, hitting your mark, and spitting back the proper responses; you're rarely rewarded for thinking about why you're doing what you're doing. Professional writing -- whether you're working in the software industry, healthcare, engineering or some other field -- requires you to think critically about what you're writing, why you're writing it, and what the optimal method of delivery is before you type word one. And it requires you reconceive of writing as something beyond putting words on paper.

It’s easier to think of a more overtly visual space – imagine Facebook or Myspace – for posting introductions to require some thought about how the visual dimension contributes to the overall message. However, even plain text in an online discussion space or the printed text of a memo on a sheet of paper communicates visually as well as textually.

I’m hoping that as you approach work in this class, you think about the questions the assignment is pushing you to contemplate (as opposed to just doing the assignment). For example, what advantages would you have in one context (informal profile directly to the discussion space) over the other (more formal introduction, memo to instructor)? How should you see the formal introduction posted to a discussion board as a “visual” document? Seeing Facebook as a visual context is easy. Seeing the visual nature of traditional text-based documents (like a memo) is something else entirely.

I want you to begin thinking in these ways and laying these skills on top of the ones that you are currently developing.

As always, let me know if you have questions or concerns. And, I'm going to add some free discussion spaces today for our modules. If you have provocative questions (and I find all questions about the subject matter of this class to be provocative) or intriguing examples of document design, try posting them to one of those spaces.

Have a great day!

Julie

Daily Message, Aug. 30

2010-08-30T08:33:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

It’s nice to see that people are off to such a fast start. You should be well into Module 1 by now, and you may have noticed that Module 2 is also now available for you. Module 2 does not have a project associated with it; you'll just do the readings and complete a reflection for the module.

Here’s a quick overview of what’s due this week:

Read: Non-Designer's Design Book, Chapters 4-6
By Friday, Sept. 3: Submit Module 1 (introductions analytic memo) draft for peer review
By Sunday, Sept. 5: Complete Quizzes 2, 3 and Exercise 1; return Module 1 peer response

Housekeeping

I don't know about you, but I was finding the original schedule for this class (the one that appears in the syllabus) to be a little visually confusing and hard to follow. I've posted what I think is a cleaner, easier to read syllabus on the course home page today. Let me know if you have any questions. I think I've resolved all of the day of the week vs. date conflicts; virtually all work in here is due on a Wednesday, a Friday, or a Sunday. If you find that a date and day don't line up, let me know.

I've also added a couple of documents that will help you complete Module 1, which you'll find in the Project 1 folder:

Memo template: You must use this template for your analytic memo
Sample Analytic Memo: This analytic memo describes a slightly different variation of this assignment (we're doing informal profiles instead of Facebook) but is a sample of a first-draft of analytic memo. I've annotated this version, which has some superficial strengths and a lot of weaknesses
Peer Review worksheet: You'll need this at the end of the week when it is time to do peer review

Looking ahead to the Analytic Memo
You'll post a draft of your Module 1 analytic memo to your peer response group by Friday. (Peer groups have already been set up at random; we'll discuss them in more detail later in the week). You should be working on your draft now.

A couple of things to keep in mind about the Analytic Memo:

Follow good memo format. This means an introductory paragraph that summarizes the entire memo, use of headers to help guide the reader, short body paragraphs with topic sentences, and a concluding paragraph that offers to answer any questions the reader might have and provides an open avenue for communication.
Be sure to provide the information requested. Take your time and analyze the materials and the situation in depth. As an aside, I want to once again point out that this class is as much about you coming to understand your strengths and weaknesses as a writer (along with your writing process) as it is about the content. There are a variety of skills that I hope you develop and enhance for document design, but always in the context of your own writing process.
Finally, memos DO NOT have signature blocks. I'll mark down if you submit a memo with a signature block at the end.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please let me know. Otherwise, enjoy our beautiful not-hot day.

Julie

Daily Message - Aug. 26

2010-08-26T00:01:00.000-07:00

Good Morning,

Looking ahead to this weekend and the week that follows, here’s an overview of the work to be done:

Complete Quiz 1 by Friday.
Post an image to the course roster, an informal profile, and a formal introduction to the appropriate spaces on the discussion boards by Sunday.
Post a draft of your Analysis Memo (only) to your peer review space by Sept. 3 and respond to the drafts from your peer review group by Sept. 5.
You need to complete Exercise 1, Quiz 2 and Quiz 3 by Sept. 5.
Submit a revised draft of your Analytic Memo for optional instructor review Sept. 15.

One thing to keep in mind to be successful in this course is your ability to read and apply what you've read. If you have not developed an effective reading strategy at this time, you should begin to be reflective about this activity for the future. For example, I've found it effective to read everything twice. The first time I read, however, I just skim over the material and make notes about important features that pop out. Then I go back and read more closely for the details. Remember, reading is not necessarily about remembering (or memorizing) everything. You need to have a grasp, an understanding, of the material in order to apply it effectively.

This course, more than anything else, is a practical course, so you need to figure out how you can get the most out of your reading in the most efficient way possible. But reading is only one aspect, albeit an important one, of this course. So in terms of the larger module, be sure you are familiar with the expectations for all parts of the module before you start reading from the textbook. Read with a purpose, and then go through and complete the rest of the work for that module.

As I intimated in a previous message, students who have the most success in this course are the ones who set time aside every day to work on the course and stay on top of the workload. Students who try to complete everything in a last-minute rush to meet the deadline usually do poorly.

I'll check in tomorrow, but your next message will be on Monday.

Have a great day and a great weekend.

As always, if you have questions or concerns, please let me know.

Dr. S

Testing for comment function

2010-08-25T13:47:00.001-07:00

Just a test.

Holy Kamoley, that's a problem; here's the fix

2010-08-24T06:56:00.000-07:00

Hello Again.

Looks like its Two-fer Tuesday. Many thanks to PW Certificate class veteran Richard W., who politely inquired last night re: where the heck is the syllabus and raised a couple of other good questions, too.

Syllabus
You'll find the syllabus today in the Course Introduction module, right before the sections on "How the Modules Work" and "How to Submit Your Work." (If you looked for it yesterday, it was fully visible on my side, but kinda invisible on your side, which is not so helpful syllabus-wise.)

This helps highlight an important point. Web Campus has two graphical user interfaces, one for students and one for professors. I do all of my work on the professor side, then have to check using a function called "Student View." This process is about 99% effective, but that last 1% can cause problems. Especially during these first couple weeks, if you're looking for something and you can't find it (or you're expecting to see a type of content that doesn't appear to be there....like a syllabus....for a class), post a note immediately on the WC discussion board.

Quiz 1
Since the syllabus wasn't on display, and Quiz 1 covered the contents of the syllabus, some of you early birds who gamely tackled Quiz 1 may be less than satisfied with your score. If you took Quiz 1 yesterday, I'll happily reset the quiz for you so you can retake it after you've had a chance to review the syllabus.

PDFS
Is it okay to submit your assignments for this class in PDF form? Yes! And it's positively encouraged -- at least for the design-heavy assignments.

PDFs help eliminate the incompatibilities that occur between two different versions of Word, or Word and whatever people who don't use Word do use.

You can always go up to campus and convert a Word document to a .pdf on a campus computer using Adobe Acrobat. If you'd rather stay home in your inappropriate-for-campus but perfect-for-a-110-degree-day summer ensemble, but you don't own the kinda spendy Acrobat, try downloading the Open Office suite. It comes with free, open-source versions of many of the programs we'll be using this semester, including a nice little .pdf feature.

Thanks again to Richard for raising a red flag last night; if you have any challenges navigating the site or locating information today, don't hesitate to do the same. For fastest response, post a comment here (I'm about to enable the comment function for the blog), or post a question on the WC discussion board. You can also send me an email through WebCampus, but as the week wears on, you'll find you get faster answers from the discussion board (students who often know the answers are on pretty much all day, but I'm only on for a couple of hours.)

Now, go dive into that syllabus!

Dr. S.

Daily Message - Aug. 24

2010-08-24T00:01:00.000-07:00

Good Morning,

I hope that you all have had a chance to take a look at the Course Introduction Module and the overall layout for the course. As you can see, there is a good bit of work, but nothing that should be too unmanageable if you dedicate a certain amount of time every week.

I'm assuming that you are all familiar with the general structure for WebCampus. As I mentioned yesterday, in an effort to hold down on the confusion and visual chaos, I'll hold off on making the next course module available until tomorrow morning .

If you're not familiar with WebCampus, I'll be happy to answer specific questions that you might have (use discussion boards, not email please). But it's pretty straightforward: work your way through the modules one at a time and everything should work out.

There are a variety of discussion spaces, including a space (right up at the top) for general questions for the class. This is a good place to start with questions about WebCampus or places where you might be confused about the layout or just to begin informal conversations with your classmates.

As far as the discussion spaces go, you'll probably use the peer review spaces most often. I have spaces set aside for your "introduction" and for questions/comments that you might have about individual modules, but you are required to post a draft of each of your projects and offer feedback to the each other in your peer review spaces.

I would also encourage you to work collaboratively on the two exams. The more you can engage with each other and help each other out, the more you will learn. I believe this.

Tomorrow I'll write a bit about reading strategies and strategies for getting the work done as efficiently and as effectively as possible.

Have a great day.

Dr. Staggers

Daily Message - Aug. 23

2010-08-23T07:57:00.000-07:00

Good Morning,

This is the first of your "daily" messages (since I'll be sending them 3-4 times per week). I’ll use these messages to provide more information about the course materials, remind you of deadlines, keep you on track, and answer questions that are relevant to the whole class.

This first message is the same one that I use in all of my classes.

As you will read in the “Getting Started” module, I will be at my computer M-R from 2 p.m. to 4 pm. I will use this time to respond to your individual questions, update the WebCampus site, review/respond to your work, and keep track of your progress. But remember, I will only respond to messages on WebCampus mail. DO NOT send messages to my personal university account. If you’re able to check in online during these hours, you are more than welcome to send me an invitation to chat through the Web Campus chat feature.

For this first message, I want to offer a little free advice. This class is not meant to be easy, especially as online delivery. In fact, this class is hard work, and I expect you to work hard to be successful in this class. So it’s important that you take the work in this class seriously. That is your responsibility. And even though this is an online class, there are still due dates for all of the work that you are required to do in this class. Due dates are VERY IMPORTANT to me. If you miss deadlines, your grades will suffer and there are no opportunities to make up missed work or to do extra credit.

So you must keep up with the work every week. Don’t let yourself get behind. Check the calendar regularly and be vigilant about when work is due. But work hard to stay ahead in this course. Do not try to do all the work on the day things are due. There is just too much.

Standard workload during the regular semester is three hours outside of class for every hour in class. Just because this is an online course does not mean that you will do less work. This course is a three-credit course just like a traditional face-to-face course. With that in mind, I expect you to spend at least 10 hours per week on this course. That includes all of the reading, quizzes, exercises, and writing projects. You need to set time aside every day to work on this course. You will not be successful if you think that you can complete this course in a great burst of energy at the end of the semester. If you do not keep up with the workload every week, you will fail the course. I guarantee.

Also, you are expected to participate in the class on a regular basis, both in whole-class discussions and peer-review activities. This class is hard, but if you all work together, the class can be more manageable. If everyone participates and helps everyone else, we all can succeed. I guarantee.

And now that I’ve acted the mean professor, I hope that you get a lot out of this class. This class is for your benefit, and we’ve worked hard to give you the necessary materials for success. We believe firmly that you will improve as a professional writer if you take the work seriously and think reflectively about HOW you write. What you write will certainly be graded, but you will do better for yourself if you think deeply about your writing process and learn to develop the skills for writing that you will need to be successful in the future. I will do everything that I can to help you achieve all of your goals in this class.

Good Luck. I look forward to a great semester.

Dr. Staggers

Welcome to Class

2010-08-22T22:09:00.000-07:00

Good Morning!

Your mission for the next day or two is to work your way through the Course Introduction Module, which you'll find in the self-title folder on the course home page. You have a lot of reading to do this week, and a quiz that you should take once you've finished the assigned readings. (I'm trying to add some html and some video files to spruce things up, but I've been having some technical difficulties...)

For the first day or two, while people are getting their sea legs here in our online class space, only the Course Introduction module will be available. Later in the week, I'll make Quiz 1 (which covers the readings for this introductory module) available. Once things have started to settle down (probably early Wednesday), I'll activate our first real learning module so you can get started on the first project.

I'll post a daily message here several times a week over the course of the semester. Sometimes the messages are quite short; other times they're rather long. Either way, this space serves the same function as lectures in a traditional classroom.

If you have questions about anything I post here, feel free to post a comment in response. If you have questions in general, however, about the class, readings, assignments, technology, take advantage of the discussion board in Web Campus. There's a discussion thread on the board reserved for questions about class; if you ask any questions you might have in that forum (as opposed to emailing me) the whole class will benefit from the answer. As a plus, when other students have the answer, they often beat me to the punch with a response.

I'm looking forward to working with each of you over the coming months.

Have a great day.

Dr. Staggers