- Time Required
- 10–12 hours, including reading time
Welcome to Week Five of the course. This week we will focus on usability and document design. The arrangement of text, images, charts, and other elements in your documents is just as important as the actual content of those elements.
Holidays & Events This Week
Here are the events coming up this week:
- Presidents’ Day, a U.S. holiday celebrating all Presidents, is observed on Monday, February 19. Some offices and businesses will be closed on this day.
- Founder’s Day, February 22, is celebrated by Boy Scouts around the world. The date is also World Thinking Day, which is celebrated by Girl Scouts and Girl Guides.
- Black History Month in American and Canada continues through the entire month of February.
If any of these events interferes with your work in the class, send me a message with Canvas Inbox and let me know how you need me to adjust your due dates.
Objectives for this Module
After completing this week’s activities, you address the following course objectives:
- Analyze the context; determine appropriate audiences for or users of planned communications; assess needs of global audiences and people with disabilities. [CLO 2]
- Practice workplace genres related to specific fields (e.g., proposals, instructions, correspondence, reports, technical specifications and slide decks); illustrate how genre conventions can serve as heuristics and as principles of arrangement [CLO 3]
- Design and evaluate strategies for testing the usability and overall effectiveness of documents [CLO 5]
- Illustrate the ethical and human implications of research findings and workplace products on diverse audiences [CLO 6]
| Event | Date | Work Effected |
|---|---|---|
| Checkpoint Deadline | By 11:59 PM on Monday, February 17 | Survey of Website Writing Assignment and the related Self-Check |
| 3-Day Grace Period | By 11:59 PM on Wednesday, February 19 | Week 4 Try-Its & the Check-in Survey |
| Target Due Date for Weekly Activities | By 11:59 PM on Friday, February 21 | Week 5 Try-Its & the Check-in Survey |
| 3-Day Grace Period | By 11:59 PM on Wednesday, February 26 | Week 5 Try-Its & the Check-in Survey |
See the information on Target Due Dates and Checkpoint Deadlines for additional details on these dates. The full list of course due dates and deadlines is listed in the Technical Writing Dates and Deadlines.
Activities to Complete
📚 To Read This Week
- Week 05 Readings on Usability, Accessibility, Chunking
📝 To Do This Week
- Continue work on the second Major Project, User Documentation Revision & Reflection Memo, which has a Target Due Date of Friday, February 28. Use these resources:
- 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 5 Check-In Survey to let me know how you are doing in the course.