LMC 3403, Technical Communication

LMC 3403 E | MWF 3:05-3:55PM | Skiles 302

Instructor: Dr. Jason W. Ellis | Office: Hall Building, 009 | Office Hours: MWF 2:00-3:00PM or by appointment | Contact: jason.ellis@lmc.gatech.edu | Twitter: @dynamicsubspace

Class Description: Borrowing ideas from Donald A. Norman’s Living with Complexity (2010), we can think of Technical Communication is a way of managing complexity. Using rhetoric, research, and process, we can make complex information, tasks, and technology far easier to understand, accomplish, and use. In order to accomplish these things, we need to focus our use of WOVEN (written, oral, visual, electronic, and nonverbal) modes of communication on the needs of our readers. However, we must base our strategies and approaches on clearly articulated goals and firmly established research; we must test our deliverables for usability; and we must revise our deliverables to meet our clients’ requirements. Above all else, as technical communicators, we must follow professional and ethical codes of behavior. In this class, you will learn about these important aspects of technical communication through daily exercises, hands-on activities, and collaborative service-based projects. Required Texts: Anderson, Paul V. Technical Communication: A Reader-Centered Approach. 8th edition. Boston: Wadsworth, 2014. Other readings made available by email or on T-Square under Resources.

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Required Resources: Lego Set with between 150-200 bricks and instructions. Best bets: Pink Brick Box (4625) or Lego Farm Brick Box (4626) [available @ Lego, Target, Amazon, etc.] Laptop: Unless directed otherwise, you should bring your laptop to class each day. Software: Office suite of applications capable of producing files in DOCX, PPTX, and PDF formats. Ability to print color and b/w documents and print poster size material (easily available in the library and the Multimedia Studio) Recommended Resources: WOVENtext is Georgia Tech’s Writing Program official handbook—you have five years of access to this when you purchased it for ENGL1101/1102 (http://ebooks.bfwpub.com/gatech). Lynda.com is a high quality training resource that Georgia Tech provides access to students. Journals in the field available through the library: Journal of Business and Technical Communication, Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, Technical Communication, and Technical Communication Quarterly. Usability.gov is an important website from the Department of Health and Human Services that provides information and methodologies for improving user experiences (UX). Grading Policy Due dates are provided for assignments on the tentative schedule. Instructions for these assignments will be given to you with plenty of time to discuss them with me or your peers before they are due. Should you have any questions, concerns, or issues about an assignment, you MUST speak with me BEFORE an assignment is due, because ALL GRADES FOR THIS COURSE ARE FINAL. This means that I will not entertain student arguments for grade changes after an assignment is completed. Also, failure to complete any major assignment in the course may result in the failure of the course as a whole. Should you find yourself having trouble, you MUST speak with me BEFORE an assignment is due. I will not listen to any arguments after an assignment is completed. Your work will be assessed holistically according to the programmatic rubric available here: http://goo.gl/zili5L.

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Major Assignment Grade Distribution Unit 1: Technical Communication Foundations: Reader-Centered and Process-Driven

Deliverables: Multimodal set of instructions for a Lego-based model of your design

10%

Unit 2: Getting a Job and Communicating in the Workplace

Deliverables: Job application portfolio, elevator pitch presentation, and mock interview report.

15%

Unit 3: Service-Learning Research Project

Deliverables: Each team proposes, researches, creates, tests, revises, and presents a deliverable that addresses a campus or community need. The deliverable might be a poster, brochure, video, website, etc.

30%

Final Portfolio Deliverables: The final portfolio collects examples of your work and contributions to team-based assignments from the entire semester. After choosing representative samples of your work, you write reflective essays about your rhetorical choices across the WOVEN modalities.

15%

In-Class Writing Deliverables: Daily writing that briefly identifies and analyzes an example of technical communication.

10%

Reading Presentations Deliverables: Notes, PowerPoint, and in-class presentation on readings from Technical Communication.

10%

Participation Attendance, timeliness, and engagement are expected of students for success in this class. In addition to my observations of your in-class contributions to discussion and teamwork, I will base this grade on daily assignments, quizzes, and other indicators of extended class-focused involvement and activity.

10%

Total 100% Teaching Philosophy and Standards for Professor Performance I understand the value of a Georgia Tech education and I know the challenge involved in achieving it, because I graduated from Georgia Tech with a B.S. in Science, Technology, and Culture (STAC). My experiences as a Tech student inform, in part, the way that I design and teach classes. This means that I choose intellectually interesting and exciting source material, I

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encourage students to engage and participate in discussion and in-class exercises, and I make myself available as a mentor to my students. I have a tremendous amount of hard-won knowledge that I enjoy giving to my students. You should also know that I extensively draw on my research interests in American literature, postcolonial literature, neuroscientific discourses, digital literacy, and computer history in the implementation of my courses. You can expect me to:

• Be professional inside and outside the classroom.

• Treat you like an adult in a professional and respectful manner.

• Be prepared for class. • Attend class regularly. • Respond promptly to email

communication. • Adhere to my policies and standards. • Be available for student meetings with

an appointment. • Maintain a positive attitude. • Be a problem solver. • Offer thoughtful, constructive criticism

on your work. • Be a coach, instead of a “sage on the

stage,” in the classroom. • Be a mentor.

You should not expect me to:

• Accept notes or other documents from third parties excusing you from class or other activities.

• Respond favorably to excuses of any kind.

• Answer emails or phone calls from parents, guardians, or other third parties.

• Be available outside my office hours without an appointment.

• Respond favorably to any argument for missing my class or leaving my class early because of activities in another class.

• Make exceptions to my policies and standards.

• Grant make-ups. • Accept late work without a pre-

arranged extension. • Answer emails on the weekends.

Standards for Student Performance Another important aspect of the Technical Communication class is developing your professionalism. Expect to be held to these professional standards in our class:

• Respect deadlines. In the workplace, you will be held to a high standard of making and meeting project deadlines. I do not accept late work unless the student speaks with me about arranging an extension. I do not guarantee extension, but I often grant them if there is a documented, compelling need that is identified before an assignment is due.

• Do not expect make-ups. In the workplace, there are consequences for poor performance or incomplete projects. Likewise in our class, you should not expect any make-up opportunities for late or incomplete work. Students who participate in school sanctioned absences (e.g., in-season athletics) are a possible exception, but it is the responsibility of those students to meet with me before assignments are due to discuss and establish a plan for the individual student.

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• Arrive on time for class and stay for the duration of class. Being late or leaving early can be disruptive and are disrespectful in any situation, especially in the workplace. I assign partial absences to students who arrive late or leave early, because those students miss a portion of the class lecture, exercises, or team participation. Students who are perpetually late run the risk of receiving a failing grade in the class.

• Respect others. Following a workplace example, we will treat our class as meetings. This means that you should not disrupt class with texting, phone calls, or unnecessary computer sounds. Furthermore, you should respect the people who you work with in class on daily assignments or major projects. Give one another your full attention, your attention to detail, and your vast wealth of expertise. In addition, be receptive to constructive criticism and provide it in full measure to your classroom colleagues.

• Maintain a positive attitude. Many of your projects will be collaborative. Having a negative attitude can influence your and your teammates’ performance and success. Put your best foot forward regardless of any situation’s challenges.

• Be a problem solver. This is the best strategy for maintaining a positive attitude. The workplace is replete with problems, miscommunications, and difficulties. In any job or situation, we should work toward solutions, compromises, and successful communication. This involves identifying where the problem lies, figuring out a solution, applying the solution, evaluating its success, and revising if possible until the problem is fully resolved (or as resolved as possible). This class gives you many opportunities to be a problem solver in preparation for the higher stakes of the workplace.

Communication The best and most efficient way to contact me is by email. Please feel free to email me with your questions about the readings, assignments, or anything else pertaining to the class. While I am not an official advisor, I can offer first-hand advice and I can point students toward Georgia Tech resources for student success. I will not discuss grades by email, but I will be happy to discuss student grades in person during my office hours or by appointment. Please feel free to stop by during my office hours, but please send me an email beforehand so that I can prepare for what you would like to discuss. I will send official announcements to the class by email. Each student is expected to check her or his email prior to class. Office Hours I encourage students to meet with me outside of class to discuss their classwork and other university-related matters. Before meeting with me during my office hours, I appreciate receiving a brief email letting me know the time and topic of our conversation. If you cannot attend my office hours, please include your weekly schedule in your email so that I can pick a time that we can meet on MWF when I am on campus.

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Digital Activities and Resources In our class, all of your major projects and daily assignments will have some kind of electronic component. Therefore, students will need their laptop in class each day unless otherwise instructed. For some of your projects, you will need to use software and online technologies to create videos, presentation slideshows, and websites. I do not require you to own the software and equipment that you will need to accomplish this. While you will likely use a camera or iPhone as your video camera, you can also check out equipment such as mini-DV camcorders or iPads from the library’s Gadgets and Multimedia Equipment (http://www.library.gatech.edu/gadgets/). The library’s Multimedia Commons also has the Adobe Creative Suite including Dreamweaver, which you can use to build your website. The library provides on-going workshops on the software you will need to use in our class (http://www.library.gatech.edu/calendar/libclasses.php). Additionally, Georgia Tech has institutional access to Lynda.com, the technology tutorial website. This is an invaluable resource that I highly recommend. Programmatic and Shared Policies Go to http://goo.gl/zili5L for common LMC 3403 policies on Learning Outcomes, Evaluation Equivalencies, Evaluation Rubric, Attendance, Participation in Class, Non-discrimination, Communication Center, Accommodations, Academic Misconduct, Syllabus Modifications, Week Preceding Final Exams (WPFE), and Reflective Portfolio. Tentative Schedule I believe that classes should be organic and adaptive for each group of students. Therefore, I reserve the right to alter the following tentative schedule depending on the needs of the class as a whole. However, major assignment due dates will remain unchanged. If you have suggestions for supplemental readings or viewings, please share them with me. If you have questions about the course content, please speak with me. Week Day Date Reading/Announcements Work Due

UNIT 1: Introduction to Technical Communication

1 M 1/6 Syllabus on T-Square Class introductions and discuss

syllabus.

W 1/8 Discussion: What is technical communication? Technical communication: rhetorical, reader-centered, multimodal (WOVEN), dynamic, ethical, and solving problems.

Print out and sign the syllabus policy and use forms on the last page of syllabus.

F 1/10 Signup for reading presentations. Discussion: What is complexity and (perceived) simplicity?

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Analyze an example of TC at beginning of class on T-Square (Analysis).

2 M 1/13 Technical Communication (TC) Chapter 1: Intro Introduce Unit 1 Project: Learning Technical Communication Basic Skills Building Brick-by-Brick with Lego.

Analysis. Discussion: Why should we follow a user-centric/reader-centric focus?

W 1/15 TC Chapter 3: Defining Your Communication’s Goals

Analysis.

F 1/17 Library Tour: Meet in the rotunda entrance of the library.

3 M 1/20 Official Holiday, No Class W 1/22 TC Chapter 4: Planning for

Usefulness TC Chapter 5: Planning Your Persuasive Strategies

Analysis. Proposal draft workshop.

Submit your proposal to T-Square. Bring three printouts of proposal for workshop.

F 1/24 TC Chapter 28: Writing Reader-Centered Instructions

Analysis.

4 M 1/27 TC Chapter 17: Revising Your Drafts TC Chapter 18: Testing Drafts for Usefulness and Persuasiveness Visit: usability.gov

Analysis. Test your instructions with classmates. Conduct interviews. Revise instructions as needed.

Submit your draft instructions to T-Square. Bring instructions deliverable to class (print or online for new media).

W 1/29 TC Chapter 23: Writing Reader-Centered Letters, Memos, E-mails, and Digital Exchanges

Analysis. Discuss and begin project summary memo.

Bring copies of your proposal, photo of Lego model, instructions, and interview questionnaire results.

F 1/31 TC Chapter 8: Drafting Reader-Centered Paragraphs, Sections, and Chapters

Analysis.

Unit 2: Getting a Job and Communicating in the Workplace

5 M 2/3 Introduce unit 2 Major Project:

Job Application Portfolio TC Chapter 2: Obtaining a Job

Analysis. Discuss job application portfolio and job advertisements.

Submit Unit 1 Deliverables to T-Square.

W 2/5 TC Chapter 11: Beginning a Communication

Analysis. Cover letter workshop.

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F 2/7 TC Chapter 12: Ending a Communication

Analysis.

6 M 2/10 TC Chapter 9: Using Nine Reader-Centered Patterns for Organizing Paragraphs, Sections, and Chapters

Analysis.

W 2/12 Independent workday: Do not meet in our classroom.

During class time, find an example of TC around campus, take a photo of it with your phone, and write a brief analysis of it. Email your response to jason.ellis@lmc.gatech.edu.

F 2/14 TC Chapter 10: Developing an Effective, Professional Style

Analysis.

7 M 2/17 TC Chapter 20: Creating and Delivering Listener-Centered Oral Presentations

Analysis.

W 2/19 TC Chapter 13: Writing Reader-Centered Front and Back Matter

Analysis.

F 2/21 TC Chapter 24: Writing Reader-Centered Proposals

Analysis.

8 M 2/24 TC Chapter 27: Writing Reader-Centered Progress Reports

Analysis.

W 2/26 Mock interviews. F 2/28 Mock interviews. Last day to

drop individual courses with a “W” grade.

Unit 3: Service-Learning Research Project

9 M 3/3 TC Chapter 21: Managing Client

and Service-Learning Projects Introduce Unit 3 Service-Learning Research Project.

Analysis. Submit Unit 2 deliverables to T-Square.

W 3/5 Form teams. Class pitches. F 3/7 TC Chapter 19: Creating

Communications with a Team

Analysis. Research project meetings.

10 M 3/10 TC Chapter 6: Conducting Reader-Centered Research: Gathering, Analyzing, and Thinking Critically About Information

Analysis. Team studio time.

W 3/12 TC Chapter 7: Using Five Reader-Centered Research Methods.

Analysis. Team studio time.

F 3/14 TC Chapter 16: Designing Reader-Centered Pages and Documents

Analysis. Team studio time.

11 M 3/17 Spring Break W 3/19 Spring Break F 3/21 Spring Break 12 M 3/24 TC Chapter 14: Creating Reader- Analysis.

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Please remember to contact me if you have any questions about the class at any time during the semester. And remember to hang in there:

Centered Graphics Team studio time.

W 3/26 TC Chapter 15: Creating Eleven Types of Reader-Centered Graphics

Analysis. Team studio time.

F 3/28 Telepresence meetings with team members. Instructor will participate in each meeting virtually.

Videoconferences.

13 M 3/31 TC Chapter 22: Creating Reader-Centered Websites

Analysis. Team studio time.

W 4/2 TC Chapter 26: Writing Reader-Centered Feasibility Reports

Analysis. Team studio time.

F 4/4 TC Chapter 25: Writing Reader-Centered Empirical Research Reports

Analysis. Team studio time.

14 M 4/7 Analysis. Presentation workshop.

W 4/9 Analysis. Team studio time.

F 4/11 Analysis. Team studio time.

15 M 4/14 Team presentations. Submit Unit 4 deliverables to T-Square.

W 4/16 Team presentations. F 4/18 Team presentations.

Final Portfolio 16 M 4/21 WPFE. Portfolio workshop. W 4/23 WPFE. Portfolio workshop. F 4/25 WPFE. Portfolio workshop. 17 Final exam

week, 4/28-5/2 Final portfolio due on T-Square by the end of your section’s final exam period. No late portfolios will be accepted. Carefully note your section’s deadline below. LMC 3403 E, MWF 3:05-3:55: April 30 (Wed), 2:50-5:40PM

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Composite image created by Mark Warbington.

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Syllabus/Policy Acknowledgment and Permission Statement PLEASE READ, SIGN, AND RETURN THESE STATEMENTS BY DAY, DATE. I affirm that I have read the entire syllabus and policy sheet for ________________ and understand the information and the responsibilities specified. ____________________________________________ print name ____________________________________________ signature ____________________________________________ date DIRECTIONS: Read carefully and check all that apply.

o I give my instructor, JASON W. ELLIS, permission to use copies of the work I do for this course, as examples in this and other courses, as examples in presentations, and in print and electronic publications.

o I do NOT give my instructor, JASON W. ELLIS, permission to use copies of the work I do for this course, as examples in this and other courses, as examples in presentations, and in print and electronic publications.

Please indicate whether you want to be acknowledged if your work is used:

o Please use my name in association with my work.

o Please use my work, but do NOT acknowledge me. If your instructor decides to use your work, he//she may wish to contact you. Please provide your contact information below: _________________________________________________________________________ print name _________________________________________________________________________ signature _________________________________________________________________________ email address _________________________________________________________________________ phone number _________________________________________________________________________ print permanent address _________________________________________________________________________ print campus address _________________________________________________________________________ date