rayburn78

2006-12-09T12:36:00.000-08:00

November 14, HW #5, Question for Ethics #3

These are the classmates that I responded to:

Elizebeth
http://wwwtoshi.blogspot.com/2006/11/october-31-hw4-question-5-from-ethics.html

Wendy
http://www.blogger.com/profile/29880622

Monica
http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=33193518&postID=116546592238333152

I was able to learn a few things about the document of "frank statment". I like how everone that I responded to had found different things that stuck out from the document. Wendy found how the writer from the "frank statment" used words like "we believe" which demonstrats that the facts from this document were all based off of option not facts. I enjoyed how everyone pick up on something different.

2006-12-09T12:22:00.000-08:00

December 5, Hw #3, Writing Project Reflection

The thing that was a huge learning experience from this writing project was delegating each persons responsibilities in the begining of a project. I know that everyone had their own personal reflections to complete first, but as a group we should layed out what was required for the project and decide who was responsible for what incially. The communication in the early stages of the project coulk have been more effective. I think that we all took something away from that lesson. Overall I think that we all did a good job sharing each others thoughts and options towards the end. I was very happy with our final product. This project taught me alot and will help in future classes and at work.

2006-12-09T12:12:00.000-08:00

November 7, Hw # 10, Deadline Reflection

This week assignments were all helpful for completing the final writing project #3. I enjoyed the video tutorials for MyCompLab. The video showed great examples for step by step revisions. I was also given some great advice from my peer review. This week was a busy on for me. I was glad to get it over with.

2006-12-08T23:27:00.000-08:00

November 14, Hw #3, Writing Project Reflection

One of the things that I enjoyed about wp#3 was the fact that I truely felt that the technology that I was introducing could have been benefical. It made the assignment much easier to write about. The things that I learned from this project was the fact that when writing a proposal you need to make sure that you are truely presenting the true problem at hand. This project will help me with future proposals that I may need to present in work situations.

2006-12-03T23:14:00.000-08:00

November 7, Hw #9, Reply to Classmates Answer to Question

These are the classmates that I responded to:

Elizebeth
http://wwwtoshi.blogspot.com/2006/11/october-31-hw4-question-5-from-ethics.html

Wendy
http://www.blogger.com/profile/29880622

Monica
http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=33193518&postID=116546592238333152

I was able to learn a few things about the document of "frank statment". I like how everone that I responded to had found different things that stuck out from the document. Wendy found how the writer from the "frank statment" used words like "we believe" which demonstrats that the facts from this document were all based off of option not facts. I enjoyed how everyone pick up on something different.

2006-12-03T22:37:00.001-08:00

November 7, Hw #3, Annotated Bibliography x3

These are the websites that I thought would be helpful for this project.

Fonter, Amy. (2005). World Wide Web. Hybrid Education: The Future of Intructional Models. Retrieved. December 4, 2006
www.worldwidelearn.com/education-articles/hybrid-education.html

This article explains the benefits of hybrid courses that being a mix of face to face intructions and internet teaching combined. One of the benefits explains how effective these courses can be more accessible. More people in more places. This will be a good supporting article because this is one of the points that I am trying to argue. I feel that this is a reliable source because for one the author credential and second I fell that this source has and un bias viewpoint.

Richards, Jan. (2004). International Society for Exploring Teaching and Learning. Hybrid Classes: The Best of Both Worlds. Retrieved: December 4, 2006
www.isetl.org/conference/presentation.cfm?pid

This website explains the process for setting up and teaching hybrid classes. It gives advantages and help instructor write there syllabus for introducing a hybrid course. It also gives some comparative research from universities. I think that this will be useful because one of the concerns that I think instructors will have introducing a web tool would be setting it up.

Garnham, C & Kaleta, R. (2002). Teaching with Technology Today. Introduction to Hybrid Courses. Retrieved: December 4, 2002
http://www.uwsa.edu/ttt/articles/garnham.htm

This article explained what a hybrid class is and explained the benefits of them. It also talked about a hybrid courses project that involved 17 different instructors from different universities that did a first time hybrid class all having positive results. A survey was given with feedback from students that had taken the classes. Instructors and student overall feedback was also explained. This is a good article for my proposal because it give positive results for online learning from a wide variety of sources. I fell that this website is a reliable source being from a Learning Technology Center from an university.

2006-12-03T22:37:00.000-08:00

November 7, Hw #5, Peer Review Reflection

I responded to Elizabeth Dankert and Mirelle Inglefield. What I learned by reading and responding to my classmates rough drafts was I needed to thin out my proposal. Elizabeth and Mirelle did a good job at getting their points across without using unneeded information. I was a little misunderstood on how the cover memo was supposed to look like but after reading theirs I had a much better understanding.

Elizabeth and Mirrelle were also the classmates that reviewed my paper. I was not surprised by the comments that I received. They both pointed out strong sentences that needed to stay and explained why. They helped correct some of my grammar errors and referred me to references for finding other things that I need for my cover letter. I was very happy with the information that I received, it really was constructive information.

2006-12-03T22:36:00.000-08:00

November 7, Hw #1, Reading Reflection

MyCompLab: Writing Video Tutorials

I found this information helpful. On the first video "Achieving Paragraph Unity" I liked how it showed pulling apart that paragraph making sure that all the sentences were connected to the same point. Then it was easy to see what parts of paragraph needed to removed from the paper or moved to another paragraph. To me they make it look so easy.
"Achieving parallelism" showed the importance of staying consistent but still showed variety by using good transition words. I think that this exercise is really going to help me to thin out my rough draft of wp#3. My weakest point in writing is adding to much information in my paragraphs and jumping around with my thoughts in the middle of a paragraph.

2006-12-03T22:18:00.002-08:00

October 31, Hw#7, Deadline Reflection

This is everyone that I responded to:

Monica X3
http://drfaustus8.blogspot.com/2006/11/reply-to-ethics-question-5-11-7.html

http://drfaustus8.blogspot.com/2006/11/writing-project-reflection-11-4.html

http://drfaustus8.blogspot.com/2006/11/annontated-bibliograpy-11-7.html

Wendy x2
http://wendymart.blogspot.com/2006/10/reading-reflection-due-october-31.html

http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=33193151&postID=116184272150412480

I thought that the assignments from this week were all very helpful. I really enjoyed the reading from the ethics book this week. I am really getting worried about passing this class. I really struggled trying to get caught up on all this homework. I just won't to tell everyone that was behind on your homework and caught up. Good Job.

2006-11-30T23:34:00.000-08:00

October 31, Hw #3, Annotated Bibliography X3

These are the Web pages that I selected.

Hergert. Michael (2003). Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration. Lessons from Launching an Online MBA Program. retrieved: December 3, 2006
http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/EQM03411.pdf

The way that I retrieved this web page was by using Google search. This web page is about San Diego University did a pilot program introducing a web based tool into a class and gave examples of things that could help other colleges introducing a new technology into a classroom. This web page will help with research on my proposal project.

Marshall, Schott (2003). State University of West Georgia. Innovations in Distance Learning Program Development and Delivery. Retrieved: December 3, 2006
http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/summer62/schott62.html

The way that I found this web page was by using Google search. This web page is about use of merging technologies in the delivery of learner-based instruction, the development of collaborative teaching environments that maximize the efforts of faculty content.

Harris, Greg (2006). Inside Higher Ed. Growing Popularity of E-Learning. Retrieved: December 3, 2006
http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/winter64/hergert64.htm

I found this web page by using google search. This page talked about the growing popularity of e-learning. It talked about some of the advantages and disadvantages. This will be a good web page to use for my proposal final project.

2006-11-30T21:41:00.000-08:00

October 31, Hw #6, Question #5 in Ethics

Analyzing the content of the "Frank Statement" there were several things the were unethical and misleading.
Instead of the document giving solid prove how cigarette smoking does not have any connection to lung cancer it brings in a point that there are many causes of lung cancer so more or less how could they link cigarette smoking directly. It also provided information that the tobacco industry is going to pledge to aid and assist in the research effort into all phases of tobacco use and health. Even though the tobacco company's did put together this research committee they withheld information from their research that would have discredited there statement "We believe that the product we make are not injurious to health".
This document was very unethical. It to me showed a how the providers of this document were much like the sophists the tried to justify being right by turning the focus of a problem back onto someone else.

2006-11-22T12:42:00.000-08:00

October 31, Hw #1, Reading Reflection

Ethics Chapter 6

The more that I read this book the more I enjoy it. This chapter was how the tobacco industry over the last fifty years has and continues to try to mislead readers by manipulating the verbiage used when defending smoking in relation to lung cancer. They were unethical because they promoted their product knowing that it would have adverse health effects to their customers.
One thing that I pulled from this chapter this week was how effective images can be in persuading an audience. R. J. Reynolds targeted an audience by using the Joe Camel character for advertising. Joe Camel was shown to be a cool, confident, trend setting, attractive, and innocent character. No matter how controversial the issues were concerning the health effects of smoking the images that were being used were effective bringing in new customers. It presenting smoking as the "no worries, cool thing to do".
There were several things that I found disturbing, one being, the fact that research was funded focused on the effectiveness of reaching a young crowd of customers.
I know that in the future I will consider using images on more of my documents.

Concise Guide, Chapter 4

This chapter focused on putting more thought in to research. It covered the different types of research materials that are out there to use and explained how your source needs to be credible.
This chapter will help me on WP#3. Page #62 gave information "Evaluating Sources from the Web" explained if you can not clearly find the authors name and credentials of the source you should assume that it is not credible. You should also use different types of research materials to reflect a range of other points of views. I will consider this when writing proposals or when doing research for issues in my work place.
I liked all the checklists that were provided especially the one on conducting a interview for research there were good tips.

2006-11-16T13:56:00.000-08:00

October 24, Hw #9, Deadline Reflection

This is who's blogs that I responded to:

Elizabeth:
http://wwwtoshi.blogspot.com/2006/10/october-24-hw3-readers.html

Elizabeth:
http://wwwtoshi.blogspot.com/2006/10/october-24-hw1-reading-reflection.html

Jeff:
http://gorf959.blogspot.com/2006/11/october-24-hw51-annotated-bibliography.html

Josh:
http://jgrauer.blogspot.com/2006/11/october-24-hw1-reading-reflection.html

Josh:
http://jgrauer.blogspot.com/2006/11/october-24-hw6-primary-secondary-and.html

I am having a very difficult time catching up with all of the assignments that I am behind on. This week I found a lot of useful information. I liked reading from the Workplace Literacy, 2nd ed. from MyCompLab. The exercises from chapter 2 helped me look at the true causes and effects of a problem which in return allows for you to come up with the best solution to present to your reader.
When reading other classmate's responses to question #3 from the Ethics book it was interesting to see that for the most part everyone felt the same way. This weeks assignment will be useful for our writing project #3. The exercise from the MyCompLab on questioning helped me to consider the purpose of my writing and to consider the readers needs more for this upcoming project.

2006-11-16T12:06:00.000-08:00

October 24, Hw#7, Annotated bibliography X2

This were the webpages that I felt would be useful.

Deepwell, F. , & Syson, A. (1999). Online learning at Coventry University: You can lead a horse to water... . Retrieved November 15, 2006. from
http://www.furl.net/forward.jsp?id=13281978

I found this source by using the search engine Google. This web site explains how WebCt has been a successful match for Coventry University as their web-based learning environment. This web page provides information of a specific type of documentation being used for teaching and learning.

Storey, M. , Phillips, B. , Marzcwski, M. , & Wang, M. (2002). Evaluating the usability of Web-based learning tools. Retrieved November 15, 2006. from
http://www.furl.net/forward.jsp?id=13281648

I found this source by using Google. I used the search words "WebCt learning and teaching". The information provided in this web page is about a college students that were introduced to two different types of web-based learning tools while taking an online course. At the end of the course the students participated in a survey measuring the usability of each technology.

2006-11-16T11:34:00.000-08:00

October 24, Hw# 8, Ehtics Question #3 Replying to Classmates

I replied to Wendy:
http:/wendymart.blogspot.com/2006/11/response-to-question-3-ethics-due.html

Josh:
http:/jgrauer.blogspot.com/2006/10/october-17-hw7-q3-in-ethics.html

Jeff:
http:/gorf959.blohspot.com/2006/10/october-17-hw44-question-3-i-think-it.html

One thing that I learned about ethics after reading my classmate's answers were the importance of interviewing the person or persons that you are writing for. Both parties will have a better understanding of what is required of them. Ethically both parties will be held responsible to a degree.

2006-11-09T20:20:00.000-08:00

October 24, Hw #6, Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Readers

My proposal is to introduce the technology WebCt into a Customer Service class offered in the Fire Science Degree program at MCC.

Primary Readers:
FSC 215 instructors and the Program Director of the Fire Science Department.

Secondary Readers:
Students attending fire science classes through MCC and other instructors teaching different fire science classes.

Tertiary Readers:
The technology department and other support staff members.

The needs and wants of my audiences my be. What is the underlining issue for needing this technology? Is this technology being used at any other colleges and has it been successful?
What is the cost to provide this tech? What may be the concerns that instructors have regarding teaching and installing this new technology?

2006-11-08T14:51:00.000-08:00

October 24, HW # 4, Writing Project Reflection

Steps took to complete WP #2
1. I first spent my time looking at all the different technologies that I had to chose from and put down all the information that I knew about each one of them. The technology that I decided to use was WebCt. I have been using this technology for another class and I had the least amount of difficulty setting up this tech.

2. I did an audience analysis using the guideline that was given in the Concise guide.

3. In the Concise Guide on pages 232-236 I looked over all the different types of instructions and used the one that I felt would be the most effective with this project.

4. From page 235 in the Concise Guide "Typical Components of Instructions" I was able to start putting down some of my content on paper. I also used the MCC webpage and follow their step by step instructions for accessing WebCT for some ideas.

5. From here I started searching the web for some visuals that I could use. This took a lot of time and I had a hard time transferring images. I ended up using some of the images from the MCC technical help pages.

6. I had a few people look over my document before I turned in my rough draft for peer reviewing.

7. Peer reviews: Not only did I get some good suggestions from Maria Aponte learned thing that I needed to improve from the suggestions I made form peer reviewing Maria's paper.

8. Changed document from suggestions made form peer review and information gained from
Visual exercise.

9. Turn in final draft.

The thing that I was most proud of was the images that I used. I felt that they were effective. Also, not being a person with much computers skills I was able to use some of the tools I learned to insert the images.

Concerns about the project:

1. For me I have a hard time using to many words to describe something. I knew for the instructions to be useful they needed to be direct and easy to follow.

2. Another concern that I had was making sure that I was able to use consistent terminology throughout each step while still providing some variety in my sentence structure.

2006-11-08T14:00:00.000-08:00

October 24, Hw #1, Reading Reflection

MyCompLab, Workplace Literacy, 2nd ed. Chapter 2 and 3

I know that I am behind but I'm glad that I was able to complete this reading before our final draft for WP#3 is due. The steps provided from chapter 2 showed me the importance of truly understanding the underlining problem. In a proposal a problem statement may appear in the abstract, executive summary, introduction and conclusion as stated on page 12. It also talks about how a good problem statement can be effective for informing or persuading a reader. Also, a problem statement that reflects a problem that effects a group of people is more effective and credible than a problem being addressed by one individual. The examples given were very useful. The Visual Invention Exercise on page #21 showed an illustration to help point out a problem's causes, its effects, and possible solutions. I made copy of this diagram for future use.

Online Keyword Searches

This gave my few more pointers on how to narrow down may search just little bit more. Pulling key words from a original search allows for you to narrow down your results even more.

2006-11-03T13:39:00.000-08:00

October 17, HW # 9, Deadline Reflection

This week there were a few things that I found useful. All of the videos from MyCompLab were helpful and I was really into the reading from chapter 5 in the Ethics book. From the reading it really drove the point across the importance both parties really hold ethically dealing of technical communication. For me as a reader I am now going to look at information differently. The question from the Ethics book #3 also sparked my interest. These assignments will help me through this class and will help me with my communication skills at work.

I made comments to:

Elizabelth
http://wwwtoshi.blogspot.com/2006/10/october-17-hw6-grammar-work.html

Jeff
http://gorf959.blogspot.com/2006/10/october-17-hw44-question-3-i-think-if.html

Jeff
http://gorf959.blogspot.com/2006/10/october-17-hw42-annotated-bibliography.html

Josh
http://jgrauer.blogspot.com/2006/10/october-17-hw7-q3-in-ethics.html

Maria
http://wendymart.blogspot.com-2006/10/reading-reflection-due-october-17th.html

2006-11-03T13:03:00.000-08:00

October 17, HW # 7, Question to #3 from Ethics Chapter 5

How much responsibility does a technical communicator have for how a technical document ultimately is read and understood by the audience?
For the first question, I feel as a technical communicator it is your responsibility to provide the most effective document as possible. Making sure that the information is clear, the language is understood by your audience, your terminology is consistent, and the information is accessible. Also, depending on the information that you are presenting being of minimal importance or of critical importance the communicator needs to decide which form of documentation will present the information in the most effective manner. Getting feedback from an audience is something that a communicator should also do.

Does ethical responsibility end after the original message is communicated? Does the ethical burden then lie solely with the receiver of the communication?

I will answer both of these questions together. I feel for both questions not fully. It truly depends on how the information is presented. For example, referring to the Challenger when the astronauts were present with information about the O-rings changing from a level 1-R to a 1 was this presented as a brief presentation or was this information presented with a drawn out explanation with all the facts on why this was changed. Were the concerns from all parties about the O-rings presented or just the concerns from upper management which had a different agenda then the engineer staff.

Are you responsible if your audience chooses to ignore or disregard your technical communications?

As far as the reader ignoring your communications I feel that it depends on the position the communicator holds. As a communicator are you the one managing the project and can change final ethical decisions our are you someone that is asked to present information for further consideration. As long as you did the best job possible in presenting and providing the best document, sometimes your responsibility may end at that point.

2006-11-03T12:25:00.000-08:00

October 17, Hw # 1, Reading Reflection

Ethics Chapter 5:

I found the reading from this chapter very interesting. I felt like there were some strong messages dealing with the ethical responsibilities that we have as communicators (writers) and as a audience. Roger Boisjoly's did the right thing by presenting such a strong clear point on his concerns not to launch provided in his memo. He risked his own career and reputation to do what was right in his position. Boisjoly could not have written a more effective document but unfortunately the decision to launch was already decided in the minds of upper management due to conflicting agendas. In this example upper management was presented with the facts but deciding not to follow through with their ethical obligation. Sometimes in my option an audience becomes complacent even to critical information being presented that have not experienced a major negative outcome. We as readers most certainly have an ethical obligation.

I also found it interesting how the congressional commission and the presidential commission both put together their own reports provided from the same facts but put came up with completely different conclusions. Everyone has different points of view and different reasons for there conclusions. What was the reasoning for the presidential commission focusing the fault of the disaster on procedure complications and not on personal decision making? Was their a something the presidential commission was trying to protect or was the documentation that they provided just not presented in an effective way? We may never know all the answers to this story.

Overall there were some great examples that really helped me understand the importance we have as writers and as a audience when it come to ethics.

CompLab:

I found the video " Achieving Variety" a good lesson for me. The original example presented was a good subject/verb sentence structure but the revisions were much more interesting to read. I struggle with variety in my own writing.

2006-10-26T22:45:00.000-07:00

October 17, HW # 5, Visual Communication

After reading through the questions on the checklist I changed a few things with my visuals.

1. None of my visuals were numbered.
2. I did not introduce or refer my visual.
3. On of my visuals served more as a ornamentation.

The things that I changed on my document were. I numbered my visuals, I introduced my visual in the instructions, and thirdly I eliminated one of my visuals because it did not serve a legitimate purpose.

2006-10-25T00:24:00.000-07:00

October 17, Hw # 4, Peer Review Reflection

For the WP#2 I reviewed Maria Aponte's document. I did not have a second person's document to review.

There were somethings that I found in Maria's document that helped me in my own final draft. Some of the wording describing how to navigate to the next step I found needed to be more descriptive. After reading Maria's I found that had room for improvement when describing my own instructions. I also suggested that more images needed to be used and to consider changing one the images that I felt was more decorative than as an example. She was effective in the way she highlighted the commands for each new step which made the information easier to follow. Overall I felt Maria did a good job with this project and she help me to improve my own draft.

2006-10-24T23:25:00.000-07:00

October 17, Hw # 2, Annotated Bibliography X2

Microsoft Corporation. (2006). Processing e-mail efficiently. Retrieved 10/24/06. from: http://online.microsoft.com/en-us/FX01d1438951033.aspx

I found this page by going to http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX010931361033.aspx and clicking under "Processing e-mail efficiently". This page makes suggestions how to process your e-mail more efficiently. It suggest using the "4 D's for decision making" when sorting through e-mail. It also suggest using software that sorts emails in folders before reaching you.

I selected this page because just like everyone else the time that I spend checking emails can really add up. On a daily basis I get a overwhelming amount of emails. By using a program that could sort through my e-mail and separate information by title I could respond to top priority e-mail first. If I was to use a computer program or by using the "4 D's' (DO, DELETE, DEFER, or DELEGATE it) this page has provided information that has already cut down on the time I spend checking e-mail.

Microsoft Corporation. (2006). Managing priorities. Retrieved 10/24/06 from:
http://online.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011543981033.aspx

I found this page by going to http://online.microsoft.com/en-us/FX010931361033.aspx title Work Essentials. Proceed by clicking under "Managing priorities". This page is about using tools that you may already have on your computer through Microsoft that can help you manage your daily priorities.

The reason that I selected this title "managing priorities" is because with my busy schedule I am looking for ways manage my priorities better. I learned that there are many programs or tools that we may already have access to on our computers that still need to be discovered. I really liked this page and I will use it at work on a regular basis.

2006-10-24T21:56:00.000-07:00

September 26, HW #8, Deadline Reflection

WOW! I am really behind. The assignments from Sept. 26 there were several things that I felt were useful. The "Revising" assignment from MyCompLab was helpful. By pulling out a paragraph and separating each sentence made it easy to see what information was not needed. All of the"Writing Video Tutorials" from the reading will make revising my papers easier for me. I need all the help that I can get using a word processor.