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Subject:revising a tw course From:Joe Pellegrino <joe -dot- pellegrino -at- charter -dot- net> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 12 Dec 2003 16:25:01 -0500
Gentles,
It's the end of another semester teaching tech writing, and I'm itching
to revise my syllabus. I'm wondering what projects you think should be
included in a beginning tech writing course. I'm afraid that my
requirements, once pretty stringent, have become less so as software
gets more sophisticated and students become more familiar with document
design principles.
Here are the projects I currently require, each with its own strictures
and guidelines:
1. a machine-readable resume
2. a cover letter
3. a personal web site
4. a group web site
5. a tri-fold brochure
The group sites and the brochures are really the hard work in the
semester. The group must target an academic area (usually a department
at the university), approach it as a customer, arrange meetings with
them, get input, do a mock-up, produce a deliverables document,
distribute the workload and develop internal deadlines, collect or
produce the necessary content, survive editing by the customer, and get
it done within the timetable. I prefer that they write the html in
something like notetab lite and do images in gimp (I have them download
those and openoffice at the beginning of the semester).
The brochures involve another department (usually the department that
houses each student's major), and he or she must produce something that
the department can use for a Career Day, or a symposium on majors.
While I would like students to use pagemaker, the campus doesn't have a
site license, so most of them just use either openoffice or word.
What do you think? I noticed that many students had time on their hands
in class, and that makes me think that this workload is too light. Is
this too much of a bunny course now? Is there another assignment I
should include? Should I ditch any of these?
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