Here is our plan for the rest of the semester:

Ultimate Goals:
1) Send our Final Reports to our Clients on Thursday 12/8 at our exam (12/8 12:15-2:45 PM)
2) Report Presentations--Do presentations of our reports during the exam (remember that part of your Final Report grade is attending the final and doing the presentation)

Getting to our goal:
1) Turn in your Final Report today (by the end of class or any time today)
2) I will evaluate your reports and return them to you on Thursday for final changes. This evaluation will include a contingent grade that will be adjusted based upon the changes you make.
3) You make final changes and bring your final version to the Final Exam on 12/8

Today, I will spend some time discussing editing issues and answering your questions. The rest of the class time will be spent working on our reports.

Extra-Credit Opportunity (worth 40 points)

Do a heuristic evaluation using WebAim of the Alamo Community College District home page (http://www.accd.edu) or the Information Technologies home page (http://www.accd.edu/is2/). Write a two-page Findings and Recommendations Report of the website based upon your heuristic evaluation. This report should be written in Memo Report format. I will let you know who to address these memos to on Thursday. A successful report will be clear, concise, informative, and diplomatic.

This report can be turned in any time before the Final Exam.

Today we will review what our final report will look like (A#31). I found a good model for us to generally follow--http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/usability/index.cfm

The bulk of the class time will be a work time to work on the final report. I am slow getting your A#30s back to you, so I will conference with some of you in class. The rest of you will receive feedback from me via email (Eportal or whatever email you have set up for our Moodle class). I hope this feedback will get to you no later than Thursday.

Final Reports are due 11/29. The idea is for me to evaluate these by 12/1 and make any final suggestions. You will make these final changes and bring in your final final report at the time of our exam. We will do our reports at the exam as well as send off our final reports to our clients at the exam.

Today we will spend working in class on our Findings and Recommendations Report (A#30). You have today to perhaps do another user test if you feel like you need it.

I specifically want you to do some "member checking." Member checking is a crucial part of research (especially qualitative research). With member checking you share you result with someone else--both your data and your findings--and discuss together your findings and recommendation. You "check" your conclusions with someone else. This technique is meant to temper some of the problems with purely subjective analysis (i.e. just our impresssions).

NO CLASS NEXT TIME
I will be in Pittsburg at the National Council of Teachers of English Conference

Homework:
1) A#30 is due. Please turn it in to our Moodle class by next Thursday into the A#30 Discussion Forum. Do BOTH within the message you create in this discussion forum to turn in your paper
--Copy and Paste the report into the message (it will mess up the formatting...)
--Attach a copy of your report to the message (preferably in RTF format)

2) For next Tuesday, do THREE peer responses to reports. Please write 50-100 words responding to the report.

Today is our last day of testing. I urge you to finish off your user testing and even your heuristic evaluation here in class. The goal from here is to start working on your A#30: Findings and Recommendations Report

We are going to do a hybrid document, so let me summarize the parts of this assignment (the full assignment will be ready later today, hopefully):

Summary of Findings and Recommendations

Summary of Data
>User Test
>Heuristic Evaluation

Findings and Recommendations

Success Findings
>Finding #
>Recommendation #
(repeat)

Problem Findings
>Finding #
>Recommendation #

Overall assessment of Website (pull it all together)

Homework:
A#30 is due 11/17. Please read Chapter 24 to see something of an example of how to handle data and write a report. Also, page 327 on Recommendation Reports may be helpful.

Today, we do a "beta test" of our Test Plans. We will each get to test our test. Before we get started, though, I will

• provide you with a bit more information about "think aloud protocol"
• review our testing procedure
• demonstrate briefly how you view results of Heuristic Evaluation via WebAim

Homework:
1) Write a reflection on how your beta test of your test plan went. Identify what parts of your plan may need adjustment. Also, identify what parts of your testing procedure and data collection methods may need adjustment. Post this reflection into the "Beta Test Reflection" discussion forum inside our Moodle class (preferably no later than this evening). By next class, I want you to write a 25-50 word minimum response to four of your peers' reflections.
2) Make adjustments to your test plan.
3) Have everything ready to begin testing on Thursday. (We will have next Thursday, Tuesday, and the following Thursday to do the testing.)

Today, we will be spending a bit of time exploring the notion of "Style." It will be a bit of a scavenger hunt. I would like you to explore these two sites and pull out FIVE examples of "style" that strike you some how. (It is fine to copy and paste out text into a word document). You will then paste these examples, accompanied by a brief discussion by you about what you see "style" as being about, into our Moodle course in a discussion forum I set up.

Garbl's Editorial Style Manual
A Style Manual for Technical Communication

The second half of class will be devoted to working on our test plans.

Homework:
1) Finished revised draft of test plan due next time.
2) Explore more about Style
a) Do a web search on "style manuals," particularly the Chicago Manual of Style
b) Explore Common Errors in English

Today we will begin the class doing some editing on your A#29s. After this editing work, final polishes will be put on these documents and they will be sent to your client. (I urge you to request feedback by the end of the week or Monday at the latest, and for this feedback to come to you via email--it is faster).

Schedule/Assignment Update:
I have adjusted our assignments. Rather than doing A#28 as Instructions-B, we will be doing A#28 as "Revised Test Plan." I have updated and made this description of what needs to be in the test plan more complete. The revised draft of this test plan is due on Tuesday 11/1 when we will conduct a beta-test of your task scenarios and of a heuristic evaluation.

You will then make final adjustments to your test plan and have it ready to turn in on Thursday 11/3 when we actually start our testing.

Homework:
1) Work on revising your Test Plan. A#28.

Today we will get oriented to Assignment #29, the Progress Report and Letter of Inquiry. This report will actually go to your "client," so we will work today on feeling out the context for this piece of writing.

After we discuss the assignment and the goals for this piece of writing, we will do the Audience/Context Analysis here in class and post these into our Moodle site for review and comment.

Homework:
1) Complete Assignment #29
2) Review Chapter 13 on editing.

Today in-class:

We shall perform "user-testing" of your Contextual Help Documents. Once we finish these user testing sessions, you will perform last changes and edits to your Contextual Help document and turn it in. Please include the User Testing sheet with your notes on it as well.

Special Note: I am backed-up with mid-term assignments to grade, so I do not have your test plans graded yet. I should have them next class. I also do not have the assignment sheet for A#29 ready yet. In general, though, you will be writing a letter (you decide if print or email) to your "client" asking a few more questions you may have about your project. Also, you will provide them a brief update on your project progress. It is your option whether you want to include your draft test plan or not.

Homework:
1) Review Chapter 17 and 18. You can get started on A#29 from the general description above if you like.

Today we will work in-class on our contextual help assignment. I know a number of you may be confused (even frustrated), so I will spend the class checking with each of you on your particular help object.

Plan for next class:
Arrive with your A#27 completed. What we will do is pair up and test these instructions. We will share our Audience/Context Analysis and then user test our help file with our peer. Based from this "user testing," you will then make final changes and revisions to your contextual help file.

Homework:
A#27 is due next time. Please seek to incorporate elements of document design from Chapt. 15 into how you present your help.

A#26: Proposed Test Plan due 15 minutes after the start of class. Put any final touches to your document, print out a copy, and turn it in. (by 9:40)

If you turn in yours early, I encourage you to read More on MOOs in preparation for our next A#27. Also, you can explore the enCore v4 help guide (we will be working on the enCore v5 help guide).

Other resource sites related to enCore:
enCore Open Source Project Home Page
enCore Consortium

Homework:
1) Read chapter 22 on Instructions
2) Study your help context/task. Write a draft of the first part of your A#27: Audience/Context Analysis

Today we will be working with your drafts of the Proposed Test Plan.

Please post your draft (such as it is) to the "Test Plan Draft" forum inside our Moodle class. Once you get your draft posted, please read and respond to three other people's drafts (look at as many as you can). Keep responding until 10:00.

A note on responding: Please respond as a fellow writer. User your writer's perspective and writer's wisdom to guide your responses. We are all working together to put together professional and useful documents. What help can you provide?

At 10:00 we will do a Reflection upon your draft.

Homework:
1) A#26: Proposal of the Usability Test Plan is due at the beginning of class on Tuesday. Please come into class with it finished on diskette. Useful chapters to review are Chpt 15 on Document Design, Chpt. 23 on Proposals (remember, we will follow the format detailed in A#26). This is a draft, so do the best you can at this point. You will end up revising it as you approach the real testing time and when you submit your final report.

We will begin today be getting back our A#24s and A#25s. I will cover a few items.

Next, we will post our draft of the first three parts of the Test Plan: Purpose, Problem Statement and Test Objectives, and User Profile inside our Moodle course site. We will read and respond to these posts.

Shared Measures (VERY IMPORTANT)
We will be sharing two sets of measures in our test plans:
1) Rating scale for measuring feedback from User Testing--Severity Ratings for Usability Problems
http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/severityrating.html . This will be the rating scale you use to rate the performance of participants as they do your scenario tasks. Remember, we will be using the five quality components of usability according to Jakob Nielsen (Usability 101: Introduction to Usability) as the broad criteria for usability evaluation.

2) Heuristic Evaluation of Web Site Accessibility using WebAim
http://www.webaim.org (We will conduct a brief evaluation of a website to see how it works.)

In addition, we will share at least two questions in our post-task evaluation interview:
1) What were your impressions of the web sites appearance?
2) What were your impressions of the web site layout and design?

You will come up with your own individual questions for the other post-task questions.

It is VERY IMPORTANT in your Usability Test Plan that you explain and define your evaluation measures. As you use information from outside sources, YOU MUST DOCUMENT THEM CORRECTLY.

Homework:
1) Please read about Discount Usability Testing: http://www.useit.com/papers/guerrilla_hci.html . Come to class ready to discuss how many test participants we will need to use for out testing and why. I encourage you to search for more information on "Discount Usability Testing."
2) Complete an entire draft of your Usability Test Plan. Try to get through as much of a draft as you can.
3) You will be able to rewrite either A#24 (individually) or A#25. These rewrites are due in one week. You need to make sure and 1) edit by marking your returned draft, 2) write comments for revision goals on the usability checklist sheet, 3) include these two items with your final draft (along with my grading feedback sheet on the original).

Today we will review the Assignment #26: Proposal of the Usability Test Plan. We will look over the assignment and then view this report (http://www.ablongman.com/barnum/pdf/bladefinalreport.PDF. ) as an example. We should peek at one more usability test.

The main bulk of the class will be a practice Usability Test of the SAC Home Page. Oh boy!

Homework:
1) Read Chapter 12 and review chpt. 16.
2) Write a draft of the first three main parts of the Test Plan: Purpose, Problem Statement and Test Objectives, and User Profile. Have these on disk ready for posting in class. We will share and comment on these in class next time
3) Continue to search on your own for information and methods for testing the usability of a web page. Come to class next time with any sites you found particularly helpful and interesting.

IF YOU DID NOT TURN IN YOUR PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL FOR THE LAST PROJECT, PLEASE DO SO NOW.

Today's agenda: to turn in your Technical Description (A#25) by the end of class.

Here is how to proceed:

1. Provide me with your hand drawn graphics for scanning.
2. Print a copy of your Description
3. Work with a peer or peers to edit your description
   --edit grammar and readability
   --evaluate based upon Usability Checklists for a Technical Description and Document Design
4. Receive you document back, and incorporate changes. Revise and edit yourself.
5. Insert graphics.
6. Final proofreading--get someone else to read over your piece looking for little surface errors.
7. Make changes and print.

Note: MANY of you had trouble with Assignment #24 (Technical Definition) because you did not follow the guidelines described and exemplified in our text. Be sure you are following and attempting to do what our textbook describes for this kind of technical writing document.

Homework:
We begin work on our Usability Test Plan. It will be VERY important that you begin your project with these activities:
1) Read chapter 23 on Proposals. We will present our Usability Test Plan as a proposal.
2) Read the Usability Test Report, especially pages 11-16 (the section detailing the Test Plan): http://www.ablongman.com/barnum/pdf/bladefinalreport.PDF. Our report will be somewhat different, but it provides a close model for us to use.
3) Also, read "Usability Testing of World Wide Web Sites" published by the U.S. Department of Labor: http://stats.bls.gov/ore/htm_papers/st960150.htm. Be sure to click the "Sidebar" illustrations. Our eventual report will include both "Heuristic Evaluation" and "Scenario-Based Testing."
4) For more resources on Usability Testing, check out http://www.ablongman.com/barnum/
Please note: I will have Assignment #26 updated and ready for us by Thursday. It will include a clear "template" for all of us to use for our Usabilitity Test Plan Proposal.

Today, we will start by discussing how our group project went. We will be doing this inside the enCore v5 site. (I will guide us.) If you have not written down your enCore v5 login information, check the message you should have gotten from me about access (it was sent about two weeks ago). I have you access info also if you need it.

After we finish our discussion, we will focus on Assignment #25.

Homework:
1) Come to class with as complete a draft of A#25 as you can. BRING your drawn graphics because we will scan and insert them into your document during class (if you haven't already done this). We will do final edits and document design adjustments in class.
2) Review this page on document design http://www.io.com/~hcexres/tcm1603/acchtml/page_design.html . Read it all. It is good.
3) Processing our discussion. Read through the transcript of our discussion in class (it should be in your eportal email). Pick out two quotes from the transcript and paste them into a new document. Then write a 150 word minimum reflection on what you have taken from this group project experience that will be important to you the next time you are working on a project.

Your group's completed Technical Definition is due by the end of class. Regardless of any missing group members, please complete the assignment as well as you can. (If your group does not finish, it is not the end of the world. The assignment will be considered late (-10%) and will need to be completed within a week.)

In your assignment, be sure to
--use quotations correctly
--document these quotations correctly according to MLA Documentation Style
--edit carefully for correctness and readability

Homework:
1) Fill out a performance appraisal on each of your group members.
2) Read chapter 21, 14 and 15. Begin working and thinking about Assignment #25.
3) Continue to learn more about usability testing on your own. See some more of Lannon's resources.

Today we begin work on Assignment #24: Technical Definition. You will have this class period and the next to complete this assignment.

We will first review what a technical definition is and what the assignment will entails. Next we will form our groups.

Group Tasks:
1) Review the entire assignment and discuss it together.
2) Review Neilson's Usability 101: Introduction to Usability and your assigned term.
3) Next, do the Audience Profile together. The Audience Profile should be posted by the end of class into your groups Moodle forum.
4) Plan your groups work strategy for completing this assignment on time. See Chapter 6 on group work.

Homework:
1) Read Chapter 16. Assignment #24 Definition due by end of class 9/20.
2) Work on Assignment #24. Your group should know what it has designated to do.

IF YOU MISSED CLASS TODAY, THE GROUPS ARE LISTED BELOW. CHECK YOUR GROUP'S BULLETING BOARD INSIDE MOODLE AND TRY TO GET CAUGHT UP WITH THEM THERE.

Highlighting three important standards for this course

On Grammatical Correctness
Readers of professional and technical communication take grammatical correctness for granted--it is expected. You will be judged harshly if your communication has errors in it.

On Readibility
True effectiveness and efficiency in communication comes from readible writing--concise, clear, and appropriate.

The Importance of Audience Awareness
"...in order to explore the feelings of [my audience], I engage wholeheartedly in a consideration so careful, that I scent out with all possible keenness their thoughts, judgments, anticipations, and wishes, and the direction in which they seem likely to be led... " (Cicero De Oratore, II, XLIV).

Homework for next class:
1) Read Chapter 20 and 12. Review Chapter 6 on working in groups.
2) Look at Assignment #24. Try doing some general websearching trying to investigate what usability testing is and specifically usability testing for websites. See also A#31.

Our first order of business will be to determine who will do what website.

Once we figure these assignments out, we will work with a partner on our Audience Profile. Look on page 36 and begin writing your Audience Profile (as a separate document). I'm looking for more than short answers! Talk with your partner about the audience analysis and then begin working on this profile here in class.

Next, we will shift to discussing the Resume. I'm going to give your a few minutes to find a resume that you like from the web. Save the URL. Then we will get into enCore v5 and talk about these Resumes as we look at some. What is good. What is bad. Format will be important in how your resume is received, so I will want you to take special care with your formatting.

Homework for next class:
1) Assignment #22 and #23 are due. Bring them in on diskette. BE SURE TO EDIT YOUR PIECES CAREFULLY!!! I will have a short letter from me to accompany your materials. Be sure to include the Audience Profile. We will do the Usability Checklist for the assignments in-class on Tuesday (but it might not be bad for you to look them over).
2) Read Chapter 19.

Today we will work on two main things: 1) sharing and turning in your Assignment #21s; 2) talking about ethics in communication.

Assignment #21
1) To get started, form a group of four or five and share your EPortal email addresses amongst the group.
2) Send your email with your attachment to all of your group members.
3) Take some time reading the emails and attachments of your peers. Discover any problems with this assignment anyone is having.
4) Lastly, send your email and attachment to me at Lirvin@mail.accd.edu

Ethics in Communication
We will be spending some time using a particular website to discuss some ethical issues. Then we will talk about some of the ethical considerations concering our website usability project.

Homework for next time:
1) Read Chapter 18 and 24. Look at Assignments #22 and #23 (due 9/13). Begin pulling resume material together.
2) Decide on target website for next class.

.

Please start today by checking your answers for exercises #15-19. Correct (edit) your own answers in a different colored pen or pencil.

Next, post your assignment #22 within the Forum for Week 1-2. Once you post yours, spend a few minutes glancing at some of the sites your peers post. Try rating them!

Next, we will do an inclass exercise on Persuasion. The topic is in the Persuasion Forum.

The last few minutes of class we will discuss Assignment #21.

Homework:
1) Finish the last three responses for the persuasion exercise (done within our online learning environment).
2) Read the rest of Chpt. 5 and Chpt. 6. Also, read Chapter 17, especially pp. 400-406 on electronic mail.
3) Assignment #21 is due on Tuesday when you come in to class.
Note: Please save your file (attachment) as a Rich Text Format document. See this help guide for how to save in RTF.

Please start today by looking over the answers for exercises #7-14 in Lannon. You can find them in our online learning environment. As we did last time, correct sentences that you missed (realizing that there are many different ways to revise these sentences--fix them only if you missed the editing goal for that exercise). Please use a different colored pen or pencil

Next, we will hear from the groups last time and look at their editing explanations for Ex. 2-6. Following that, I will highlight some of the editing in exercises #7-14 as well as introduce Richard Lanham's Paramedic Method.

The last fifteen minutes of class will be reserved for discussing our Analytical Report (Assignment #31).

Homework:
1) Read pages 269-285. Work exercises #15-19 and #22. Write up your answers. (Note: #22 is a brief memo to classmates.)
2) Review A#31 and begin exploring various websites within SAC that you think might be appropriate to conduct your study on.
3) Read Chpt. 4-5, pp. 43-81.

Welcome back to Technical Writing. Here is today's agenda:

A) Review policies for class.
B) Review what "technical writing" is (from readings and last class).
C) Work with a partner to go through your answers for exercises 1-6. Fix problem sentences right on your own paper. Note: These sentences were due when class started. Class time is not the time to do or complete these exercises. You can fix sentences you have already done, but if I see that you are doing your homework in class you will receive a zero for this assignment.
D) Last we will work in groups of four to create summaries of the editing goal for each of our exercises (to be explained more). We will do these summaries and then share them.

Homework for next class:
1) Read Chapter 3 and Appendix C.
2) Read Chapter 13, pp. 253-269. Write out your answers for exercises 7-14 on a separate paper.
Note: All worked turned in must have appropriate title information including your name, date, our class section, and the title of the assignment.

Good morning and welcome to Technical Writing (2311.004). As we wait for class to begin, please take some time to explore our Syllabus.

We will be focusing today on getting to know one another and to familiarizing ourselves with the goals of the course and our online learning environment.

Homework for next class:
1) Read Chapters 1-2 in the Lannon textbook, pp. 1-26. Also, Chapter 13 pp. 243-253.
2) Work exercises 1-6 in Chapter 13. Write out answers on a separate paper.
Note: All worked turned in must have appropriate title information including your name, date, our class section, and the title of the assignment.