A Teaching with Technology (TWT) Publication Project
Of the two projects assigned in this class, this is most like a "work-place"
project:
- It is being proposed by someone other than the publication manager--me.
- It's based on lots of background information and written material from
a variety of somewhat relevant sources.
- Your group members are not there by choice; they are assigned (based
on the Technology/Project Survey).
I will be giving your groups copies of the materials collected from several
sources. The sources indicate that a publishing project is needed. Simply
put, teachers of writing (teachers of technical communication, literature,
or composition) are in a tough bind. They must prepare for the content of
their classes AND, at the same time, learn new technologies (email, the
WWW & HTML, conferencing tools, in-lab activities, . . . .) and integrate
them appropriately into their classes. The objective of the TWT project
is to make it as easy as possible for teachers to set up technology-rich
activities in their classes. Some of the questions your group will have
to answer include the following:
- What resources do MTU teachers really need and how do we organize them?
- How can we write so that the information will seem friendly, thorough,
and easy to understand?
- How do we go about making TWT resources available to teachers? In what
form will it be most convenient and useful?
- Step 1: We'll review the Teaching With Technology workshop materials
I've collected over the last few years and extract useful information from
them by answering this question: what do these scholars think is important
to teachers as they try to teach with technology? We'll look at and discuss
two informal research reports on teacher support in the Humanities (completed
this summer). And finally, we'll look carefully at the web site developed
by Ann Kitalong-Will last summer: Teaching With Information Technology/Teaching
in the CCLI <http://www.hu.mtu.edu/ccli/teaching>.
Step 2: Weekly meetings and Interviews--As with any publication
project, your group will be trying
- to identify, write, and edit useful material
- to organize the chosen material into useful and publishable units
- to identify useful publishing formats (fliers, brochures, & manuals)
that take into account the users' needs and the ease with which that information
can be updated and
- to plan a group publishing project from conception to near-carmera-ready
copy.
- Set up weekly meetings and begin compiling useful ideas and information
from the materials presented in class. Start writing your TWT project proposal
(see Step 3). Set up an interview with the teachers who have volunteered
to talk to you about TWT.
-
- Step 3: As a group create a TWT project proposal with content
specifications. Include within the proposal the following items:
a description of the type of print publication your group will be working
on. Include a title.
a communication problem that generated the need for the document and
a purpose statement for the document
some predictable characteristics of the document readers or users and
what you expect them to be able to do after reading your TWT project
(most important) a description of what "content" you will
be working with or developing for your projects and why you think this "content"
is important to teachers.
annotated Gannt charts that show
- in some detail how your group will break down the TWT projects into
manageable chunks,
- who is responsible for each chunk, and
- when the first, second, and final drafts of the written components
of these projects will be due. The group will meet with me and conduct
a review session at each of the draft dates.
- Leave time at the end of the quarter (last two weeks) to put the final
touches on the near-camera-ready copy and present it to the class (beta
review session)
Step 4: Create a mockup of the print publication (greeked text
and phantom graphic and image boxes). This mockup will serve as a starting
point for your TWT project. Hand this in with your TWT project proposal.
Step 5: Follow your Gannt chart process into the 8th week.
Step 6: Begin usability/readability testing on your TWT projects.
Roles to Assume in the TWT Publishing Projects:
At one point or another during the term each group member should take
on the following roles:
- Graphic artists: Everyone should help collect, create, and integrate
graphic elements into the TWT publications and web sites.
- Editor/proofreaders: Everyone in the group will help edit and
proof the copy submitted by writers.
- Writers: Everyone in the group should create copy for the print
and online TWT publications. Make sure to include "by" lines
so I can tell who is responsible for articles. Articles CAN come from others
in the class and anyone you can persuade outside class.
- Usability/readability testers: Together you will need to organize
the testing and readability of your web site and print publication, respectively.
By the 8th week of class be ready to test your projects on advanced and
novice readers. Your final task will be to accommodate what you learn from
this testing in the final revisions of your print publication.
Group Participation Grades:
I will be giving you a simple method of keeping track of your own and
your team members' participation in this project. At the end of the term,
in spite of how uncomfortable most students feel about this process, you
will need to write a short description or formative evaluation of each members'
participation in the group project. I will summarize these comments, anonymously,
for each group member. I will take your evaluation into consideration in
my grading, though my first criteria for TWT Group Project grades will be
the quality and usefulness of the publication(s) your group designs. Poor
participation will drop a person's grade below that given the final project.