Assignments
These are the major assignments for the course (with links to the detailed assignment pages). The assignment sheets, sample assignments, and worksheets will be available in a SugarSync folder shared with the class.
E-Portfolio and Course Blog
Electronic portfolios are an increasingly common vehicle for developing a professional online identity. Professionals are beginning to create them and employers are beginning to expect them. Employers are interested in e-portfolios for a variety of reasons: they provide multiple writing samples, display skills with computers and new media, and require reflection and meta-knowledge. Professionals like e-portfolios because they help them keep track of their projects and accomplishments. As an on-going and final course assignment, you will design an e-portfolio using the Penn State Blogs environment. The portfolio will include work from this course and perhaps from others, as well as reflective blog posts (13 of them) on the course and your use of the iPad. You will create your e-portfolio for an audience of potential employers.
Basic Rhetorical Analysis
Technical communication is meant to be used and not just read. Good technical communication communicates information to an audience who will act on that information in a variety of ways: in making hiring decisions, in following technical procedures, in developing research plans, and more. In this assignment, you will evaluate the usability of a piece of technical communication--that is, you will analyze whether the document effectively communicates the necessary information to its audience and where it fails to do so. In this way, the assignment will introduce you to basic elements of technical communication.
Internet Resource Guide
Through this assignment, you will become familiar with online communication resources specific to your field of study, including research tools, professional societies, and other Internet sites that members of your field should find useful. You will present and describe those resources to other members of your field in a technical guide. You will need to make decisions about organization, format, and style as a means of creating a usable document for readers. And you will need to learn to write effective abstracts.
Job Application Package
The process of applying for a job is an extremely important scenario for technical communication. As a job applicant, you have a vested interest in communicating your suitability for the position with the specific audience making employment decisions. This assignment will ask you to create resumes and application documents attuned to the rhetorical situations of two actual job offerings in your field. You will also discuss your writing and communication decisions in a reflective memo.
Instruction Set
Instruction sets are common technical documents for many disciplines and occupations. Employees read instructions to learn how to assemble a product or complete a procedure. Supervisors write out company policies that oftentimes serve as instruction sets. Customers read instructions for using a product. You will develop a set of instructions advising users to perform a specific task.
iPad Report
Engineers and scientists are often asked to reflect on work they have done. This often occurs in progress reports, but also often occurs in other types of reports. For example, an employee might be asked to describe and reflect on his or her use of a new piece of equipment or procedure. In this assignment, you will be asked to reflect on your use of the iPad throughout this term. This report will be addressed to administrators at Penn State who are in a position to decide to continue or abandon the use of iPads on campus.
E-Portfolio and Course Blog
Electronic portfolios are an increasingly common vehicle for developing a professional online identity. Professionals are beginning to create them and employers are beginning to expect them. Employers are interested in e-portfolios for a variety of reasons: they provide multiple writing samples, display skills with computers and new media, and require reflection and meta-knowledge. Professionals like e-portfolios because they help them keep track of their projects and accomplishments. As an on-going and final course assignment, you will design an e-portfolio using the Penn State Blogs environment. The portfolio will include work from this course and perhaps from others, as well as reflective blog posts (13 of them) on the course and your use of the iPad. You will create your e-portfolio for an audience of potential employers.
Basic Rhetorical Analysis
Technical communication is meant to be used and not just read. Good technical communication communicates information to an audience who will act on that information in a variety of ways: in making hiring decisions, in following technical procedures, in developing research plans, and more. In this assignment, you will evaluate the usability of a piece of technical communication--that is, you will analyze whether the document effectively communicates the necessary information to its audience and where it fails to do so. In this way, the assignment will introduce you to basic elements of technical communication.
Internet Resource Guide
Through this assignment, you will become familiar with online communication resources specific to your field of study, including research tools, professional societies, and other Internet sites that members of your field should find useful. You will present and describe those resources to other members of your field in a technical guide. You will need to make decisions about organization, format, and style as a means of creating a usable document for readers. And you will need to learn to write effective abstracts.
Job Application Package
The process of applying for a job is an extremely important scenario for technical communication. As a job applicant, you have a vested interest in communicating your suitability for the position with the specific audience making employment decisions. This assignment will ask you to create resumes and application documents attuned to the rhetorical situations of two actual job offerings in your field. You will also discuss your writing and communication decisions in a reflective memo.
Instruction Set
Instruction sets are common technical documents for many disciplines and occupations. Employees read instructions to learn how to assemble a product or complete a procedure. Supervisors write out company policies that oftentimes serve as instruction sets. Customers read instructions for using a product. You will develop a set of instructions advising users to perform a specific task.
iPad Report
Engineers and scientists are often asked to reflect on work they have done. This often occurs in progress reports, but also often occurs in other types of reports. For example, an employee might be asked to describe and reflect on his or her use of a new piece of equipment or procedure. In this assignment, you will be asked to reflect on your use of the iPad throughout this term. This report will be addressed to administrators at Penn State who are in a position to decide to continue or abandon the use of iPads on campus.