Transcript Document

Welcome toEffective and Appropriate
Communication in the Workplace
Unit 1 seminar
Unit 1 seminar
 Introductions and contact information
 Course outcomes
 Discussion guidelines
 Exercise guidelines
 Web resource
 Project guidelines
 Final project
 Questions to consider for unit 1
Me with my son, Cooper
In Forest Park (St. Louis, MO)
Contact information
 Email: [email protected]
 E-mails: use CM 415-01: Concern in
subject line (for example: CM 415-01 Unit
3 project question)
 Office hours: by appointment (on AIM)
 AIM ID: sylthompson94
Course outcomes
 Explain the features of effective communication in various
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professional contexts
Evaluate media for various professional communication
contexts
Compose effective professional correspondence for various
situations
Apply appropriate communication strategies for diverse
audiences
Evaluate ethical issues associated with professional
communication.
Grades for course (1000 points)
 Discussions: 270 pts
 Exercises: 150 points
 Unit 3 Project: 100 pts
 Unit 5 Project: 100 pts
 Unit 6 Project: 75 pts
 Unit 9 Project: 250pts
 Web resource: 55
 NOTE: seminars are not graded, but participation is
encouraged!
Late policies
 Projects: one-letter-grade late penalty per unit
 Discussions and exercises: must post within one week
after unit ends to receive partial credit; no credit given for
responses to classmates in late postings (just your response to
the question)
Substantive discussion posts
 Avoid short expressions of agreement or disagreement
or summaries of a classmate’s post.
 Pose follow-up questions to issues raised by myself
or other students in order to encourage further
discussion.
 Use personal experiences to illustrate your points.
 Recommend alternative solutions to problems and
offer constructive disagreement with issues raised by
your peers.
Substantive discussion posts
 Refer to our course readings and offer relevant
parallels between those readings and our discussions.
 Demonstrate your knowledge of the course
material.
 Stay on topic.
 Are at least 300 words in length for the initial
responses and 75-100 words for the follow-up
responses to your classmates. In follow-up posts,
ask questions, agree/disagree (and explain
why), give additional examples.
Unit 1 discussion questions
 Discussion: Through either an interview or research, identify the forms of
writing you will use on a daily basis in the office and other forms you may be
required to write occasionally. Identify the audience types as well, such as coworkers, external customers, executives, etc. Which of the forms of writing
you identified are most challenging to you now and why? How much does
writing influence what position you hold and your chances for promotion?
 Using the two articles in this week’s reading, discuss at least at least one point
from each article and how it relates to the writing demands of your career. Be
specific and support your answer with examples. Readings can be found in the
Academic Search Premier database: “Write Well, Go Far” (Rowh), “Veteran
Communicators Look Back, and Ahead” (McGoon)
Current event exercise guidelines
 Current events exercises in units 4-8
 Find articles from 2001-present on issues related
to that week’s reading/discussion
 Use credible sites (like The NewYork Times or
Washington Post, professional society sites), or use
the Newspaper Source database in the Kaplan
library
Current event exercise guidelines
 Post the article’s bibliographic information in correct
APA format, and in four distinct paragraphs discuss:
 1) the article’s relevance to the week’s unit material
 2) the main ideas of the article
 3) your reflection on the content
 4) why is this information important to professionals in
communication? Would you recommend others read this
article? Why or why not?
 Post by the final day of the unit, preferably
sooner so others can respond to your post.
Web resource assignment (unit 9)
 Find a professional web site for your career and post the
link in the course webliography. Then, in DocSharing,
under the Web Resources for Communication
Professionals view, upload a Word document of at least
200 words to share with the entire class that provides the
following information:
 1) the web address
 2) the name of the professional organization or society
 3) what career field this organization or society caters
to
Web resource assignment
 What special features do you find most helpful on this
site as a) a student, and b) as a professional. Be specific
and give examples.
 It is required that you describe in detail 2-3 features that
would benefit a student, and 2-3 features that would
benefit a professional.
 Try and persuade your readers (classmates and
professor) to want to view this website! Be specific and
give examples to illustrate what you mean.
 Post by the last day of unit 9.
Project guidelines (units 3, 5, 6, 9)
 Projects due Tuesdays by 11:59 p.m.
 Use the correct unit’s dropbox to post
assignments
 Write documents in MS Word with “doc” or
“docx” extension
 Read grading rubric and project guidelines
carefully!
 Be sure to review Kaplan’s plagiarism policy (see
the syllabus and the Writing Center for details)
Hybrid grading rubrics
CONTENT
A
Content clearly relates
to assignment
requirements.
Required documents
are very well-prepared
for identified
audience. Very
thoughtful and specific
discussion of
documents is
provided; often refers
to readings as
applicable. Ideas
supported with
references and
individual opinion.
ORGANIZATION
Great organization,
transitions are used
appropriately, and
each paragraph
discusses one topic
with depth, details,
and breadth.
WRITING STYLE
MECHANICS and
APA
Formal, interesting to
read, accurate/logical,
precise, and concise.
Student’s ideas
expressed with clarity
of thought (writing is
understandable).
Format and APA:
Format follows
suggestions from
readings. Uses 12
point font and doublespacing. One-inch
margins on each side.
References were cited
in correct APA format
within text and
reference list.
Grammar and
mechanics: Used
appropriate grammar,
punctuation and
spelling.
Final project (unit 9)
 Throughout this course you will practice writing for internal,
external, and global audiences, deal with tough ethical decisions in
writing, and study ways to use technology effectively in
communication.The final project is your opportunity to tie this all
together and create a portfolio of correspondence as examples you
might want to use on the job later on.
 Your correspondence will be based upon a scenario described in
the final project information.
 You will write 5 documents (e-mails, letters, and memo) in
response to the scenario.
Final project
 All correspondence in this portfolio should demonstrate the
application of course information and discussions.
 Compose the five documents in the correct standard format for emails, letters, and memos as mentioned in the textbook.
 Put all five pieces into one Word document with page breaks to
separate them.
 If any outside sources are used in this final project or used to help
you compose this final project, they should be correctly cited and
a complete references page included with your project.
Advantages to writing
 Writing gives you time to reflect and research – shape and
reshape material.
 Writing makes communication more precise.
 Writing provides a permanent record of thoughts, actions,
and decisions.
 Writing saves time-- we absorb information more swiftly
when we read than when we hear.
What to know before you write
Purpose:
Why are you
writing?
Nature of
text (essay,
email, etc.)
Audience: to
whom are
you writing?
Context:
Terminology
Unit 1 seminar discussion
 1. What are some common writing
problems you have experienced on the job
with either your own writing or reading
someone else’s?
 2. What are some options companies can
look at to ensure company correspondence
is written according to their expectations?