Instructor and Course Information

English 421Y, "Technical Writing Online"
Instructor Name: Tracy Clark

Sections: 01-01 and 02-01
(Online) Office Hrs: I check e-mail several times a day.
Office: Heavilon 404
Ph: 765.496.1650
Fax: 765.494.3780
E-Mail: clark9@purdue.edu

Overview

English 421 helps students become better technical communicators, whose work is characterized by the presentation of technical material in written and visual formats that are user centered and aware of audience and context. The course and its principles are grounded in rhetorical theory and informed by current research in technical communication.

Communication across multiple audiences and for multiple purposes continues to be a desired skill set in technical and professional fields. Beyond field-specific knowledge and experience, successful and ethical communication drives the professional world. This class, in content and form, models these successful communication practices. Working individually and in groups, students learn effective strategies for communicating about and with technology, particularly in networked workplaces and through usability testing. To achieve success in this course, students must display the ability to succeed in their future workplaces by developing a variety of informative and visually effective print and electronic documents.

This course attempts to find a middle space between the daily assignments, F2F discussion, and interaction of an onsite course and the self-pacing student may expect of distance education courses. This course uses three modules to work through each project. Keep in mind that this course is not completely self-paced, but students can work ahead on a several assignments and, ultimately, can have more flexibility and responsibility within the course structure. See below for a more detailed description of the project modules and self-pacing.

Required Texts

• Technical Communication Today, 2/e, by Richard Johnson-Sheehan. This book may be purchased at any campus bookstore, or online.
• All other course readings will be provided on the course site or via links to sources off-site.

Course Goals

These are general course goals outlined by the Professional Writing Program. Instructors will articulate how each specific project incorporates the course goals.

Writing in Context

• Analyze the invention, manufacture, and distribution of technologies in context and use writing to communicate these attributes in a variety of media and genres.
• Write to the different levels of technical expertise of a range of audiences and stakeholders to foster technical understanding.
• Understand the ethical implications of working within the nexus of technology and culture.

Project Management

• Understand, develop and deploy various strategies for planning, researching, drafting, revising, and editing documents both individually and collaboratively.
• Select and use appropriate technologies that effectively and ethically address professional situations and audiences.
• Build professional ethos through documentation and accountability.

Document Design
Make rhetorical design decisions about technical documents including

• understanding and adapting to genre conventions and expectations of a range of audiences including both technical and non-technical audiences
• understanding and implementing design principles of format and layout
• interpreting and arguing with design
• drafting, researching, testing, revising visual design and information architecture
• ensuring the technical accuracy of visual content

Teamwork
Learn and apply strategies for successful teamwork, such as

• working online with colleagues to determine roles and responsibilities
• managing team conflicts constructively
• responding constructively to peers' work
• soliciting and using peer feedback effectively
• achieving team goals

Research
Understand and use the research methods and strategies necessary to the production of professional documents, including

• working ethically with research participants, subject matter experts, and technical experts
• locating, evaluating, and using print and online information selectively for particular audiences and purposes
• triangulating sources of evidence
• selecting appropriate primary research methods such as interviews, observations, focus groups, and surveys to collect data
• applying concepts of usability research, such as user-centered design

Technology
Use and evaluate the writing technologies frequently used in the workplace, such as emailing, instant messaging, image editing, video editing, presentation design and delivery, HTML editing, Web browsing, content management, and desktop publishing technologies.

Project Modules and Self-Pacing

This section of 421Y finds the half-way point between the course goals of improving your writing process and collaboration skills while also meeting your expectations as a distance education student. After the first week, our only due dates will be Wednesdays and Fridays for most assignments, and on other days you will be reading, conducting peer review, and working on your projects. Each student should be responsible and flexible in completing each week's work since you have some, but not complete, freedom to pace yourself.

The course is broken down into three modules centered around the course's three major projects. Here are some guidelines to help you understand how self-pacing, peer review, and collaboration will work:

• Students may work ahead on reading responses.
• Students or groups may work ahead within each project, but only within that project, and they must submit peer reviews in a timely manner, when due.
• Students or groups can not work ahead on peer reviews. Begin reviewing and responding on the day that drafts are due.
• In group work, each student must maintain contact with other group members. Check your email daily, and use your course group space effectively.
• Reading responses, comments, and give-and take in the blogs must be submitted weekly. The requirement is that you submit one reading response per week (generally due every Friday) and that you write only five (5) follow-up responses per week to blog posts submitted by your peers..
• In Projects 2 and 3, project logs must be submitted weekly. You'll create a blog post, tag it appropriately (e.g., "Project 2 Log, Group 3") and post it by the end of the day on Fridays. You'll be given specific instructions for what your project logs should include.

Course Projects and Activities

1. Quick Guide Project

For this first major project, you will produce a document containing written and visual instructions for completing a specific task, using a specific software program -- otherwise known as software documentation. Software programs to be covered will be selected through a random drawing; each program assigned is included in the ITaP suite, so you'll have an opportunity to work with the program outside of class time. Besides the actual documentation, you will also produce document specifications; these will describe in detail your proposed documentation and its representative characteristics: target audience, user level, steps and visuals, and the type of document used to convey this information (flyer, brochure, booklet, website, etc.). Another important component of the Quick Guide Project is usability testing, during which at least one classmate will read through your documentation and then actually complete the process under conditions similar to those that your target audience will encounter. Before the usability testing session, you'll need to interview your tester(s) to determine their familiarity with the process you've documented, and then produce a testing "script," in order to facilitate the testing process and anticipate possible "issues" or "irregularities" that testers might encounter). Following the usability testing session, you'll need to produce a brief report in which you discuss observations you've made during testing, as well as discuss testing results. (Individual; 25% of course grade.)

2. White Paper Project

The focus of Project 2 is the white paper, a common report genre in the professional world. White papers are used in business, industrial, and governmental contexts to sum up the gist of what’s known about a subject. During this project you will learn about

• the white paper genre through collaborative creation of a white paper.
• new writing and communication technologies that support technical writing in college and industry, with attention to open source and other freely available software or writing spaces (online networks, blogging, etc.)
• collaboration, project management, and strategies for writing and revising.
• producing a text for the web in HTML that integrates visual content, such as screenshots, tables, and flowcharts

All group members will keep a project log and submit Collaborative Project Evaluation forms.

(Collaborative: 25% of course grade.)

3. Technical Marketing Materials Project

For Project 3, you will work in groups of 3 or 4 to produce a technical marketing document for technology-based products. This project consists of two stages: planning and production. As was the case for the White Paper Project, credibility is essential. This project will feature the added dimension of creativity, or techne, in presentation of technically-oriented information. We'll work with document templates within either Adobe InDesign CS2 or Microsoft Publisher -- that way, you'll gain experience with professional-looking documents without spending a lot of time and energy learning an entire program!

Each student will keep a weekly project log in his or her individual blog. You will be asked to email the instructor a collaborative evaluation form after you've submitted the final version of Project 3.

(Collaborative; 25% of course grade.)

Weblogs/Reading Reponses

Much of your writing for this class will be posted publicly on the Internet to your individual weblog or our community weblog home page. Weblog posting assignments will include drafts, project logs, and research notes, among others. See posting to your weblog for more information. The calendar specifies what you should post to your weblog and by when, so let that be your guide.

We will have many readings each week, and you are responsible for writing one, 250-word blog post. The reading responses will function to synthesize the readings and your reactions to them, much like class discussion. Please refer to guidelines on how to post a reading response. NOTE: Generally, you won't have to cover all assigned readings within one blog post; more likely, your posts will focus on specific issues from specific readings.

Comments and Replies

In addition to posting an individual blog once a week, you are required to post five (5) comments and replies (e.g., follow-up responses) each week to the blog posts (reading and other responses posted by others) appearing on our course's front page. Keep in mind that individual blog posts, and the comments and replies that ensue, will replace the sort of class discussion you would see in an on-site setting. Your comments and replies should be spaced out over at least three days -- again, to replicate class discussion as much as possible. Each should be, at minimum, 100 words each.

All comments on classmates' blog posts, as well as replies to classmates' comments on your blog posts, should follow effective rhetorical strategies for networking with others on the Web. (Readings from the course text provide guidelines to follow.)

• Keep threads alive and relevant.
• Follow-up comments with further discussion.
• Think of your comments and replies as part of a lively class discussion in which everyone participates.

Our activity online substitutes for in-person discussion in interesting (and sometimes deeper) ways. Of course, you are always welcome, and encouraged, to post beyond thsese minimum requirements. The course calendar includes reminders about meeting this ongoing obligation for participating in class discussion.

The format and focus of your weblog comments and replies is described fully in these Guidelines for Posting Comments and Replies. Please bear in mind that your online interaction is the glue that holds the course together, makes collobaration possible, and helps you achieve the course goals. For these reasons--and because we are not meeting F2F--your engagement in these online discussions will require serious and consistent attention throughout the course. It won't be possible to make up missed postings later since the discussion will have already moved on.

(Individual, 25% of course grade)

Grading

Quick Guide Project	25
White Paper Project (collaborative)	25
Technical Marketing Materials Project (collaborative)	25
Weblogs, Reading Responses, Project Logs, etc.	25
Total	100%

The three major projects in the course will be comprised of several components, each of which will be worth a percentage of your final grade. For the two collaborative projects, students will complete the required Collaborative Evaluation Form.

All major assignments will be graded on the standard letter-grade scale: A=100-90 B=89-80 C=79-70 D=69-60 F=59 or below.

Students must participate in all of the three major projects and complete a majority of the required weblog posting assignments in order to pass this class.

Class Participation, Reading Responses, Peer Reviews

This portion of your grade will be based on

• How well you implement the guidelines and best practices for posting comments and creating reading responses, as presented on our course site and discussed in the textbook.
• The degree to which your your peer reviews and responses offer insightful feedback and suggestions on your classmates' drafts.
• The degree to which your reading responses and comment posts demonstrate learning of the course content.
• The degree to which your reading responses and comment posts engage with and contribute to the learning of others in the course.
• A class participation and reading response self-evaluation which you will complete at the middle and end of the semester.

Revisions

You will have an opportunity to revise the first two major projects twice, and the final project once, subject to the following guidelines:

• First revisions are due 10 days after graded originals are returned. Second revisions are due one week after graded first revisions are returned.
  
• Revisions must involve significant changes to content, organization, tone, attention paid to writing situations/target audiences, and/or research. Minor grammar/mechanics "fixes" do not constitute revision.
• Revisions must be e-mailed to clark9@purdue.edu. Do not post them to individual blogs, or to group-authored story posts.
• Late revisions submitted up to 12 hours after midnight on the day that revisions are due will be graded, but will not receive comments. Late revisions submitted after that time will not be graded, and you will forfeit further opportunities to revise the project(s) in question.

Technology Requirements

In order to participate fully in the course, you should already be able to use the technology platform and applications listed below.

• Mac OS System or Windows XP or Vista
• Microsoft Office (Word and PowerPoint) or Mac Office (Word) and Keynote
• Web Browser (e.g., Firefox, Safari, Netscape Communicator, or Internet Explorer)
• Email Program (e.g., Purdue Webmail, Outlook, Eudora, Thunderbird, Gmail, etc.)

Technology Responsibilities

Because the exchange of information and documents in this class will be entirely electronic, familiarity with certain technologies is crucial for participation and success in the course. If you need any assistance now or at any point during the semester, please do not hesitate to ask.

During the semester, you'll need daily access to the Internet and email. Because the course home page is the main locus of the class community, you are responsible for reading and keeping current with all weblog postings on the home page, including those submitted by both the instructor and your fellow students. You'll be responsible for configuring your system to access course materials, to read course email and participate in online discussions, and to submit your work. Very early in the semester, you will be asked to demonstrate that you can meet these responsibilities:

• Register for the course website and complete your profile information.
• Post a message about yourself and your interests
• Read the course description and calendar, then ask questions when you are uncertain about requirements or activities.
• Set up your @purdue.edu email or an alternative that you can access regularly and reliably
• Become proficient sending and receiving email attachments, resolving file compatibility issues, and following email decorum.
• Check the course calendar daily for the timely completion of assignments.
• Become proficient participating in the class Drupal space
• Become more proficient with unfamiliar computer technologies and applications, such as the creation of PDF files.
• Maintain back-up copies of all assignments via your home directory, disks, USB drives, or CDs.

If at any time you have problems accessing the Internet from home, you'll need to find a public lab or connection point. Problems with computers will not be an excuse for falling behind or failing to complete required assignments. If your Internet goes down, use another computer. If your computer breaks, use another computer. In other words, find a way to complete the assignments on time. Because computer problems are a fact of life, always work to complete your assignments early and make frequent backups to multiple media.

Course Technologies

• Course Website (running on Drupal)
• Dreamweaver (Web Editor)
• Powerpoint, Word, Keynote, Google Docs (for collaboration)
• Acrobat and Acrobat Reader
• Adobe Connect (for group meetings, as needed)

Collaborative Work

Collaborative work is a required component of the course. You and your project team members are responsible for updating one another and me about assignment development and progress. In addition, you also are responsible for negotiating together all aspects of your work, including planning, drafting, revising, file managing, and scheduling of assignments. When a collaborative project is assigned, you will receive explicit guidelines for successful collaboration. Individual group members will complete collaborative evaluation forms. For more information about good principles of collaboration, see the brochure, Group Work and Collaborative Writing <http://dhc.ucdavis.edu/vohs/>.

Attendance

Since this is an online course, your attendance at a physical location is not required. However, you will need to demonstrate active involvement in the course activities by keeping up with reading responses, project logs, and other coursework. You will also need to respond to course email promptly to ensure that good communication flows in all directions. More than one continuous week of absence from course activities is grounds for failure of the class. If you disappear for a few days here, another few days there, and some more later, then your final grade may be lowered, and you will likely see your class participation suffer and your collaboration fail. In addition, if you are frequently "absent" from the online discussions (i.e., you fail to post for several days at a time), your final grade may be lowered.

Academic Integrity

Purdue students and their instructors are expected to adhere to guidelines set forth by the Dean of Students in "Academic Integrity: A Guide for Students," which students are encouraged to read here:

http://www.purdue.edu/ODOS/services/gradeappeals.htm

The preamble of this guide states the following: "Purdue University values intellectual integrity and the highest standards of academic conduct. To be prepared to meet societal needs as leaders and role models, students must be educated in an ethical learning environment that promotes a high standard of honor in scholastic work. Academic dishonesty undermines institutional integrity and threatens the academic fabric of Purdue University. Dishonesty is not an acceptable avenue to success. It diminishes the quality of a Purdue education, which is valued because of Purdue's high academic standards."

Academic dishonesty is defined as follows: "Purdue prohibits "dishonesty in connection with any University activity. Cheating, plagiarism, or knowingly furnishing false information to the University are examples of dishonesty." [University Regulations, Part V, Section III, B, 2, a] Furthermore, the University Senate has stipulated that "the commitment of acts of cheating, lying, and deceit in any of their diverse forms (such as the use of substitutes for taking examinations, the use of illegal cribs, plagiarism, and copying during examinations) is dishonest and must not be tolerated. Moreover, knowingly to aid and abet, directly or indirectly, other parties in committing dishonest acts is in itself dishonest." [University Senate Document 72-18, December 15, 1972]"

IMPORTANT: I will assign a grade of F (zero) to written work that violates this policy, and reserve the right to fail policy violators for the course. I also reserve the right to initiate proceedings with the Dean of Students, for particularly egregious cases of academic dishonesty. If you have any questions about this policy, please ask.

In Case of a Campus Emergency

In the event of a major campus emergency, course requirements, deadlines and grading percentages are subject to changes that may be necessitated by a revised semester calendar or other circumstances. You can acquire updated information from the course website, by emailing me, or by contacting me through the English Department at 765-494-3740.

Late Work

The instructor will stick closely to the course calendar -- it is important that you keep up. When possible, you may certainly complete assignments early, but you must complete them on time. Much of what you do for this class quickly leads to another assignment. And often, your postings and comments are part of a larger discussion that will not wait for you. It will also be difficult for you to do your part in group projects if you miss assigned deadlines. Thus, the majority of missed class assignments cannot be made up. If a serious and unavoidable problem arises, however, you should contact your instructor by email prior to the deadline to determine whether or not an extension for the work will or will not be granted. Late work will rarely, if ever, be accepted without prior approval.