Today we will continue to work on the Final Analytic Reports.

Your final report will also include
--the final version of your guide
--the final version of the key definitions your team was assigned

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Special Reminder and Note:
I am asking you to quote a number of sources to define terms and build credibility for your work. Be sure that you set up, cite, and document these sources correctly in your report. I have a handout on the Art of Integrating and Setting Up Quotes that I will share with you today.
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The Final Analytic Reports are technically due on Friday. However, I will accept these reports from Teams through the end of the day on Monday. Your team can decide when you get your report in. You may want to shift over to Google Docs to allow collaboration and drafting with formatting after today.

Turn this material into CANVAS in the A7 Assignment where you will be able to upload the assignment. (Only one team member needs to upload for the team.)

Everyone writes; everyone edits (the entire document).

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What is a Concept?
A concept is an idea, a theory, a principle. A concept is what helps explain and guide our actions.

What is a Skill?
A skill is some capacity to perform a specific task, often accomplished through the use of a tool and following certain strategies.

Extra-Credit Opportunity:
I will create a Discussion Forum titled "Final Exam Discussion Board" where you can post a response about ONE concept or skill that has been significant for your learning experience. Be sure that you do the two parts of the response: 1) define and describe; 2) connect to classwork.

Today we will talk about the Final Analytic report and let you all ask any questions. --Assignment #7

In particular, I will review the online technical writing site regarding Technical Reports (especially Research Reports)
--About Technical Reports (will click on link for Research Report)
--Report Format

Other examples from past students of mine: Example1 | Example 2 | Example 3

For the time being, please keep drafting inside Canvas inside the Titan pad. BE SURE TO SET (AND KEEP) YOUR COLORS as you compose.

Homework:
1) An initial draft of the Technical Report is due by the end of today or noon tomorrow. I will have feedback for Wed.
2) Keep working also on revising your User Guide and your Key Definitions of advising terms.

Today, all teams should finish with Usability Testing. Your team should at least reach three tests.

We are now focusing on revising their guide based upon feedback from the usability testing and writing the Final Analytic report on our Usability Testing. The report will call on your to "present findings" from your usability testing, so one of the first things you should do it compile and analyze your findings.

Assignment A7 plus some examples can be found from the Assignments link of our class.

As we have done with the previous collaborative drafting, please use the Titan Pad for your group inside The Write Place for all your drafting.

Draft A7-1 will be due by the end of class next time.

Note about drafting:

These portions in the Final Analytic Report are very similar to sections you have written before in both the Proposal and Usability Test Plan:

II. Problem/ Background
III. Purpose, Objectives, Scope
IV. Theories, Methods, and Procedures
Be sure that you revise these sections to reflect the fact that you are not reporting on what you did rather than proposing what you will do.

Also, part of what you will write in the beginning of the report is an "abstract." Abstracts are condensed summaries of your entire report--150-250 words max. Here are two links about abstracts:

Purdue OWL on abstracts
UC-Berkley

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Anyone wishing to turn in a revised version of Assignments 1-4 needs to have that turned in by next Wednesday.

We shall muddle through beginning Usability Testing as best we can.

I know that Teams 2 and 3 need to make some changes to their guide and plan before they are ready to test. Team 1 I am not sure about.

Reminder: Teams are ultimately responsible for recruiting test participants. You all need to arrange and schedule people to come next Wednesday and Friday. I have two people from the Honors Academy who have volunteered to come on Wed.

Also, remember to bring some snacks like donuts or something for the test participants.

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Draft Technical Definitions of Key Terms for Advising

Each team member individually is responsible for writing a draft of all three key terms assigned for each team. Review our chapter in the textbook on Technical Definitions first. Be sure that you write your own definitions, and if you quote that you attribute and document the word for word borrowing correctly.

Key Terms for Advising

Team 1: What is a transfer plan?; What are 2+2 plans?; What is an articulation agreement?

Team 2: What is Intrusive Advising?; What is an Academic Advisor?; What is the difference between a counselor and an advisor?

Team 3: What does "core curriculum" mean? (What is a core curriculum?); What is a degree plan?; What are prerequisites?

Drafts of these key terms are due on Wednesday.

Otherwise, the homework is to prepare and coordinate what you need to for usability testing to occur next Wednesday and Friday.

Team 1 and Team 3 Usability Test Plans are available in the FILES portion of Canvas with my feedback. Please look at this feedback immediately and make any needed adjustments before you begin your pilot test.

I never received Team 2s Usability Test Plan?

Pilot Test Guidelines

As you perform your pilot usability test, make note of everything that you need to adjust and fix.

Phases of a Usability Test

1. Pre-Test
   --welcome, prepare the test subject for the test, ask pre-test questions. BE SURE TO EXPLAIN AND MODEL "THINK ALOUD PROTOCOL"
   
2. Testing--asking task-based questions
   --be sure to practice gathering data
3. Post-test
   --ask questions, get feedback

Note: I will be recruiting participants from the Honors Academy student population. I don't know how many I will get, but I will post in a FILE called "Test Participant Recruits" the names of people who have volunteered. Each team, however, is responsible for its own recruiting of test participants that resemble your target users. Plan on three participants for both Monday and Wednesday.

Homework:
1) Rewrites on Usability Test Plan due by Monday before class. Communicate with peers about preparing for Monday and Wednesday's testing.
2) Continue to rethink and if needed revise your guide. EVERYONE should have access to this guide and be participating in its creation. Please use your "Proposal Space" collaborative pads as locations to collaborate if your team needs access to the guide. OR you can share it via email.

Today Teams will focus on completing the Usability Test Plan document. Ideally, this document is due by the end of the period, but I will accept it by the end of the day. Send these final drafts to me via email.

Be sure that these final drafts have been EDITED carefully. Follow the paramedic method as we did before with the Proposal.

************************************************************
Preparing for the Pilot Test of your Usability Test

• Recruit one person to come to class next Wed.
• Revise and complete your guide as it stands following the User Guide Principles. Review our chapter on writing instructions as well.
• Prepare any sort of data gathering sheets that you need

Feedback on your Usability Test Plan drafts is in the FILES portion of our Canvas class.

Today we will devote to working on your Usability Test Plans--particularly the sections devoted to the Script for the test and the Evaluation Measures.

Models and examples--
UT-Austin site on Usability Testing

Usability Test Plan example 1
Usability Test Plan example 2

I will be checking in with each team.

Teams are asked to turn in a copy of the draft of their instructions into Canvas.

Homework:
1) The final draft of the Usability Test Plan will be due on Monday. Teams should communicate and strategize how they will meet this goal. We will have time in-class to work on editing the plan (but not really time to make major content changes).
--every team member should devote 1-2 hours (at least to working on the plan)
--every team member should review, edit, and contribute to ALL portions of the test plan.

I strongly suggest that all of you review the example test plans to see a better idea of what you are working on in this document.

2) If you have not already, look at the chapter on Instructions in our textbook. Look at it again if you already have. We will be making revisions to your draft instructions on Monday.

Today we will review the Editing Notebook exercises 17-18.

Next, Teams will work on Editing their Proposal. I will want you to apply the Paramedic Method for editing.

1. Print your text--double spaced
2. Split your text so that you work in teams of two
3. Follow the paramedic method
   --circle the to be verbs
   --circle the prepositions
   --identify sentences for revision and ask "How's kicking who?"
   --revise the sentence around a clear SUBJECT (Who) and ACTIVE VERB (kicking).
4. Look also for any other editing and proofreading issues
   At this point, you should not be concerned with content other than varing your word choice here and there.

Editing teams need to complete their editing quickly (by 9:30) to allow time to make final changes and turn in the Proposal.

Teams should PRINT a copy for me and turn it in electronically inside Canvas. These can get to me by the end of today and not be late.

Homework:
1) We will be working in class next time on the remainder of your Proposal. Fruitful things for your team to work on are
--continue to review and revise your draft guide. You should be near a good version for doing Usability Testing on.
--review the materials on Usability Testing in the 4/8 class announcement. The UT-Austin site has a good example of both task-based questions and evaluation measures. Be thinking about HOW you want to test your guide and how you will measure your test participants performance on these tasks.

We are very focused now

--today the first draft of the Usability Test Plan is due
--Wed. the final revised versions of the Proposal will be do. We will have editing time in-class, but Teams should have their revised version in final draft page format. Don't forget MLA Documentation of your sources. Work as a team to complete this. Communicate.

Editing Notebook ex. 17-18 due Wed.

No DBE this week.

Happy Friday!

We will skip class time for DBE replies--please have these done (if you have not already done them) by the end of Saturday.
(Not done your DBE????-- get it done by Sat. and I will still count it.)

Teams have the first ten minutes to update where they are in revising the Proposal and strategize how they will complete the rewrite by next Wed. . Communication is the key. Remember, to please return to using the etherpad for collaborating
*************************************************************************************************************

Next we will do an in-class Team Prewriting exercise for the Usability Test
--pick one person to record answers
--other team members have the resource sites from Nielson, UT-Austin, and our textbook open to create your answers. Be sure to use quotation marks when you are actually quoting word for word.
UT-Austin site on Usability Testing
Nielson's Usability 101
The What, Why, and How of Usability Testing--link

Teams have 25 minutes to create their answers.

*************************************************************************************************************

Next, we will set up drafting for the Usability Test Plan that will be due on Monday.
Once again, we will be using a collaborative Etherpad. Look at the draft parts and split up who will do the initial drafting of the parts.

Homework:
1) Draft parts for Usability Test Plan are due on Monday--posted in c ollaborative writing space.
2) Editing Notebook ex. 17-18 due Wed.
3) 4/19 DBE to be announced
4) Revised Team Proposal due Wed.

We will start today by reviewing the Editing Notebook exercises14-16.

**********************************************
Change in plans
All Teams will need to revise their Proposals. Copies of all the proposals with my comments are in the FILES section of our Canvas class. Although I will give each team a print copy of this feedback as well, I urge all of you to review the proposal drafts from the other groups as well.

I see three main problems in these proposals:

1. A lack of understanding about the Honors Academy and the project we propose to do for them
   --we will review
2. A lack of understanding about the parts of a Proposal and how the document flows from part to part.
3. Poor collaborative writing practice
   --this is your first document to write together, so it is important to learn from what you have done so far and make needed changes.
   --what I see is that too many of you are still writing in isolated parts, keeping parts of the document as individual territory and forgoing the sense that you are each responsible for the entire document.

After our discussion, teams will have time to discuss their plans for revision. All revised drafts are due next Wed.

Teams will need to update their Collaborative Drafting Pad with their latest version and continue to use the Pads for revision.
--be sure to set and keep your colors.

Homework:
1) Substantial first efforts at revising and addressing ALL fundamental content problems in your Proposal draft. Each team member should devote a solid hour at least to working on the document--perhaps starting with a part you are targeted to work on, but then continuing to work on the entire document, reading the entire thing through and making changes as needed.
2) 4/12 DBE is due next time
3) Continue to learn about what usability testing is and how it is done and about what a test plan will be like. See the resource links below.
5) Editing Notebook for next Wed. is exercises 17-18.

How does Usability Testing work?
What is Usability Testing?
The What, Why, and How of Usability Testing--link

Assignment A6: Usability Test Plan

Today we will review and get oriented to what usability testing is and how we will do our test plan.

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Resources for Usability Testing of Websites
Main Resources--
UT-Austin site on Usability Testing--good overview of process and methods, you can follow its approach
Nielson's Usability 101 --review links

Other Materials
from Usability.gov
Chpt. on Usability Testing--http://usability.gov/pdfs/chapter18.pdf
Templates for Usability Testing--http://usability.gov/templates/index.html#Usability
The What, Why, and How of Usability Testing--link
Benefits of Usability Testing: Why Use Usability Testing?
Nielsens Alertbox newsletter: explore other newsletter posts for additional information and guidance
Nielsen on Think-Aloud protocol: very important for everyone to understand this method
More good stuff on Think-Aloud and how to use it in a usability test

Nielsen on "How Many Users to Test"-- http://www.useit.com/alertbox/number-of-test-users.html
(this discussion by Nielsen is important because in your Methods section for the test plan you will need to explain and justify why you are testing only 5 users and not 700--most people will think of "valid" samples from survey methodology where you have to get a large enough sample to get your statistically valid results. Not so for usability testing.)

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Homework:
1) Review the A6 assignment sheet and the links within the assignment.
2) Review some of the links also in our Resources for Usability Testing
3) Editing Notebook for Wed. 4/10 will be Exercises 14-16 in chpt. 11. Try to apply ALL the editing techniques we have used so far, as well as the new ones. I suggest you double-space your example text so you have more room for editing and marking up your text. Suggestion: Try using some of your proposal text.
4) 4/12 DBE on Usability Testing

I am out today working as a judge for the Alamo Foundations Scholarship application essays. You will be in good hands with Dr. Phillips.

What to work on today?

Today is a day to continue working on Low-Fidelity Prototyping of your guide. In other words, work on your first draft of this guide. What you particularly want to do today is SHOW your guide to at least two other people and get their reaction. If you can do more than two, great!

Remember, this is a "low-fidelity" version of your guide. Perhaps you only have an outline or sketch of what should go in it. Show this rough draft to peers, Dr. Phillips, or even you could bother some people sitting out in the hall ("Hey, can I ask a quick favor of you to look at something?")

Watch, listen, take notes, and ask questions regarding this feedback.

The mantra of user-centered design is this: "You are not your user."

This means that your perspective as the designer and creator of your guide becomes different from your users. You can get immersed in your own bubble so to speak, so you must go to users outside this bubble to get good feedback. Don't think your user is dumb if they don't get something--that only tells you where you need to explain more or better.

The goal of this quick and informal testing of your guides is to gain ideas to continue evolving your design of the guide.

Homework for next time:
1) Chapter 14 on usability and 21 on Instructions continue to be important, so look at these again.
2) Look at the A6 Assignment sheet (Note: The due dates have not been updated for Spring, but the general assignment is the same). We will be drafting this Usability Test plan starting next week. Just look at the assignment for now and follow its links to get an idea of what it will be.
3) Editing Notebook for Wed. 4/10 will be Exercises 14-16 in chpt. 11.
4) 4/12 Discussion Board Exploration Topic
Do a general search on the internet of defining what "usability testing" is and how it works. Include a copy of this definition as well as the reference and link where it came from. Also, look on YouTube for examples of usability testing happening. Watch a couple of these videos and find one that you think is a good example of usability testing that shows how it works to novice users. Share this link to the video as well.

Finally, discuss your understanding at this point of what usability testing is, what it is for, and how it works.

Today we will talk briefly about Plain Language.

Then we will be working on Low Fidelity Prototyping for your guides. First we will get a few definitions and examples of low-fidelity prototyping:

• Sentence definition of low-fidelity prototype (notice how it works as a technical definition)
• Low Tech vs Hi Tech prototyping
• Paper prototyping
• Video of a usability test on a low fidelity prototype of a user interface

Things to keep in mind as you work on your low-fidelity prototype

1. What are the NEEDS of your user? (What do they know, not know, and need to know and why?)
2. What is the goal or end point of your guide(s)?
3. Where does your guide start? What entry point or points are there for your guide?
4. What are ALL the steps and sub-steps involved in getting from the starting point to the finish point?
5. Examine all these steps and determine a logical grouping of steps and sequence through your process

For your first prototype, write out this sequence in its first form. Take it to class members to get feedback on how this guide flows and works (this may be done Friday).

As you work on the prototyping with your team, I will go around and figure out the technical definitions that each group will do.

Homework:
1) Please be sure and do the Proposal Team Evaluation in Canvas.

2) Work on your prototype of your guide. This will likely involve "field work" hunting on the web, using GPS, talking to people. A great resource is to actually go to speak with Dr. Lee or Dr. Anderson in the Honor's Academy office.

3) Reading
--Please read chapter 14 on Designing and Testing Documents for Usability and this definition of Usability from Nielson
--Also read chapter 21 about Instructions and Procedures.

Note: The DBE and Editing Notebook will be up later today. DBE on Usability Testing.

Specific "How To" Guides

Team 1: How to create a transfer plan
Team 2: How to explore other majors with the What If tool inside Alamo GPS and change your major
Team 3: How to create a Degree Plan with Alamo GPS

When you discuss the "Scope" section for your Proposal, you will briefly describe this guide you will create. At this point, you don't have to go into great detail.

Added Section for the "Proposed Solution" part of your Proposal:
Our general solution to the problem of the Honor's Academy regarding Intrusive Advising is to create a website with guides to help students and faculty in the Honor's Academy in the advising process. If you have not already mentioned, please add that you will also create a section with key definitions of terms important for advising.

The main goal today is to pull your Proposal out of the EtherPad and into MS Word to format it correctly. Please follow the guidelines for document design principles. Don't forget, that you will need a Cover Page and Table of Contents page as well.

See this Example Proposal

Homework:
1) Do your four responses on the DBE for 4/1 by Wednesday. We will discuss Plain Language next class.
2) Bring in individual versions of what you think your guide should cover and sketch versions of instructions. Particularly wrestle with any "if this___, then do___" parts of your guide.
We will divide up the Key Definitions next class.

Today we will start with you independently checking your answers for the revised sentences for today's Editing Notebook exercise: Check Answers Sentences 1-10 | Sentences 11-20 . Please turn in your Editing Notebook when you are done.

Message to Teams
Feedback on your first draft of the proposal is found in the FILES portion of Canvas. I urge you to peek at your peer's drafts as well because each group did better than others in different parts.

General Feedback:

1. Be sure that you focus the proposal to our client--the SAC Honor's Academy.
2. When talking about Needs/Problems as well as the section of benefits within the Proposed Solution section, you might structure your discussion toward students, faculty, and the college.
   --Honor's students
   --Honor's faculty
   --College
3. Be sure to include within the Proposal section that our website guides will help students and faculty in the Honor's Academy use the Alamo GPS tool for advising. (I missed including that part in a lot of the feedback I gave on drafts.)
4. Everyone is struggling with the Methods section. Describe how you will develop your guide following the Iterative Development Cycle.

Goals for Today:

1. Teams to discuss feedback on Proposal draft
2. Hear from a Faculty Honor's Academy Advisor
3. Set tasks for Final Draft composing and editing

Homework:
1) Final Draft of Proposal is due on Monday. You will have time to complete this draft on Monday, but you will need to do both composing and editing before Monday. I urge you to set a revision deadline for Friday, and then work on collaborative editing between Friday and Monday. Then in class you can do final changes and final formatting.
BE SURE TO CONTINUE ALL COMPOSING INSIDE YOUR TEAM'S COLLABORATIVE COMPOSING SPACE.
COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR TEAM MEMBERS
SET YOUR COLORS AND KEEP THEM
--final draft should follow Document Design Principles and align with Common Page Design guidelines.
2) 4/1 DBE due by Monday
3) New Editing Notebook assignment will be posted later.

Today we will start by discussing collaborative writing and working at a team.

Then your team will have the remaining time to work on your draft of the Proposal. Try to get a good draft by the end of class (if you need your draft to be due by the end of today, that is ok).

Drafting Notes:

1. Although you each may draft a part of the proposal, ALL of the proposal is a responsibility of ALL the team members. No one has "ownership" of or sole responsibility for a part of the draft--everyone owns the entire proposal and everyone is likewise responsible.
   --that means that although one person may draft a part of the proposal, everyone should work on editing and improving that section.
   
2. In the Methods section, you will describe the "iterative development cycle" that you have a handout of. When referencing Usability Testing, be sure to bring in a definition of what usability testing is from our textbook.
3. Leave the Scope section blank for now. This section will detail the individual part of the overall guide that your team will work on. We are still defining these parts.
4. Do ALL your drafting work inside your teams collaborative space inside Canvas.
   --Be sure to ALWAYS set your color when you work in the collaborative space so that your work.

Homework:
1) Complete the Proposal draft by the end of today
2) Continue to talk to people about advising and ask about the process of setting a degree plan. Play around in the Alamo GPS-Degree Plan program inside ACES. We set our tasks next Wed.
--one thing that has come up is the importance of defining key terms (like What is a "core curriculum?"). Think about what key terms we will need to define.
3) Editing Notebook for Wed. 3/27 is in the 3/22 assignment
4) 4/1 DBE is in Canvas and is on "Plain Language." It connects with the work we have done on conciseness.

Teams for the Service Learning Project

To get to your group's collaborative space for drafting the Proposal, go to:
--our Canvas class
--Click COLLABORATIONS in the side menu bar
--You will see YOUR team's collaborative space (EtherPad)

For those who missed class today (Felicia, Latisha, Andres, Satiago), the homework is to work on the draft of the Proposal (A5). The composing tasks are two:

1) The first time you enter your team's EtherPad for the Proposal, BE SURE TO SET YOUR COLOR.
In the upper right you can enter your name and then click the color to set your color. Write in your color by your name in the top part of your etherpad. Remember to always use your color when drafting in the EtherPad space for your team.

2) All team members post their Problem/Needs Statement in to the Problem section of the draft in the collaborative composing space for your team. All team member work on pulling together a single version of the problem statement for your team. Read this guide on collaborative writing.

3) Each team member will compose a draft of ONE of the other parts of the proposal: Introduction, Proposed Solution, Methods, Schedule of Work.
--Your team members who attended class divided up portions in class and have left part for you to write. Contact them to see what to write.

4) Contacting/Communicating with your Team
You can write a them a message inside Canvas, or you can leave a message inside the EtherPad for your team in the side chat space.

Homework:
1) Draft portions of the Proposal due for Monday (composed and turned in inside the EtherPad for your Team)
2) Editing Notebook for 3/27: Read my guide "Revising Sentences Using the Paramedic Method"--http://www.lirvin.net/WGuides/Pmethod.htm. Be sure to read the link in the first line to an excerpt from Richard Lanham's book. Then revise any of the 20 sentences that you have not seen before (some you have already) following the sentence revising principles from this handout and from chpt. 11 exercises 6-10.
3) DBE 3/22 complete four responses to response regarding working in teams.
4) DBE 3/29--no class Friday. DBE will be due Mon. 4/1. See Canvas for topic.

Today we will be meeting in the Honors Academy to hear from Dr. Jonathan Lee, the Director of the SAC Honors Academy.
--CAC 112

In addition, we will form our Teams and discuss what a proposal is as a "genre" (or type of communication).
Teams will be posted here by 1 PM for those who may be absent.

Homework:
1) Editing Notebook ex. 9-10 will be turned in and reviewed on Friday. Look here for next week's Editing Notebook exercise.
2) DBE for Friday (see previous class announcement for topic)
3) Review both chapter 24 and chpt. 5 on Proposals and Working in Teams. Read this to learn the content because you will be applying this material in this project.
4) Individually, write up a draft of the Problem Statement (or Needs Statement) for this Proposal. Bring this in electronic format for posting and some work on Friday. Refer to the Honors Academy Proposal in the FILES portion of our Canvas class as well as the notes you took in our interview with Dr. Lee.

Welcome Back!!!

Today we start our Service Learning Project

Our client will be the SAC Honors Program and its director Dr. Jonathan Lee
Our general proposal will be to create an website with guidance to assist students and faculty with "Intrusive Advising"
--particularly in how to use Alamo GPS productively in the advising process

How We Will Go About Doing Our Service Learning Project (our "method" of production)
--The Iterative Development Cycle

Our First Focus: The Proposal
--A5 Proposal Assignment Description
--Forming Teams
We will form teams on Wednesday
--Scoping the project: what are the parts of the advising process and what separate guides are needed

Homework:
1) Read the A5 Proposal Assignment carefully
--look at the Honors Program Grant Proposal in our Canvas class site under FILES
2) Read chapter 24 on Proposals and Chapter 5 on Working in Teams in our textbook
3) Editing Notebook for Wed. ex. 9-10. Also visit the Garble Fat-Free Links and explore more on conciseness.
4) 3/22 Discussion Board Exploration over Chapter 5 Working in Teams. In Canvas--due Friday

Today we will work on getting our final drafts of the A4 turned in. You will have time to make final changes to both your designs and to your explanations accompanying the designs.

Please turn in two ways:
1) Online in Canvas
2) Print to me
Include the deliverables listed below

Homework:
1) Have a great Spring Break!
2) Editing Notebook ex. 9-10. Also visit the Garble Fat-Free Links and explore more on conciseness. Due on Wed. when we get back.

Today we will start with our editing notebook exercies 6-8.

Then we will have a kind of open workshop time working on our fliers. I encourage you to mingle in the class and see how other people are approaching the redesigns. I will mingle too and try to give everyone some feedback.

Homework:
1) A4 Redesigns are due next class
Your deliverables include:

Document Redesign
1) The redesigned document
2) Document redesign explanation

Flier Redesign
1) The redesigned flier (print and electronic version)
2) The original flier
3) Flier redesign explanation

The explanations accompanying each redesign identifies problems in the original texts document design and describe the changes you made and their rationale in terms of improving the documents design. Each explanation should be approximately 500 words. I will look in particular for you to use the language of our document design principles from both our textbook and from Williams in these explanations.

A4s are due on Friday (even if you miss class, you will be expected to post your redesigns inside Canvas. The actual redesigns will need to be posted as attachments).
(I am a little unclear about posting multiple attachments. In a pinch, these assignments could be turned in via email to me.)

Today we will be a different kind of peer response on our drafts of the document design. I call it Four Minute Response.

Here's how it works:

You will need
--your draft
--the original version
--your critique notes on the original

Half of you will stay in your seat (called The Sitters); the other half will move (called The Movers).

When we begin, a sitter and a mover will pair up together and take FOUR minute turns examining and discussing each person's draft
--discuss problems with the original and choices made to improve the document design
--discuss how effective the new design is
--discuss other options or things that are missing or could be done better in the redesign

I will call the time to switch. Sign your peers document.

Homework:
1) Continue to work on your redesigned document. Next class a draft of your redesigned flier will be due. We will have something of a workshop in class next time. Final drafts of A4 due on Friday.
2) Editing Notebook due next class.
3) No Discussion Board Exploration this week with our A4 due on Friday.

Today we will start with the Discussion Board Exploration and then shift to reviewing our artifacts and critiques of them.

Hwk:
1) 1st draft of your redesign of the poorly designed document due on Monday. Try to start with what you see is not working and then try to use document design principles to redesign the document. --re-read chapt. 13 in the text for the key principles of document design (as well as our handout).
2) The redesign of the flier will be due on Wednesday, so you could work on it.
3) Editing Notebook for next week will be exercises 6-8 in our textbook chpt. 11. Conciseness!

Today I am at a conference in Corpus Christi.

Our goal today is fairly simple:

1. Give the Memo Reports one last close proofreading (with the help of peers)
   --PRINT your draft and hand it to a peer. You should get a draft in return. Then CIRCLE anything you see that does not look right. Move quickly. Don't fix their paper. Just circle suspicious things you think may need correction.
   --do TWO papers if you have time
   At 9:25, all papers are returned to the author for them to begin making final changes
   
   
2. Make any final changes
   --As the author, you decide if what your peer has circles really needs to be fixed or not. Ask a peer or Dr. Phillip's to assist you with any question you may have.
   
   
3. Turn in the final draft into Canvas (in the A3 Memo Report Final Draft)
   --you will copy and paste the text into the textbox
   
   
4. PRINT your final draft (out of MS Word) in its nice final format and turn it in

Once you are finished, you can take off.

Homework:
1) Editing Notebook #4 for next week: Exercise 3 and 5 on page 216-219 in our text. --due next Wed.
2) 3/1 Discussion Board Exploration
Take about 30-60 minutes to do a general web search on "document design" or "document design principles." You might even try YouTube. Pick one to three sites that you found to have interesting and useful information.Share the URL for these sites. Describe what these sites discuss and demonstrate and write about what you are learning about document design that is new and interesting (including information we are discussing in class and from our readings).

--250 word minimum
--4 short 25-50 word responses to peers

Today we will start by reviewing our Editing Notebook exercises for today: Ex. 1-2

Next, we will review the "rhetorical situation" for this Memo Report

WHAT is the subject of the report?
--the results of your inquiry into the subject matter under investigation
WHO is the audience for this report?
--your teacher, others interested in knowing something about the topic who may not know about it
WHAT is purpose for the report?
--to present the findings or result of your investigation/research into the topic; to share what you found out
WHAT is the occasion for the report?
--your beginning a class in TC, the due date when result of the investigation need to be completed
WHAT is the genre for the report?
--the genre is both a "memo report": a short report on research

As you write, keep these factors of the rhetorical situation in mind to help guide you in what is "appropriate" for the report.

A note on Introductions:
The introduction does a lot. Generally, technical documents like reports ANNOUNCE to the reader
--WHAT kind of document they are? WHAT is the purpose and audience for the document (including background providing why the document is geared to fit its particular audience and purpose).

Example for our Water Quality Report example

This report presents the results of an investigation into the water quality of the San Antonio River. It answers the request made by the City Council to provide updated information on the level of pollution in the San Antonio River and is directed toward the City Council in order to assist them in deciding whether efforts need to be made to clean the river up.

... next method of inquiry

The water quality of the SA River was assessed by taking water samples from five locations once a week over a five month period. ...

 

The first two sections of the introduction should do this announcing.

Homework for next class:
1) The final draft of the Memo Report A3 is due Friday. This needs to be brought to class in both print and electronic format.
2) Editing Notebook #4 for next week: Exercise 3 and 5 on page 216-219 in our text. --due next Wed.

Grades:

I encourage you to check your grades. A number of you have a low average right now; however, we are early in the semester, so I urge you to get on track and also come see me for assistance.

***********************************************************************************************************

Class Plan for Fri. 2/15
Today we will start as we have before looking at our Discussion Board Exploration for this week.

Next we will do an exercise to reinforce the principles of punctuation that we are learning. I still want you to study punctuation. You should begin to KNOW why you are placing a particular punctuation mark in a particular place. If you don't, study more.

Finally, we will do an exercise related to the Memo Report.

In-Class Exercise on Topics of Investigation
--go to our forum in Canvas on A3 Topics of Investigation

You have FOUR Topics of Investigation in this report--i.e. the four questions. For each topic you will need to do THREE things as outlined in our A3 assignment sheet.

Many people stumble on the first part: Definition

For this exercise, pick ONE of our four questions and write a short paragraph of two to four sentences that defines what that particular topic is.

Use one of the following sentence starters to get you going:

This question asks _____________________________
To ask _______ means _______________
(To ask what forms technical communication takes means ___________)
This question means _____________
What this question explores is ________________________

Homework for Monday:
1) Draft #1 of the A3 Memo is due next time. This should be a FULL draft in terms of content. Drafts that are not at least 80% complete will be considered as late and lose -10 points. These drafts can be rough grammatically.
Be sure that you do the necessary leg work in terms of understanding the assignment, the particular and relevant readings from the text about how to do it, and your research and processing your research.
--draft due in electronic format so that we can post into Canvas for peer response.

2) Editing Notebook #3 for 2/20
In our textbook work exercises 1-2 in chapter 11 of our textbook pp. 212-216. We also are continuing to note punctuation issues in the Application portion of your editing.
--remember to do the Application portion where you select some of your writing of between 250-500 words and you apply the editing technique to your own writing
--by "apply" I want you to edit to correct at any opportunity you see in your writing, but also identify where you have applied the principle of good writing the editing technique is trying to correct for.
--for punctuation issues, underline punctuation marks you fix or have done correctly and identify which of the five functions this mark is

3) No Discussion Board Exploration for this Week (because of A3 Memo Report)

Today we will look at the Editing Notebook exercises on punctuation and try to reinforce some of the key things go remember about punctuation. Practice Exercises #2 and #3 found at the bottom of this page: http://www.lirvin.net/WGuides/punct.htm .

Then we will talk about the two interviews with Technical Communicators Ugar Akinci and Tom Johnson. We will also talk about a previous Technical Communicator, Mr. Alex Morones, who works for the UTSA Office Information Technology.

Check out these other two definitions of Technical Communication:
1) A YouTube video, "What is Technical Communication" by Carol Siri Johnson from New Jersey Institute of Technology : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi5eZ2XLJc4

2) Also, look at the Occupational Handbook entry for Technical Writer.

Homework for next time:
1) The next DBE is due Fri. 2/15. Topic found in 2/8 class announcement and in Canvas.
2) Compose a brief thank you letter in business letter format addressed to Ugar Akinci. You will want to
--introduce yourself
--explain the reason why you are writing (i.e. our class project)
--thank him for the information on what being a technical communicator is like
--specify a thing or two you learned
(not necessarily in this order)
See chapter 17 on Workplace Letters. Please follow format on page 379 (examples on page 388-390)

Inside address detail:

Your name
c/o Dr. Lennie Irvin
Department of English, San Antonio College
1300 San Pedro Ave.
San Antonio, TX 78212