Perspectives on Learning Experience Online

Perspectives on Learning Experience Online

Subject: General Questions    / General General Questions   
Question

Week 1 discussion

Perspectives on Learning Experience Online (LEO)

This might be your first class in LEO. Or you might have taken quite a few classes in LEO.

LEO, or Learning Experience Online, is the interface UMUC uses in delivering its online classes.

Please respond to this discussion thread and mention one issue you might like to see improved in the LEO interface. If you have taken classes in LEO before, you can draw upon your previous experience. If this is your first class in LEO, you can peruse the interface and gather ideas.

In your response, please write what the issue or function is that you would like to see improved. Then write one or two sentences describing why it needs improvement.

In addition, consider what Jameson says in her article about tone in writing. Imagine if you were to write to the designers of LEO and mention these items you feel could be improved. Please draw upon one or two points in Jameson's article and discuss how your tone would best be managed when writing to the individuals at LEO. You might especially consider pages 335-336, in which Jameson discusses Jack R. Gibb's analysis of tone.

This discussion is related to our first writing assignment.

DQ2

Response to Todd Riley

Please read through the following problem-based scenario about a credit card company manager who receives an application for a credit card from Todd Riley, who is not old enough to apply for a credit card without a cosigner.

Then write a short response to Todd as the scenario describes. Your response should be about 150-200 words in length.

This might be considered a conventional “bad news” situation. Nonetheless, consider whether you are really giving Todd bad news. He can, after all, get a credit card if he takes some extra steps.

In addition, please respond to at least one other student's post in this discussion thread. In your response to a fellow student, comment on the organization, word choice, tone, or whatever else you feel is appropriate. Please draw upon the Jameson article in your response to your fellow student. Your response to the other student can be two or three sentences

Problem-Based Scenario

You are the credit manager for FlashExpress, a growing credit card company, and your department receives hundreds of applications for credit cards each month. Frequently, you receive credit card applications from individuals under the legal age who are applying for a credit card. Legal regulations prohibit you from issuing a credit card to underage applicants unless a parent or other guarantor cosigns with them. If the minor does not pay, then the guarantor becomes responsible for the account. In addition to requiring a guarantor, FlashExpress requires underage applicants to fill out an additional supplemental form.

In your role as credit manager, write a letter to Todd Riley, a 17-year-old underage applicant, responding to his request for a credit card. Consider your audience, the context, and the purpose of your letter. Your letter should explain that you have enclosed a necessary supplemental form, along with a new credit card application, both of which need to be filled out. The guarantor must sign both forms. To expedite processing, Todd should mention on the top of the application that he has applied for credit previously and should return the application and supplemental form directly to you.

 

Week 2 discussion

Consider This an Invitation

We have been discussing developing the critical ability to identify your audience accurately. Unit 2: Understanding Your Audience, addresses this need in detail.

This can be crucial to generating a meaningful report, or a compelling proposal. Audiences are first and foremost people. That is what we mean when we speak of reader-centered writing, where the focus is on writing to a particular audience: its needs, preferences, biases, likes and dislikes, talents, habits, educational level, level of understanding of the subject. This is an opportunity to practice writing to an audience of one person.

For this Discussion, first choose anyone besides yourself who posted in Week Zero Introductions. Got that? Good. You are about to write that person a short note.

You are writing in your capacity as Entertainment Chair for your organization's Benefit Show for Friday, June 3. You've just learned that the stand-up comic you'd scheduled for a five-minute segment to open the show can't make it, but it occurs to you that the person you've selected from Week Zero posts would be ideal, based on the information she or he provided in their bio.

Please create a new topic titled [person’s first name], We Need You!

In a paragraph (two at most) please explain your dilemma and why, based on what you know from their bio, you think they'd be perfect to fill in as the stand-up comic.

If someone else writes you, you may of course respond, with acceptance, or regrets.

DQ2

General Odierno on Ethics

In your Module Reading this week, you will see a brief discussion on Ethics. You can find it by following this link: Commentary.

Recently, General Ray Odierno discussed the topic of professional ethics in a Symposium. Please read the full article http://www.army.mil/article/130849/CSA__Ethical_dilemmas_pose_tough_calls_for_Soldiers/

After reading the article, please answer EITHER question 1 or question 2, AND question 3.

1. In military life, have you seen examples of this progressive compromise in your own career? Without violating any confidentiality concerns, briefly describe the situation or process you encountered.

2. In civilian life, either in academics or in business (or even in personal circumstances), have you seen developing issues that seem to support or contrast with General Odierno's concerns? Without raising confidentiality issues, describe them.

3. What did you learn from the situation you describe that you think may be of lasting benefit to you in your professional choices?

 

Week 3 discussion

Drop Me a Line

For this conference, I'd like you to do a couple things. First, send me an email at jack.downs@faculty.umuc.edu that addresses two items. 1) based on our first two weeks, what is most confusing to you so far about technical communication? 2)have you learned anything that you think will help you immediately in your job or academic career, based on assignments, readings, or class discussions?

Second, once you have sent the email, please answer one or more of the following questions here in the conference:

1. Do you usually have a harder time starting your message, or ending your message?

2. When you want someone to take an action after reading your email, and the recipient does not work directly for you, is there a technique you use to spur the action?

3. Do you have a technique for organizing your emails that you think would benefit others?

DQ2

That Tricky Comma

After reviewing your Assignment One submittals, I am sharing a brief presentation on the tricky comma. A response is mandatory, even if it's "Shucks, I already knew this stuff." This presentation does not cover all of the various guises of the little varmint, but I tried to cover the major ones.

Please share your experiences, especially as you have received contrary advice, or any additional questions or comments you may have about the comma. I am especially interested in how any of the rules may vary within your company or discipline, or in other English-speaking countries you've traveled to or spent time in.

Enjoy and please let me know if there are other screencasts you would find helpful.

You will need speakers or headphones for the clip. The format is an audio voiceover of a screencast.

 

Week 4 discussion

Communication From Employers

Consider a time when you received or engaged in communication with an employer. This might have been a letter, an email, or even a text from an employer. It might have been a conversation between you and your employer.

What did your employer do in this communication that made you receptive or unreceptive to the message from the employer?

Your answer should be 1-2 paragraphs.

Jargona Love This One!

As you begin to think about how to communicate to an audience, consider the purpose jargon can play to either facilitate or bury your message.

When we work in a group, or belong to a club, there is always jargon, and we are rightly cautioned about using it in larger groups. That is not to say that jargon across disciplines can’t be effective. The idea is to engage the reader without 1) boring your audience, or 2) losing your audience. So we say things like, “she hit the ball out of the park with that presentation!” Or, “He really nailed the landing in the debate last night.”

For this conference, first think of a group you are, or have been, involved with – a sports team, a hobby group, a club, or a work group. Make a list of five or six terms (jargon) that the group uses commonly to express an idea (sometimes a very complex idea!). For example, if I am a member of the surfing discourse community (or tribe), I will use terms like set, curl, skeg, wave, gnarly, shock cord, hang ten.

Now that you have your list, compose a short paragraph on something you did this weekend. Could be that you watched a football game. Or took a walk in the park. Here’s the thing, though – you have to use as many words in your jargon list as you can. Be creative. Use nouns as verbs. Will it sound awkward? A little or a lot – how else will your classmates guess what your tribe is?

So for example:

I set the table in anticipation of my company this weekend. While their appearance might curl your hair, when they arrived I gave a gnarly wave, accepted the bean dip Skeg always prepares, and hung the roasted lamb by a shock cord over the fire. If I could, I’d hang ten, but we only have the one. Care for some?

Post your paragraph as a new topic in this conference. Then go visit your classmates, and see if you can guess their discourse community (tribe) based on their paragraphs. As the originator of a paragraph, try to avoid “revealing” the answer til Friday of this week, although you can answer clarifying questions, or tell someone if they are WAY wrong.

Questions? Let me know. And have fun!

Using MS Word's Considerable Muscle

As I mentioned in my comments to some of you regarding the first two assignments, I am suggesting you brush up on grammar by utilizing some of the features of MS Word.

I am asking you to watch a brief screencast that addresses several elements of the mechanics of reviewing your own work.

The first element is how to activate Readability statistics on your computer, and what the statistics might be used for. Next, I show you where the Spelling & Grammar rules are maintained in MS Word.

Finally, I demonstrate the use of Spelling & Grammar Review on your computer. While the menu chains are slightly different between MS Word 2003, 2007, and 2010, everything you see is available on each version of MS Word, as well as on Open Source.

In commenting to this conference, please address either something you learned from the screencast, or something you wish the screencast had covered, but didn't. You are also welcome to comment on the quality of the screencast itself, and what you think could be improved. You will need to either turn on your speakers, or use headphones to hear the audio.

NOTE: This will not work in Google Chrome, although it seems to work fine in IE or Firefox.

Thoughts on 9/11

As the fifteenth anniversary of 9/11 comes and goes, do you have any memories or impressions you would like to share with the class? We welcome your recollections.

 

Week 5 discussion

Career Mapping

In week 4, you watched a video that introduced you to UMUC's Career Services. Our next few discussion topics will focus on becoming familiar with Career Services and its various resources, as well as on your own field of study and career goals.

Please access the Career Services website at UMUC.

You will see the following list of items:

Career Services

Select Career mapping. Proceed through the interface. What information did you find on your major?

Please write one paragraph in describing what you found when you perused this information.

DQ2

Job Search

Please access the Career Services website at UMUC.

Select Resources to find job opportunities. You will see the following interface:

Job Search

Please select industry-specific Web sites. Locate a website related to your major.

Respond to this discussion post by pasting the url of the website here and writing a one-paragraph description of the site.

DQ3

Find it Quick! Use the TOC!

As you prepare your report on Professional Organization next week, you may want to consider including a table of contents (TOC). While generating a TOC in MS Word may be familiar to some of you, I wanted to review the technique for those of you who may not have used it.

The attached screencast demonstrates how to generate a TOC in a document. If this is review for you, please let me know. You can either start your own thread, or reply to mine. If creating a TOC this way is new, please post any questions you may have, or simple reply “No comments at this time.”

You will need headphones or built-in speakers for the screencast.

Happy, um…TOCing!

 

Week 6 discussion

Career Planning

Please access the Career Planning website with UMUC's Career Services unit.

You will see the following interface:

Career Planning

Please select two of the links above. Peruse the information at these links. Share with your classmates what you found in each selection. Your answer should be one or two paragraphs.

DQ2

Resume and Cover Letter Tips

Please access the Career Services website at UMUC.

You will see the following list of items:

Career Services

Select Resume and cover-letter tips.

What resources, inside and/or outside of UMUC, will you use to check the quality of your resume and cover letter? Please answer in a paragraph.

DQ3

You Read It Here First

We have addressed many of the elements of creating visually appealing copy. Newsletters, whether hard copy or electronic, can be an effective and subtly positive way to keep groups informed about past events and upcoming activities.

In fact, I bet you can think of a group that would really benefit from an effective newsletter which incorporates the design principles you learned in the Modules and in the Effective Writing Center’s Document Design conferences.

Please create and post the first page only of a newsletter for this conference. You are the editor of Volume I! So the masthead, the artwork, and the article content are all yours! Keep in mind that a newsletter is an ongoing effort by an individual or organization, and not a one-time announcement of an event.

Please make it clear in the article headlines and content who your audience is. You may of course start stories that are continued on subsequent (and non-existent) pages.

The newsletter can be for a work group, for a hobby group, for a group of people who you want to encourage to take an interest in your favoriteive vacation destination – anything you like, but have fun with it.

Also, please comment to each other's work beginning as early as Wednesday this week. As you have demonstrated very effectively in past postings, you all have a clear ability to communicate with wit and wisdom to each other's creations!

When you post your newsletter front page, please begin a new topic, and give us a strong subject line, including your first or last name.

 

Week 7 discussion

DQ1

When Compliance is Job One.

I have been asked to provide a discussion on how to outline your requirements for a specific paper, and why that might be helpful.

The approach for outlining an assignment proposed in the attached screencast might be new to you. Please give it a look. This screencast likely will NOT be viewable in Google Chrome.

http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cXjjq2rpR

When you have completed the screencast, please comment on the information ,and please offer here your own suggestions, if you have them, on how you ensure that all requirements for a particular assignment are covered in the assignment itself. If you have no comments, please just say, "No comments at this time."

Also, if you would like to submit an outline to me by email, in advance of the next assignment's due date, feel free, and I will tell you if you are on track to meet the requirements.

DQ2

The Rutted Road of Revision

As you gear up for your final submittal, consider the revision guidance in the readings, and our discussions here. If you normally just read over your assignments before you submit them, try one of the "helping yourself" suggestions, such as reading your piece aloud, or arranging for more time than usual between completing your draft writing and starting your revision.

If you normally review your own work, recruit a colleague or a friend to read over at least a portion of the assignment,and give you comments.

Then, answer question 1, and one or more of the remaining questions.

1. What new (for you) revision technique will you (or did you) elect to try for the final assignment?

2. What techniques have you used in the past, if any, for revising?

3. Do you think you would try the new technique, or a variation, in the future?

 

Week 8 discussion

DQ1

Last Minute Writing Questions

In this final week, I invite you to post any questions you may have about Grammar, Punctuation, Mechanics, and Spelling , or on anything else we've covered in the class. Or more importantly, what we DIDN'T cover. You may have a question about a comment I included in your feedback files.

If you have no questions about chronically difficult English challenges for you personally, you may simply respond, "No questions at this time."

Please try to post early in the week to give me a chance to consult the grammar oracle, and don't be shy!

DQ2

A Chance for Extra Credit

For a maximum of five points, begin a new thread here and describe an issue you are currently dealing with that you think you can address in a written communication. Briefly describe the issue, and what you have learned from the class content and discussions with your colleagues here that you think would help you in either formulating the communication or revising the communication. The issue can be professional, academic, or personal.

Do not write the communication here. Simply describe it, and what tools you have gained that you can use to prepare or revise your response.

Two paragraphs, or about 200 words, max for your response.