Professional Writing Orientation (Fall 2008)

Wednesday and Thursday, August 20 and 21, 2008, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Heavilon 227.

All new instructors should plan on attending these two full days of PW Orientation. Continuing instructors are invited to attend any and all sessions. Instructors of English 420 "Business Writing for Entrepreneurs" should plan on meeting with John Spartz from 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. on Wed., August 20 at a location TBA.

Professional Writing Website's Teacher Resources. This node on the website offers content about the program, approved course goals and guidelines, templates, course technologies, grading and assessment, examples from previous semesters, and more. Please take a look before orientation starts to see what's there. Explore the Technologies and Documentation nodes also.

URL for Support Team: http://pw.english.purdue.edu/support

Materials and Information to Bring

  • PW Online Access Code (get yours from Cathy Archer in Heav 302)
  • Career Account username and password (the first part of your Purdue email account and your password, if you have them already)
  • USB flash drive or recordable CD so that you can save files in the event you don’t yet have a Career Account.
  • Drafts or materials developed for previous classes

Orientation and Support Team

Wednesday, August 20, 2008 (9 a.m. - 4 p.m.; Heavilon 227)

9:00-10:15 Getting Acquainted, Introduction to the Professional Writing Program (Program Goals and Courses, Student Demographics)and Resources on the Program Website (Student Information Sheet etc.)
10:15-10:30 Break
10:30-11:45 Overview of ENGL 420: Syllabus, Course Goals, Major Projects, and PW Online
Lunch (on your own)
1:00-1:45 The Employment Project. See the sample project and calendar sequence.
1:45-2:15 Using Drupal Effectively, Developing Course Materials, Preparing for Day 1
2:15-2:30 Break
2:30-4:00 Drupal Workshop for new and continuing instructors.

Thursday, August 21, 2008 (9 a.m. - 4 p.m.; Heavilon 227)

9:00-10:00 Course policies, evaluation, feedback, etc. Check out the Rubric for Scoring Complex Projects (Word file; or PDF format) and the Rubric for Scoring Service Learning Group Projects (Word file; or PDF format)
10:00-10:45 Survey of Course Projects
10:45-11:00 Break
11:00-12:00 Options for other 420/421 projects
12:00-1:00 Lunch (on your own)
1:00-2:30 Developing Course Materials and Projects in Drupal
2:30-2:45 Break
2:45-3:45 Discussion of instructor goals and Q & A
3:45-4:00 Preview of English 505M