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Posts from March 2017

Design Principles

Design Principles published on

This is the post for the week of Monday, March 27, 2017.

Principles of DesignNotes for This Week

  • AWOL Group Members: I think that all the missing members have been found, but if members of your group are missing or not responding at all, let me know immediately.
  • Writing Guide Date Changes: I accidentally placed the due date for the Writing Guide in the middle of Passover and on Good Friday. I know many of you celebrate these religious holidays, so I have moved the dates forward a week to allow you to go home and celebrate with family or celebrate here in Blacksburg with your friends. See the Due Dates table below with the new dates (marked ***).
  • Details in Self-Assessments: Be sure that you include full details in your self-assessments each week. One general sentence does not fulfill the requirement for the reflection paragraph, for example. I want to see specific information please.

Readings for This Week

Everyone reads these pieces on design
Teams read whatever applies to their project from these options

Writing Group Due Dates

Major Projects Due Date
Revision of your group’s proposal 11:59 PM on March 28
Grace period for revision of your group’s proposal 11:59 PM on March 30
The writing guide 11:59 PM on April 21***
Grace period for the writing guide 11:59 PM on April 25***
Presentation of primary information from your report 11:59 PM on May 1

Activities for This Week

  1. Revise your group’s proposal, if your group wishes. I have graded all proposals. Information on how to revise is on the Grades on the Group Proposals page. There are special submission instructions, so be sure to check that page. Additionally, if the dates are a hardship for your group, send me a private message on Slack.
  2. Begin thinking about the design of your group project. Examine the infographics in the readings above, which explore some basic principles that will help you as you coordinate image and text in your projects. There are three Lynda.com videos from the Graphic Design for Business Professionals course to watch as well:
    1. Log into Lynda.com on the VT.edu login.
    2. Watch the three videos, which should flow from the first to the last automatically:
  3. Continue work on your group’s writing guide. Your team can work on whatever is best for your progress, but be sure to include these activities:
    • Adjust your schedule to accommodate the new due date. Since the due date has moved forward a week, your team should make schedule changes to take advantage of the extra time. Allow time in your schedule to write and submit a Team Progress Report next week..
    • Talk about the design for your project. Make group decisions about the design and layout of your project. These issues may be built into the tool that you have chosen (for instance, by the template you chose in Weebly for a website, or the layout you are using in Canva for an infographic). In that case, talk about how the PARC principles apply to what you have chosen (and if they don’t, find a new template that does).
  4. Complete a Self-Assessment for the week. Download the 03/27 to 03/31 Template and follow the instructions to share details on your work this week with me. Upload your completed self-assessment to the 03/27 to 03/31 Assessment in Canvas by 11:59 PM on Friday, 03/31. If you need extra time, take advantage of the grace period, which ends at 11:59 PM on Tuesday, 04/04.

 
Last updated on 27th March, 2017, 4:39 AM

Grades on the Group Proposals

Grades on the Group Proposals published on

I have graded all of the Proposal for Writing Guide Group Project. In this post, I am providing details on how you all did and what you can do if you are not happy with your grade. Please read the information carefully and note the related dates.

Overall Feedback for the Class

  • Basic details clear for most teams: Most of you included a list of kinds of writing with a short description, who would be responsible for investigating it, and the format you will use for publishing. All the plans will work in terms of these details, and I’m eager to see what you come up with..
  • Not in proposal format: The assignment was to create a polished proposal, similar to the proposal you might write in the workplace for a project. In some cases, teams included planning information that would not typically be included in a final draft, or copied over the assignment and used it as a Q&A template. The readings from the 2/27 post (titled Group Guide Proposal Overview) included examples of what a proposal looks like.
  • Underdeveloped sections: In some cases, the information in the text was the bare minimum, providing only general information and/or few details. Ideally, the proposal should think through more of the issues and provide enough information for the reader to fully understand the project that is proposed.
  • Unclear formatting choices: The significance or underlying purpose of the formatting choices for some proposals was hard to understand. For instance, there could be a section of text that was underlined or in a red font, but I didn’t know what I was supposed to know about the content because of the formatting choice. For instance, if you are looking at a financial document and some of the numbers are in red, you know that the numbers indicate a loss or debt. I couldn’t figure out what these choices meant.

Writing Group Revision Dates

Revision of your group’s proposal 11:59 PM on March 28
Grace period for revision of your group’s proposal 11:59 PM on March 30

Revision Activities for the Proposals

I have created a new assignment so that those groups that want to put in additional work can improve their grade on the project. You can revise and submit to this Revised Assignment. This revision opportunity is your last chance to improve your work. There will not be a second round of revisions.

If you earned an A or are satisfied with the grade you earned, do nothing. Otherwise, follow the guidelines below to resubmit your work.

  1. If I made a mistake
    Send me an email message or a private message on Slack with the details. I’ll fix it.
  2. If your proposal had any of the issues listed above
    Revise your proposal as a group to improve your work, adding whatever is missing or tweaking the design. Upload the revision by the date in the table above, and I will regrade your work.
  3. If something else is going on
    Send me an email message or a private message on Slack with the details. I’ll see what I can do to help you.

Grading Revisions

If you complete the revision: Because of the way Canvas works, I will exempt your original proposal grade. The revision grade will take the place of original proposal grade.

If your group does not choose to revise: I will exempt this revision assignment.

For exempted assignment: You will see an EX in the gradebook. The exempted assignment is like a dropped grade. It won’t figure into the final course grade.


 
Last updated on 24th March, 2017, 8:41 AM

Revisions Week

Revisions Week published on

This is the post for the week of Monday, March 20, 2017.

Successful Group WorkNotes for This Week

  • AWOL Group Members: Some groups have reported members who are not contributing equally. If group members are there, but late or not putting in a full effort, please continue to work together and work to resolve the issues. On the other hand, if members of your group are not responding at all, let me know immediately.
  • Work for the Week: This week you will make any revisions that are necessary to your proposal and begin working on the guide that you proposed as a group..

Readings for This Week

Choose Your Own Readings: Begin reading about the sections of the Writing Guide that you will compose. Use the various open source books listed on the syllabus (and any other resources you have) to begin your research.

Writing Group Due Dates

Major Projects Due Date
Grace period for your group’s proposal 11:59 PM on March 21
Revision of your group’s proposal 11:59 PM on March 28
Grace period for revision of your group’s proposal 11:59 PM on March 30
The writing guide itself (which can take several forms) 11:59 PM on April 14
Presentation of primary information from your report 11:59 PM on May 1

Activities for This Week

  1. remind logoSign up for Remind, if you wish. I set up a Remind account so that I can push out text and email message reminders and announcements about due dates, new pages on the website, and other updates. This tool is completely optional. You can sign up if you want to, and you get to choose whether you want text messages or email messages. Find all the details at https://btw-s17.tracigardner.com/wp-content/uploads/remind-invite.pdf.
  2. Slack LogoDownload the Slack app, if you wish. A lot of you have mentioned the difficulty of keeping up with your group on Slack since you don’t check on the website constantly. One way to solve that problem is to download and install the Slack app. I get message notifications on my phone every time one of you privately messages me or if you tag @channel (since I’m in all the channels). If you have a smartphone or table, it would help you connect more.
  3. Revise your Analysis of Writing project, if you wish. You can find your grade and any comments in Canvas. I posted general comments on all the documents on the course website. Check out those comments and revision options at https://btw-s17.tracigardner.com/grades-on-the-analysis-of-writing-project/.
  4. Revise your group’s proposal, if your group wishes. Once your proposal is graded, you will find some suggestions for how you can improve your work in Canvas and on the course website. At this point, I have skimmed the proposals that have been submitted and noticed two kinds of revision needed: (1) proposals that do not follow the expected guidelines for the assignment, and (2) proposals that need more information to ensure that the group has done adequate planning for the writing guide. Both kinds of revision may be needed. I will update this activity once I get the proposals graded, and I will send out notifications on Remind and Slack.
  5. Begin work on your group’s writing guide. Follow the schedule that you created in your proposal to begin work on your writing guides. I suggest that you set specific expectations for everyone in your group. If you are not quite sure where to start, I have two possibilities for you:
    • Get the technical issues taken care of. For instance, if you are creating a website, get the basics set up and make sure that everyone has the access and technical know-how to contribute.
    • Decide generally what you will include for each type of writing. Specifically, think about what each of you needs to include so that your sections are unified. For instance, you probably want a brief description and the length for every kind of writing. Think about what else you want and decide on a group template.
  6. Complete a Self-Assessment for the week. Download the 03/20 to 03/24 Template and follow the instructions to share details on your work this week with me. Your self-assessment will account for your contributions to the group project and provide some evaluation of the group’s collaboration. Upload your completed self-assessment to the 03/20 to 03/24 Assessment in Canvas by 11:59 PM on Friday, 03/24. If you need extra time, take advantage of the grace period, which ends at 11:59 PM on Tuesday, 03/28.

 
Last updated on 20th March, 2017, 11:54 PM

Grades on the Analysis of Writing Project

Grades on the Analysis of Writing Project published on

Top 5 Ways to Improve Your GradeI have graded all of the Analysis of Writing in Your Field Assignments. In this post, I am providing details on how you all did and what you can do if you are not happy with your grade. Please read the information carefully and note the related dates.

Overall Feedback for the Class

  • Complete tables for most students: Most of you did a good job following the instructions in the assignment by including all of the required information. I hope that the self-assessment for the project served as a checksheet to make sure you had everything you needed.
  • Not much creativity in content or design: Most of you went the safe and easy route, matching your information and table to the examples. I didn’t see any risktaking in the content, though some of you did do a very nice job in designing the table with colors and other features that made them easy to navigate.
  • Missing project self-assessments: The most frequent error in the submissions was failure to include the self-assessment sheet for the project, which included 10 points for self-reflection. The error was frequent enough that I made a shortcut so I didn’t have to type it out each time. The self-assessment was explained in Step 5 on the Assignment page.
  • Centered text: The second most frequent error was use of centered text for the contents of the columns. In terms of design, remember that the best design for text is flush left, ragged right. Centered text is harder to read. Centered headings are okay, but the entire document should not be centered. More details are on the Ten Ways to Improve Your Writing page on the course website.
  • Putting in full effort: In a few cases, tables showed a minimum of effort. The columns included obvious or general information that provided little information about the kinds of writing. For example, in the ethics column, some wrote simply that the document “should be professional.” That should go without saying really. All writing in the workplace should be professional. In these cases, I would like to see more evidence of critical thinking and research into the topics.

Revision Activities for the Analysis Project

I have reopened the assignment so that those of you who want to put in additional work can improve your grade on the project. This revision opportunity is your last chance to improve your work. There will not be a second round of revisions.

If you earned an A or are satisfied with the grade you earned, do nothing. Otherwise, follow the guidelines below to resubmit your work.

  1. If I made a mistake
    Send me an email message or a private message on Slack with the details. I’ll fix it.
  2. If you forgot the project self-assessment
     Go back to Step 5 on the Assignment page, and follow the instructions. Upload the self-assessment by the date in the table below, and I will regrade your work.
  3. If there were problems with the content or design of your table (like centered text or missing information)
    Revise your table to improve your work, adding whatever is missing or tweaking the design. Upload the self-assessment by the date in the table below, and I will regrade your work.
  4. If you did not submit your work at all
    Do so by by the date in the table below. You will lose a full letter grade for missing both the due date and the end of the grace period.
  5. If your grade was lowered because you submitted your work after the grace period ended
    You can revise your project to improve other aspects; however, you cannot recoup the points that you lost by submitting your work after the grace period ended.
  6. If something else is going on
    Send me an email message or a private message on Slack with the details. I’ll see what I can do to help you.

Writing Group Revision Dates

Revisions due by 11:59 PM on March 24
Revision grace period ends at 11:59 PM on March 28

 

Credits: Infographic was created on canva.com. Star icon from The Noun Project, used under a CC-BY 3.0 license: rating by Guilhem. Burruss Hall by joepyrek on Flickr, used under a CC-BY-SA 2.0 license.


 
Last updated on 31st March, 2017, 6:40 AM

Proposal Writing & Submission

Proposal Writing & Submission published on

This is the post for the week of Monday, March 13, 2017.

When Grades Are Based on LaborNotes for This Week

  • Work for the Week: This week you will finish your group proposal. Keeping in touch with one another this week will be very important. Be sure that you check in with everyone early in the week to make sure everyone is on board with the plan for writing and revising.
  • Readings for the Week: Nothing new this week. Use the readings from last week (listed below) to inform your work on your proposals.
  • Grading the Analysis Project: As is often the case with Spring Breaks, mine was not long enough, and I am still grading your analysis tables. You should have them back by midweek.
  • Grading System for the Course: Grades in this course are based on your labor—on the time and intensity that you put into your writing. You are not punished for making mistakes as long as you work to improve throughout the term. I created the infographic on the right during break to help tell you a bit more about this way of grading.

Readings for This Week

Everyone Writing Guide for the Workplace (assignment)
Proposal for Writing Guide Group Project (assignment)
Examples, Cases & Models: Proposals from Online Technical Writing
Business Writing Students Proposal Writing Basics from Business Communication for Success
Technical Writing Students Proposals from Online Technical Writing

Writing Group Due Dates

Major Projects Due Date
a proposal for your group’s writing guide 11:59 PM on March 17
the writing guide itself (which can take several forms) 11:59 PM on April 14
a presentation of primary information from your report 11:59 PM on May 1

Activities for This Week

  1. Review the assignments for the Writing Guide for the Workplace and Proposal for Writing Guide Group Project. The Examples, Cases & Models: Proposal provides some models you can use as your group works. Post any questions you have about the assignments in #general on Slack.
  2. Read the “When Your Grades Are Based on Labor” infographic to understand how your major projects will be graded in this course. It’s probably not the system you are used to, but I have had success with it. You will notice as you work on your group project that I ask you to track the work that you are doing in your reflections. More information on the system is on the infographics page.
  3. Complete steps 3, 4, and 5 of the Proposal. You should have completed steps 1 and 2 before Spring Break. Your work this week is to collaborate on writing, revising, and submitting your proposal. For an easy way to begin drafting your proposal, I recommend copying the required section details from the assignment and pasting it into your group’s Google Doc. That process will give you the details you need to include within the document, so you an begin adding your specific information under each heading.
  4. Complete a Self-Assessment for the week. [Links will be added soon] Download the 03/13 to 03/17 Template and follow the instructions to share details on your work this week with me. Your self-assessment will account for your contributions to the group project and provide some evaluation of the group’s collaboration. Upload your completed self-assessment to the 03/13 to 03/17 Assessment in Canvas by 11:59 PM on Friday, 03/17. If you need extra time, take advantage of the grace period, which ends at 11:59 PM on Tuesday, 03/21.
  5. Submit your group proposal.
    • Dates: Your proposal is due by 11:59 PM on Friday, 03/17. If your group needs extra time, take advantage of the grace period, which ends at 11:59 PM on Tuesday, 03/21.
    • Logistics: One member of your group will submit your Proposal in Canvas. One submission will work for the entire group. You have two options:
      • upload a Word Doc or PDF.
      • submit your Google Share link, using the Website URL option. If you use your Google Share link, be sure that you have shared your document with tengrrl@vt.edu so that I can add comments.
    • Technical Help: Check out the How do I submit an assignment on behalf of a group? guide on the Canvas Help site.

 
Last updated on 14th March, 2017, 3:41 AM

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