Explanation for online, accelerated business writing class

1. BU250 Written Business
Communications
How this is going to work

2. Carrie S Trimble, Ph.D.
● Associate Professor of Marketing
○ Finishing 8th year at Millikin
○ Background in Communication, but 3rd time teaching this course
● Contact me at:
○ ctrimble@millikin.edu
○ @DrCarrieT
○ 309-212-0633
■ I’ll be traveling for parts of June and July, so texting is better
than calling because time zones.
○ I keep an open door policy, so in an online class that would be an
open communication channel policy?
■ Talk to me.
■ Ask for help if you need it.

3. BU250 Written Business Communications
● What’s it include?
○ Preparing clear, concise, thorough, fact-based content
○ Delivering it through appropriate method and message to intended audience.
● Examples:
○ summaries
○ analysis of current events
○ typical business & employment formats.
■ slide decks,
■ letters,
■ e-mail, and
■ social media.

4. BU250 Written Business Communications
● Surveyed almost 50 young alumni to see how they write at work
○ Want this experience to be as practical as possible
○ They e-mail all day long.
○ Rarely write long reports.
○ We’ll focus on the types of writing they do the most & the types of writing they had the least
confidence in.
● 3nd time this course is offered online
○ Guinea pig as an instructor (still)
○ Guinea pig as students (still)
■ Provide feedback on timeframe
■ Provide feedback on assignments
■ Provide feedback on delivery method

5. How will this online thing work?
● This is a writing class & it’s only five weeks. So . . .
○ This is going to be intensive.
○ Assume you’ll do 1 hour of watching or listening to a lecture & 1 hour of writing per day.
■ A course requires 37.5 hours of work & this gives us 5 weeks of 4 days of 8 hours of work.
■ Assignments will come at you FAST.
■ That’s the price of having the course completed in five weeks.
● We’re going to live in Moodle.
○ Syllabus is there. (Also at drcarriet.com)
○ Reading assignments are listed there. (Also at drcarriet.com)
○ Assignment links & lectures are there. (Also at drcarriet.com for assignments, lectures in the FB
group)
○ All* assignments will be turned in there
■ Links for posting assignments will go live the Sunday before they’re due so you can use the
weekend to get ahead if you need to.
■ *There are 2-3 things that will be e-mailed or posted to WordPress.

6. Clarifying the time frame
● By noon on Sunday, you should be able to see on Moodle . . .
○ Links to lectures or podcasts for each day
■ The podcasts have varying types of links that take you to iTunes, SoundCloud or YouTube.
You may need to play around to figure out the best way for you to listen to them.
■ The videos should play in or through Moodle.
○ Links to post any assignments due that week.
■ You can post a week’s worth of assignments at a time, but only one week’s.
■ Everything is due by 11:59 pm on the due date. (with one exception)
■ Moodle makes me set a 11:55 pm deadline.
● Do NOT panic if you post an assignment at 11:57pm & Moodle calls it late.
○ I’ll see the actual time posted & know it was on time.
● Assignment feedback & grades should be available by noon, next day

7. Because, revisions
Revision policy
● You are allowed (and encouraged) to revise most* of the assignments in this class.
● Revising can not hurt your grade.
○ You will receive the average of the original score and the revised assignment score
○ OR the original score, whichever is higher.
● Revisions will be submitted weekly with a report of what you changed.
● Due dates are listed on the syllabus.

8. What else do you need to know?
Assignment Due Date Points value
Writing for Yourself portfolio June 3, June 4, June 5, June 6,
June 10, June 11, July 5
150
Writing discussion posts
(1 @15 pts ea) WDP
Mondays & Wednesdays,
See schedule
14
Writing discussion responses
(12 @3 pts ea) WDR
Tuesdays & Thursdays
See schedule
36
Process slide deck June 13 20
Timed writing assignments (3 @10 pts ea) June 11, June 19, June 27 30
Advice e-mail July 5 25
Infographic
(Word Cloud, 5 pts; Data 20 pts)
June 20, June 25 25
Meeting agenda June 12, June 18 10
Meeting minutes June 17, June 24 15
Team project See schedule 75
Total 400

9. What else do you need to know?
I’m generally fairly easy to get along with, but . . .
● I do NOT accept late assignments.
○ That means if your computer implodes or you’re deathly ill, you need to talk to me BEFORE you
miss a deadline. But the due dates are clearly outlined right now, so there should be no surprises.
● I’m always meaner than hell about grammar, spelling, punctuation, and citation.
But in this class? It’ll be much, much worse.
○ When you mess up on grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc, you’re not communicating well.
○ Sloppy, unproofread assignments = incomplete assignments
○ Assignments without proper citations = plagiarism
○ You don’t need to like this part; you just need to know it’s true.
○ If time allows, I’ll review parts of assignments before they’re due.
■ Use your peers and Turn It In for help with proofreading.

10. What did I forget?
● Jump into the BU250 Moodle shell
○ Get familiar with it
○ Test links to make sure they work
○ Let me know if the assignment-posting links for the bio & resume don’t show up by noon on
Sunday, June 2
● What questions do you have?
● What obstacles might prevent you from successfully completing this class?