- Time Required
- 4–5 hours, including reading time
Welcome to Week Seven of the course. This week we begin the group writing projects in the course. This week you will prepare by learning about the projects and about teamwork strategies.
Fall Break & Yom Kippur
Fall Break is this Friday, October 11th. Fall Break coincides this year with the beginning of Yom Kippur (more below), so avoid scheduling any group work on this important day. I will take the weekend off, so look for replies to any emails on Monday the 14th.
Holidays & Events This Week
- Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated from through October 15.
- Fast of Gedalia, a Jewish holiday that marks the assassination of Gedalia, takes place Sunday, October 6.
- Fire Prevention Week takes place this week. Check the batteries in your smoke detector.
- Guru Ram Das Jayanti, a Sikh holiday paying honor to Guru Ram Das, takes place on Wednesday, October 9.
- Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is the holiest day of the year for the Jewish faith. It begins at sunset on Friday, October 11, and ends at sunset on Saturday, October 12.
- Double Ninth Festival takes place in China on October 11. Similar festivals take place in other Asian countries, though the name and date vary.
- Navratri, a Hindu holiday honoring the goddess Durga, begins Thursday, October 3 and lasts through Saturday, October 12.
- Dussehra, also known as Vijayadashami, is a Hindu festival that marks the end of Navratri. It takes place on Saturday, October 12.
If you observe these holidays and need me to adjust your due dates, send me a message in Canvas.
Objectives for this Module
By completing this week’s activities, you address the following course objectives:
- Identify and define a problem or subject related to your particular field (or another specific problem according to your assignment’s directions) and assemble and analyze research related to this problem. [CLO 1]
- Analyze the context of this problem or subject and determine appropriate audiences for the unit’s deliverables. [CLO 2]
- Practice workplace genres associated with a team-based research project: a research proposal, meeting minutes, a progress report, a recommendation report or an informational report for non-expert readers, a slide deck presentation of the report, and a video presentation. [CLO 3]
- Practice team and collaborative work in all phases of project management. [CLO 4]
- Design strategies for evaluating the overall effectiveness of the suggested approaches to the researched problem. [CLO 5]
- Illustrate the ethical and human implications of the solutions proposed for solving the problem. [CLO 6]
Activities to Complete
Due Dates
- All work is due by 11:59 PM on Thursday, October 10 (A day early because of Fall Break).
- Grace Period:
- Ends at 11:59 PM on Wednesday, October 16 for all work—the Check-in Survey and the Try-Its.
📚 To Read This Week
- Group Writing
- Ch 4: Teamwork and Communication. from Technical Writing Essentials
- Chapter 20: Recommendation Reports, from Howdy or Hello? Technical and Professional Writing
- Resource Modules:
📝 To Do This Week
- Review details on the Major Project assignments that your group will collaborate on:
- Proposal (Target: Friday, October 20)
- Progress Report (Target: Friday, November 3)
- Recommendation Report (Target: Tuesday, November 28)
- Be sure to consult the Recommendation Report Overview as well.
- Try out strategies from the course by submitting these activities:
💬 To Ask Questions (Optional)
- Optional ways to discuss class issues:
- Post public questions in the General Q&A Discussion in Canvas if it can be shared with the class.
- If you have a private question, send me a message with the Canvas Inbox.
- Ask a question or make a suggestion anonymously with the Anonymous Questions & Suggestions form.
- Post public questions in the General Q&A Discussion in Canvas if it can be shared with the class.
📓 To Check-In This Week
- Fill out the Week 7 Check-In Survey to let me know how you are doing in the course.
Photo credit: Brainstorming by Drew on Flickr, used under a CC-BY 2.0 license.