1) Your first assignment is to critique an existing tutorial, help sheet, or help screen that teaches someone how to do something with a computer system. The point of the assignment is to begin to establish parameters for what is important in documentation and to begin to establish benchmarks of quality documentation. You can choose a quick reference sheet from C&N, the library, something from an online system or help manual, or elsewhere. You can use this assignment to teach yourself an application you want to know. Working in pairs, describe the document, highlight its strong points, offer suggestions for revision, and provide a revised version or sample of a revised screen or page. These critiques/revisions will be both written up and submitted for a grade and presented to the class during a 5-10 minute presentation, using transparencies or screen projections. Oral presentations to be scheduled as soon as soon as people are ready. You can use your class presentation to get feedback for your written critique. You can also use this assignment to build your skills in screen capture, document formatting, and word processing. Written report due Wednesday, Sept 6.
2) Produce a short briefing based on journal, book, and web resources that covers a specialized topic in documentation. Your audience is other students or practitioners who want to get up to speed on some topic quickly. Give a high level overview of issues and trends (3-5 pages) plus an annotated bibliography of no more than 10 sources. Suggested topics: minimalism, usability testing, learning theory, human factors, screen design, menu design, graphic file types, animation, sgml/html/xml, java scripting, interviewing, page design, project management, stylesheets, Adobe pdf, web authoring tools. You may work with a partner. Plan to brief the class and distribute your work through the class website in html-ready files. Draft due Sept 20; final due no later than Nov 15.
3) Produce a simple piece of tutorial documentation for use in our lab (with our software and setup). In teams of two or three, plan and produce a 4-8 pages tutorial on one of the following topics: 1) using style sheets in Word, 2) scanning/importing/editing graphics for Word documents, 3) scanning text (OCR) for documents, 4) producing display overheads in PowerPoint, 5) creating tables/charts/drawings in Word, 6) creating charts in Excel, 6) scanning gif or jpeg images for use at websites, 7) editing photos, 8) creating simple line drawings in Word. Begin with a project plan, with roles, responsibilities, a breakdown of tasks with hours allocated, and a budget. Draft versions (beta versions) should be user tested and revised before the due date, and a brief report on user testing included with the final draft. Update the project plan to show whether you were on target on your estimates of time. Inclass user testing on September 20. Final version with attachments due September 27.
4) Undertake a documentation project of your choosing, either solo or as a member of a team. The projects can be one of the following:
The written assignments associated with this project include:
Proposal: An email memo to the class establishing the task and project team, your project goals and a rough timetable. Due Wednesday, October 4.
Planning Document: A report detailing the project plan. These reports can include a needs analysis; a user profile; a user task analysis; a detailed work schedule including deadlines for drafts, reviews, and production; a breakdown of individual responsibilities; an indication of tools; a review of design decisions, with a sample screen prototype to show design decisions; a stylesheet, an indication of user aids; a plan for user testing; and whatever else you consider relevant. Due Mon, October 11.
Draft Documentation: A paper prototype or online draft in multiple copies for peer review in class, with roughed-in graphics, perhaps with some sections incomplete. Due Wednesday, October 25.
Usability Test Report: Test your documentation on typical users and generate a brief report on what you learned, what needs to be changed, and what seemed to work well (about 2 pages). Due Wed, November 8.
Final Documentation Delivered either November 22 or Nov 29.
5) New tools: A project of your choosing. Create something while you learn a new tool. Have fun, be creative, explore some new tools, and create something that is useful and well designed. The project may be a pilot or prototype version of something you can imagine creating in full. Due for show purposes, Wednesday, December 6.
Grading:
I will give you an evaluation of your progress at any time you request it–the grade I would give you if your work continued at the current level. You will receive a letter grade on your projects and for contributions to class via presentations and email. You must deliver work on schedule to have a chance of getting an A.
I will look at your work anytime you wish, make suggestions, and encourage various revisions. A class like this relies heavily on your class involvement and contributions. Come to class with ideas, ready to share documents, show us how to do things, and participate actively. If you read something good, tell us about it. If you find a really neat piece of documentation, bring it in for show and tell.