Notes for This Week

• Checklist for the Final Days: This week’s post will primarily be a checklist of the things that you need to do to finish out the course. My goal is to make sure that you don’t miss anything.
• Ungraded Work Set to Zero: On the last day of classes, I will set the grades tool in Canvas to treat ungraded work as a zero. This is a required setting for exporting the grades so I can upload them to the Registrar. Your course grades will drop when this setting is added. Don’t panic. They’ll pop back up once your work is graded (unless you don’t turn your work in, of course).

Checklist for the Final Days of the Course

• Complete the SPOT survey. You should include completing the survey as evidence of participation in your Completion Report. I cannot see your responses until after the course grades are submitted, so I will go by your statement in your final. Here’s the response rate as of 1 AM Monday, May1:
• Decide as a group if I may use your Writing Guide and Continuity Document as examples for other classes and professional development. I will remove your names and any other identifying information to protect your privacy. Add your vote in your team channel in Slack by 11:59 PM on Wednesday, May 3.
• Complete and submit your Continuity Document with your group. Your document is due in Canvas by 11:59 PM on the last day of class, Wednesday, May 3. See last week’s post for additional details on length.
  • Logistics: One member of your group will submit the link to your Continuity Document in Canvas. One submission works for the entire group. If you use a 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.
• Review your participation log and complete your final exam. The assignment for the final is on the course website, with examples that are similar to the work you will do. The exam is due by 11:59 PM on Monday, May 8. There is no grace period for the exam. If you do not submit your exam on time, you will receive a zero for the participation portion of your grade.
• Check this site next week for info on your grades and leaving the course sites. I will post when grading on the Continuity Documents is complete, and I will post again once the Finals are all graded and course grades have been submitted.

Overall Feedback for the Class

• Basic requirements met by all teams: Every writing group had a guide that fulfilled the minimum requirements for the assignment. There was an introduction, discussion of the necessary number of kinds of writing, and a conclusion. Many, but not all, included professional bios for the writers at some point in the document. Most incorporated graphics into the design and layout appropriately.
• Cohesive, unified content and design in the best work: The best writing guides had a strong, unified first appearance. It was clear that all of the information belonged together in a single document. Deeper examination showed that the content matched in length and detail as well, contributing to an overall polished, professional document. In guides that struggled with this quality, the layout and headings did not always match from one kind of writing to the next, and the content for the different kinds of writing showed different amounts of detail and effort.
• Underdeveloped sections: In some cases, the information in the text was the bare minimum, showing little work or effort on the part of the group. It appeared to be little more than a reformatted version of the information that was included in the Analysis Tables. After a month to work on the project, guides should have had much more detail.
• Ineffective design choice: The most common design error was an overuse of centered text for the content of the guide. In terms of design, remember that the best design for text is flush left, ragged right. Centered text is harder to read. More details are on the Ten Ways to Improve Your Writing page on the course website.

Grade Strategy

Notes for This Week

• 

  Tentative Grades for Graduating Seniors: Tentative grades are due on Wednesday, 4/26. Remember that your grade will not include your fourth project or your participation grade. If you do not complete the remaining assignments, your grade will be lower.
• Fourth Major Project: Your final project is to collaborate with your group to create a continuity document. While I liked all the suggestions that were shared in Slack for the last assignment, I am afraid that with just a week and a half left in the course, there isn’t time to do your best work on a longer document. This assignment will draw on your experience during the term while preparing you for a kind of writing you will likely do in the workplace.
• Final Exam: Your final exam isn’t due until exam week, but you can begin work on it now. Don’t wait until the last minute to make sure that you have all the materials you need for your completion report.

Readings for This Week

These resources can help with your Continuity Document. Read whatever fits the project your group decides on.

• Instructions & Process Reports
• Instructions: Tell them how to do it!
• Standard Operating Policies and Procedures: Tell ’em how to do it, how to behave
• Chapter 19: Group Communication, Teamwork, and Leadership

Activities for This Week

1. Begin work on the Continuity Document with your group. Follow the step-by-step directions to work through the requirements. Your group will write ONE document to add to a continuity folder for students who take these courses in the future. The more members in your group, the longer your document should be. For instance, if you have five members in your group, I expect five tips, averaging about a page in length. If you have elevent members, I expect eleven tips, and about two pages in length.
2. Set a hard schedule for work on the Continuity Document with your group. Your document is due in Canvas by 11:59 PM on the last day of class, Wednesday, May 3. I encourage you to choose a topic and format and set up a shared document for your draft by midweek. Work to have a draft by Monday, so that you can revise on Tuesday and Wednesday.
3. Share your basic decisions with me in your team channel in Slack. Post the information and tag @tengrrl so that I am sure to see it. By the end of the week, I want to see the following information posted:
   • your specific topic
   • your publishing format
   • a link to your shared draft
4. Review your participation log and begin work on your final exam. The assignment for the final is on the course website, with examples that are similar to the work you will do. The exam is due by 11:59 PM on Monday, May 8. There is no grace period for the exam. If you do not submit your exam on time, you will receive a zero for the participation portion of your grade.
5. If you are relying on the grace period, submit your writing guide by 11:59 PM on Tuesday, 04/25.
   • Logistics: One member of your group will submit your link in Canvas. One submission works for the entire group. Since your guide is published on the Internet, one person will submit the link. If you use a 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.

Notes for This Week

• Working to the deadline: This is your last week to work on your group’s writing guide, so make the most of it. You have no other work due this week, so your time is clear to collaborate and revise.
• Thanks for suggestions: I appreciate the ideas for the fourth major project. I will let you know what we will be doing next week.

Readings for This Week

• Ten Ways to Improve Your Writing
• The Lynda.com course Editing and Proofreading Made Simple 

Activities for This Week

1. Go through the assignment and make a checksheet for your project. Return to Step 4 of the assignment and make sure that your writing guide includes all of the required information. Each of you should check the guide carefully. Your grade depends upon ensuring that the guide is complete.
2. Consult the resources on the syllabus and those below for help.
   • 7 Essential Rules to Create Infographics
   • 10 Rules of Web Design
   • Duarte’s 5 Rules presentation (slideshows)
   • PowerPoint tips from Duarte’s Five Rules Presentation
3. Review your group’s writing guide with the Ten Ways to Improve Your Writing. Check your writing against each of the ten tips and using the suggestions from the Lynda.com course Editing and Proofreading Made Simple. 
4. Submit information on your writing guide.
   • Dates: Your writing guide is due by 11:59 PM on Friday, 04/21. If your group needs extra time, take advantage of the grace period, which ends at 11:59 PM on Tuesday, 04/25.
   • Logistics: One member of your group will submit your link in Canvas. One submission works for the entire group. Since your guide is published on the Internet, one person will submit the link. If you use a 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.

Notes for This Week

• Out of town Monday: I’m on my way back hone from Savannah, Georgia today. I’ll start catching up tomorrow on feedback on your work.
• Overview for April: Here is an tentative overview of the work that will be due during the next few weeks:
  

  Week	Work
  Apr 10 to 14	Draft of your guide should be complete. Groups should be doing peer review. No self-assessment due, in respect of Passover and Good Friday
  Apr 17 to 21	Writing Guide due Friday, 4/21.

Readings for This Week

These resources can help you with the design of your projects. Choose whatever is closest to your project

• 7 Essential Rules to Create Infographics
• 10 Rules of Web Design
• Duarte’s 5 Rules presentation (slideshows)
• PowerPoint tips from Duarte’s Five Rules Presentation

Activities for This Week

1. (Optional) You can still weigh in on the last major project. We’ve only had one suggestion for the fourth major project. The paragraph below has the details on how you can add a suggestion.
   

   I originally planned to have you do a presentation of your writing guide, but the publication choices you have made for your group writing guides may not work well for a presentation. As a result, I am opening discussion in #general in Slack for suggestions for what would be the most valuable group writing activity to do for your last major project. You can make a suggestion or add an emoji vote/reaction to someone else’s suggestion. Please use the hashtag #altassignment when you post an idea so that I can find all the suggestions easily.

2. Share your draft among your group members and provide one another peer review feedback. At this point, you should have a nearly complete rough draft of all the sections of your writing guide. Spend this week going over sections of the draft that you didn’t write and give the members of your group advice on how to improve the document. Aim to give everyone feedback by the end of the week. You can then spend next week revising and polishing the guide, which is due on Friday, 4/21.
3. Enjoy the weekend. Since this weekend is part of Passover and also marks Easter Sunday and the 2017 Day of Remembrance, you do not have any work to turn in at the end of this week. Enjoy whatever you do, and come back ready to finish your Writing Guide next week.

Notes for This Week

• Out of town Thursday to Monday: There will be some delays in my responses this weekend. I will be in Savannah, Georgia, to present a paper on infographics.
• All those readings: The reading list this week looks extensive, but the readings are relatively short and all related to your progress reports.
• Tips for your projects: These resources can help you with the design of your projects. Choose whatever is closest to your project
  • 7 Essential Rules to Create Infographics
  • 10 Rules of Web Design
  • Duarte’s 5 Rules presentation (slideshows)
  • PowerPoint tips from Duarte’s Five Rules Presentation
• Overview for April: Here is an tentative overview of the work that will be due during the next few weeks:
  
  

  Week	Work
  Apr 3 to 7	Progress Reports due Friday, 4/7. Serves as your weekly grade. No self-assessment due.
  Apr 10 to 14	Draft of your guide should be complete. Groups should be doing peer review. No self-assessment due, in respect of Passover and Good Friday
  Apr 17 to 21	Writing Guide due Friday, 4/21.

Readings for This Week

• Group Progress Report Assignment
• From Technical Writing by Hamlin, Rubio, and DeSilva
  • 6. Progress Reports
    • 6.1 Functions and Contents of Progress Reports
    • 6.2 Timing and Format of Progress Reports
    • 6.3 Organizational Patterns or Sections for Progress Reports
    • 6.4 Other Parts of Progress Reports
    • 6.5 Revision Checklist for Progress Reports
• From Style for Students Online: Effective Technical Writing in the Information Age by Schall
  • Progress Reports
  • Sample Progress Report
• Example Progress Reports
  • TNG Progress Report
  • Shrek Progress Report
  • Progress of My Research on the Evacuation of the R.M.S. Titanic
  • Progress Report on Training Project

Activities for This Week

1. (Optional) Weigh in on the last major project. I originally planned to have you do a presentation of your writing guide, but the publication choices you have made for your group writing guides may not work well for a presentation. As a result, I am opening discussion in #general in Slack for suggestions for what would be the most valuable group writing activity to do for your last major project. You can make a suggestion or add an emoji vote/reaction to someone else’s suggestion. Please use the hashtag #altassignment when you post an idea so that I can find all the suggestions easily.
2. Write a progress report on your group Writing Guide. You should be about half-way through work on your writing guide at this point. It’s time to assess what you have done to make sure you are still on track and determine if there are any changes that you need to make.
   1. Read through the Group Progress Report Assignment. Your group will write and submit one progress report, which will count as the weekly activity grade for all group members.
   2. Follow the instructions in the Group Progress Report Assignment to ensure that you include all the required information.
   3. Choose one person to submit the progress report in Canvas for your entire group. The progress report is due by 11:59 PM on Friday, April 7. The grace period ends at 11:59 PM on Tuesday, April 11.
3. Continue work on your group’s writing guide. Your team can work on whatever is best for your project. You are in control of your work.

Notes 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

Writing Group Due Dates

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:
      • Understanding the PARC system (6m1s).
      • Challenge: Applying the PARC system (1m19s) — just think through the changes
      • Solution: Applying the PARC system (3m 36s)
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.

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 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.

Notes 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

Activities for This Week

1. Sign 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. Download 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.

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

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.