Maymester 2003
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Section 0201
Heavilon 227
M-F, 7:30 a.m. -9:30 a.m.
Dr. David Blakesley
Office: Heavilon 302c
Hours: M-Th, 9:30 a.m. -10:00 a.m. and by appt.
Ph: 765.494.3772
Fax: 765.494.3780
blakesle@purdue.edu

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For Project 3, our class will function as a consulting firm whose goal is to serve clients interested in either revising or developing World Wide Web pages. Your team will be working with an actual organization to help it better utilize the potential of the WWW. You will use knowledge generated in the eCommerce project to help with identify recommendations for the Corporate Web Project.

project summary

Because of time constraints during Maymester, I have chosen a client for you: the Council of Writing Program Administrators, which is a nonprofit organization that sets polices for and serves the interests of writing program administratiors and writing instructors in the U.S. and abroad. The organization is interested in radically updating its Web operations to include eCommerce models that will foster better communication with its constituencies, help it manage membership via the Web, and provide unique advantages for its members using digital technologies, including archives, newsletters, public policy and media contacts, and more. The organization wants a recommendation on how to achieve some of these goals. Each team in the class will be responsible for a particular aspect of the ultimate recommendation report that will go to the client. In the process, you will have the opportunity to interview officers of the organization in person and electronically. Once you have completed your team's initial research, you will prepare and present an oral progress report addressed to our class. Based upon feedback on your oral progress report, your team will draft its portion of a recommendation report addressed to your client. Following peer feedback on your team's first completed draft, your team will revise and polish its recommendation report and submit it for evaluation. All team reports will be assembled into one large report addressed to the client.

project goals

This project emphasizes several important goals that all professional writers should bear in mind and that are consistent with those of the Professional Writing Program at Purdue and with professional writing in the workplace. In the Corporate Web Project, we will focus on these particular course goals:

Writing in Context
Analyze professional cultures, social contexts, and audiences to determine how they shape the various purposes and forms of writing, such as persuasion, organizational communication, and public discourse.

Writing Process
Develop and understand various strategies for planning, researching, drafting, revising, and editing documents that respond effectively and ethically to professional situations and audiences.

Collaboration
Learn and apply strategies for successful collaboration, such as working and communicating on-line with colleagues, setting and achieving project goals, and responding constructively to peers' work.

Technology
Develop strategies for using and adapting various communication technologies to manage projects and produce informative and usable professional documents.

Document Design
Learn to argue with visual data, understanding and implementing various principles of format, layout, and design of professional documents that meet multiple user and reader needs.

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project summary | project goals | components | resources | grading | revision | top

Project Components

Client Field Research (20% of project 3 grade)

After being assigned your component of the project, your team will plan and conduct field research on your client context. To assess your client's Web needs and prepare for the oral report, your team will conduct at least one interview, as well as collect documents from the client organization (WPA).

Oral Report (20% of project 3 grade)

After conducting and analyzing your team's initial field research, your team will draft an oral report addressed to our class; your presentation should be accompanied by a PowerPoint slide show. Your team will deliver its well-coordinated and scripted, 10-15 minute presentation on Thursday, June 5. Be certain to consult "Considerations for OR" for information concerning the delivery of your team's presentation. This report should include the basic recommendations that you'll include in your final recommendation report.

Recommendation Report (60% of Project 3 grade)

After delivering your oral progress report, your team will draft its recommendation report addressed to your client. Your team will email its completed 1st draft to an assigned exchange team and me by 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, June 10, for in-class peer review. After individually reading the exchange team's draft, your team members will meet in ProNoun to respond to a peer feedback prompt. The final draft of your recommendation report is due by Thursday, June 12, in Word format in the 420 Turn-In folder, by the beginning of class. As a group, we will assemble individual recommendations reports into a comprehensive client report during class. Your team should also turn in a printed copy of your work to me on June 12.

There will be five teams formed, each with a recommendation report due on one of these five focus areas (titles are for draft purposes only):

1. Commerce: Collecting Membership Dues Online by Credit Card
2. Membership Portal: Tracking Membership in an Organization through an Online Portal
3. Membership Resources: Providing Access to an Organization's Vital Information and Digital Archives, Opportunities for Discussion, and Dissemination of News and Announcements
4. Executive Board Portal: Secure Spaces for Online Decision-Making, Voting, and Document Cycling
5. Offline Systems for Managing Online Databases

project summary | project goals | deliverables | resources | grading | grading criteria | revision | top

resources

In addition to the discussion and materials available in PW Online (Corporate Web Project), here are the direct links to the various assignment sheets:

Field Research
Oral Report
Considerations for OR
Recommendation Report
Peer Response for Recommendation Report
Reference Sheet for Formatting

grading

When I assign a grade to your project, I will measure your work against the models discussed in class and will pay particular attention to see whether your team has effectively adapted the documents to your client's needs. As always, the writing will need to be precise, accurate, and well-suited to that context and to the rhetorical problems you faced in this project. I will also use your collaborative project evaluation form to determine individual grades.

revision

Because the final draft of the recommendation report is due at the end of the semester, you will not have the opportunity to revise after receiving a grade. However, you're invited to submit a draft to me for review at any time during the project.

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