This document provides announcements and reminders for students in a class. It discusses: 1) Grades for the previous assignment being updated by mid-week. 2) Advice to follow the project plans created in conferences and focus on completing work to avoid procrastinating due to other finals. 3) An in-class activity where students present their major projects to peers for feedback. 4) The hybrid assignment focuses on writing clearly, including finding an example of clear writing online and writing instructions for a computer task. 5) Reminders that the final projects are due by the hard deadline of December 16th.

2. THIS WEEK
1)Announcements
2)Cautionary Notes
3)In-class Activity
4)Hybridness
5)Reminders

3. ANNOUNCE
I am in the process of grading Seq. 4.
You should have fully updated grades by
mid-week at the latest. I will send an
email when everything is updated.
Remember to keep an eye on your grade
so you know where you stand.

4. ANNOUNCE
And just some advice:
I helped each of you, during your conference,
to make a plan for Seq. 5.
It is up to you whether or not you follow those,
but remember that you’re going to have finals
in most of your other classes. I tried to
encourage all of you to be mostly done by next
week. That will be of great use to you if you
have to study for finals.
DON’T PROCRASTINATE!

5. ANNOUNCE
Likewise, if you are afraid your research is
lacking, or that you need some help
developing your project, talk to me now
instead of later.
You can email me to plan an IM conference at
any time. I disabled the Tungle, because I
don’t want to literally take appointments for
any time, but if you email me, we can find a
time that fits both our schedules.

6. GEAR SWITCH

7. IN CLASS
Your in-class activity for this week is simple:
Pretend we’re doing presentations, and
“present” your major project 5 to your group (of
3-4 fellow students).
After each presentation, each member of the
group should write a paragraph or two in
response (what you liked, what you wonder,
etc.). These paragraphs will be given to the
presenter to use as notes as they finish
writing.

8. GEAR SWITCH

9. HYBRID
This week I want you to spend your hybrid
time thinking about one of the last things we
really need to hammer home for the course:
clarity in writing.
All of your hybrid work this week will be done
on your Tumblr, but make sure you read
these prompts carefully. They are
different from your usual Tumblr assignments.

10. HYBRID
Prompt 1:
Locate some article online (it can be a news
article, a blog entry, a Wikipedia entry, etc.–
anything, really) that you feel is written in a
way that is particularly clear and concise.
Post a link to it, then write a paragraph or two
explaining why it appeals to you as being
particularly clear. What does the author do
well? What can you learn about writing from it?

11. HYBRID
Prompt 2:
Find a video on YouTube (or elsewhere, if you
prefer) that somehow teaches you to do
something (anything), that you feel is
particularly effective.
Post the video, then post a paragraph or two
talking about why you feel this particular video
is so effective? What does it model that we
can follow?

12. PROMPT 3

13. HYBRID
This is really your major work for the week
(other than your projects). What I want you to
do is pick a computer-related task and
write directions for someone to follow so
that they can complete that task.
That shouldn’t sound too difficult but there are
a number of things you will need to keep in
mind. For example

14. REMEMBER
1) You have to balance giving too
much information and too little
information.
This can be difficult, because if you say too
little, clearly, the user can get lost. But if you
say too much, you can be come needlessly
complicated. Finding this balance in writing–
enough detail to serve the reader without
diluting your main point or confusing readers–
is critical.

15. REMEMBER
2) IF you assume, you make an, well,
you know this cliché, right?
The worst thing you can possibly do is make
assumptions about your audience. For
example, if you tell someone to “google”
something, you already assumed that they
know what Google is and how to use it. If they
do not, you just lost them, and anything you
say from that point on will be read through a
filter of frustration (and perhaps disgust). Don’t
assume anything you can’t be sure of.

16. REMEMBER
3) Sequence matters
When we write creatively, we might play with
the order of events (see Pulp Fiction or
Memento for examples). This is NOT a
practice to use in giving directions or in any
sort of hard academic writing. If you tell me to
login after you tell me to access something I
have to be logged in to access, you just
confused me. So make sure you keep your
sequence of events clear.

17. REMEMBER
4) You’re taking the role of “expert”
when you write about something
I don’t mean completely. You don’t write about
nuclear energy and become a nuclear
scientist. But if you write a tutorial on how to
remove the background from an image in
Photoshop, people grant you the authority to
know how to do it. Do not abuse this ethos–
use it to your advantage, but remember that
you have to live up to it. If you don’t, you’ll gain
a bad reputation.

18. PROMPT3
So bearing that in mind, construct your set of
directions. They should be COMPLETE (from
the start of the activity to the end).
However to keep you from losing your mind
and having to write things like “find a
computer. Make sure it is plugged in. Turn it
on,” etc., the next few slides will offer you
things you CAN assume about the audience
for this task.

19. ASSUME
1) This user has a PC with Windows 7
and any of the software we have used
in this course. The user also has
access to a Mac with all the software
we’ve used in the class, but the user
isn’t as comfortable using the Mac,
so you might have to go a bit slower
with that platform. The user knows
enough about computers that you
don’t have to explain things like
“clicking” or how to open software.

20. ASSUME
2) This user has high speed
broadband access, has access to a
microphone headset for audio
recording, and has a digital camera.
The user cannot record video, so
anything involving a video camera
will need to instruct on how to obtain
those resources.

21. ASSUME
3) This user has MSU student access
to online resources, the library, etc.
and can be assumed to live on or
around the MSU campus.

22. ASSUME
4) This user is in a situation where it
will be impossible to ask you
questions, so these directions are all
the user will have.

23. ASSUME
5) This user trusts you, so your
directions will be followed to-the-
letter. Don’t assume that the user will
attempt to outsmart you if you mis-
word something or skip a small step
because it should be obvious.

24. ASSUME
6) This user is stubborn. Unless
directed to do so, the user will look at
nothing but your directions while
completing the task.

25. PROMPT 3
As you have noticed this semester, I have
generally left your blog prompts alone. I
haven’t responded to them, other than to
speak with you about what you’ve written
(don’t think I didn’t read– I’ve read every single
post).
But this time, I will be responding to each of
you, one-on-one. I will be testing your
directions.
This will be due at 11:59 pm on December 5th

26. CLOSING
This will be our last “normal” week of
assignments. Next week we will have some
loose ends to tie up (evaluations, a few final
activities, etc.).
Remember you have that one big due date
looming: Project 5 and Making 5 are due by
2:45 pm on December 16th. At that point
class is OVER and nothing will be accepted
after that time (I’ll make the drop-dead 3 pm so
you can have a round hour).

27. CLOSING
As always, email if you have questions,
and keep your eye open for updates as
we move forward this week.
Take care!