Rhetoric 3671: Project Design and Development I
Dr. Bernadette Longo
Fall 2004: TTh 1:15 - 2:30 p.m., Classroom Office Building 135

Office 89 Classroom Office Bldg.
Office phone 612-624-9781
Office hours TTh 9:00 - 10:00 & 3:00 - 4:30 and by appointment
Email blongo@umn.edu
WebCT url webct3@umn.edu
Course url www.tc.umn.edu/~blongo/courses/homef04.htm
Course Graduate Assistant Lesley Schack, scha0624@umn.edu

Participation and Attendance Course Policies Assignments
Grading Assignment Due Dates Assignment Descriptions

COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course will cover visual display of technical information and the fundamentals of project management for technical documents. This course will have two sections working together: face-to-face and online.

Weekly Powerpoint lectures and course materials will be posted on the course WebCT site.

Online students: Your assignments will be included with the face-to-face section assignments. Assignments for online students only will be noted by green color. Assignments for all students will be noted by blue color. You are to complete all green and blue assignments.

TEXTS
Baker, Sunny, Kim Baker, and G. Michael Campbell. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Project Management. 3rd ed. Alpha, 2003.

Tufte, Edward R. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. 2nd ed. Graphics Press, 2001.

PARTICIPATION AND ATTENDANCE IN FACE-TO-FACE SECTION
Face-toFace students: Participation is essential for the face-to-face section because you will do much of the course work in class. You can have two absences (excused or unexcused) during the fall semester without penalty. After that, I will deduct 10 points for each absence from three to six. If you are absent more than six times, I will lower your course grade. Work missed because of an absence cannot be made up unless due to an extended illness, personal crisis or a pre-approved documented absence. Chronic lateness may be counted as an absence. If I am late to class, please wait ten minutes after the beginning of class. I will notify you if class is cancelled.

During some weeks, all students are required to post to the weekly discussion board. If you are in the face-to-face class and do not post to the discussion board on these weeks, this missed assignment will be counted as an absence.

Online students: Your participation in the weekly discussion postings is essential because you will have a chance to interact with other students in this forum. You will be required to post to the discussion board each week, responding to a question specified in the course materials. You can miss one posting during the semester without penalty. After that, I will deduct 10 points on your attendance score for each missed posting from three to six. If you miss more than six postings, I will lower your course grade. Missed postings cannot be made up unless due to an extended illness, personal crisis or a pre-approved documented absence. I reserve the right to deduct points from your final grade due to chronic late postings.
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COURSE POLICIES AND ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Technical communication relies heavily on collaboration: writers work with other writers, editors, technical experts, and customers. It would be unrealistic of me to expect you to work in isolation. I encourage you to bounce ideas off each other, offer each other suggestions, and seek other opinions about your work. When you use the citable work of someone else, though, document your source. If you have questions about plagiarism as you complete your work, ask me. I reserve the right to fail a student in the course for plagiarism, i.e., using other people's work without proper documentation and citation.

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COURSE ASSIGNMENTS (1000 possible points)

initial survey 50 points
   
Idiot's Guide Chapter 1 & 2 (traits) 50 points
Idiot's Guide Chapter 3 & 4
(project charter)
50 points
Response to project charter 20 points
   
Tufte Chapter 1 (graphic excellence) 75 points
Tufte Chapter 2 & 3
(graphic integrity)
75 points
Tufte Chapter 4-6
(data-ink & chartjunk)
75 points
Tufte Chapter 8 & 9 (data density) 75 points
   
Idiot's Guide Chapter 5-7
(statement of work)
75 points
statement of work review 25 points
Idiot's Guide Chapter 9
(work breakdown structure)
80points
work breakdown structure review 25 points
Idiot's Guide Chapter 10
(network diagram)
80points
network diagram review 25 points
Idiot's Guide Chapter 11-12
(critical path diagram)
80points
critical path diagram review 25 points
reflection 50 points
   

attendance (face-to-face)
weekly postings (online)

65 points

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GRADING
Your assignment grades will be given in points. The maximum points possible in the course is 1000. Your final course grades will be assigned according to the following scale:

934-1000 A
901-933 A-
867-900 B+
834-866 B
801-833 B-
767-800 C+
734-766 C
701-733 C-
667-700 D+
634-666 D
601-633 D-
000-600 F

According to University Senate grading policies, letter grades correspond to the following academic performance:

A Achievement that is outstanding relative to level necessary to meet course requirements
B Achievement that is significantly above the level necessary to meet course requirements
C Achievement that meets the course requirements in every aspect
D Achievement that is worthy of credit even though it fails to meet fully the course requirements

If you have questions about the UMN grading policy, more information is available at http://www.umn.edu/usenate/policies/gradingpolicy.html

If you have questions about your responsibilities for course requirements, more information is available at http://www.tc.umn.edu/~sos/syllabus.html

This syllabus and the due date schedule may be revised by the instructor at any time during the semester. All revisions will be reasonable and based on class needs.


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