Technical and Professional Communication

The Portfolio

This class is graded on a basic 1000 point scale. The points will be distributed in this way:

30% of your grade will be based on Attendance and Participation; that is, you can earn up to 300 points in this category. In fact, you are starting  with 300 points, and if you meet all deadlines, attend all classes, and participate at an appropriate level, you will retain them. Please note that participation can mean both  in the face-to-face classroom and on the class discussion list. Contributing to conversations about class issues above and beyond the posted assignments will reflect favorably on your professional persona in the class.

15% of your grade (15 posts @10 points each, or up to 150 points) will be based on weekly Monday Process/Progress Reports posted to the class list. These are due each Monday at 5:00 (though they can be posted any time after class on the preceding Thursday) and should respond to the week's work and/or readings with questions, comments, critiques, and replies to classmates' comments. These will also provide a basis for beginning Tuesday afternoon discussions.

10% of your grade will be based on the construction of a Resume and Cover Letter. Though we will begin this process early in the semester, you will have opportunities to revise through the end of the term. However, all intermediate deadlines must be met! You will have the option  of constructing a resume-based website in place of the traditional papertext resume and cover letter; we will discuss this option in class.

10% of your grade will be based on a project in which you will write, then orally present Instructions to a task. Both the written instructions and the oral presentation count equally in this assignment.

15% of your grade will be based on your Collaborative Project and Oral Presentation. This presentation will describe and evaluate multimedia resources related to your field of study, including newsgroups, listservs, websites, papertext journals, and whatever other resources you and your collaborative partners deem appropriate. You will be expected to turn in paper documentation of your work, and copies of your visual aids (or URLs reflecting either or both of these). Other classes will be invited to join us in watching these presentations, so you will be working with a live audience!

20% of your grade will be based on your Personal Portfolio -- you are responsible for collecting, keeping, presenting, and defending your contributions to this class during the semester. We will discuss specific options on building a portfolio during classtime, but if you are conscientious in tending to all other assignments throughout the semester, this will essentially take care of itself. This is also an opportunity for you to engage revision; if you are, for instance, displeased with your work on several Monday Reports, you might re-write them for the portfolio. This would not affect the Monday Report portion of your grade, but would influence the 20% you earn on the portfolio itself.

There will not be a final exam given in this class.

Extra Credit: There will be ample opportunity for you to earn extra credit in this class, which will be discussed throughout the semester. Extra Credit points can alter your grade by as much a a full letter with the exception of moving from "F" to "D" -- no amount of extra credit can make the difference between failing and passing.

Scale:
A: 900+ points
B: 820-899 points
C: 740-819 points
D: 660-739 points
F: 659 or fewer points

Please note that the only circumstance in which I will consider giving an incomplete in this class is in the case of a documented health problem or family crisis.

A final note: It's fairly difficult to get a mediocre grade in this class; in fact, I've never given a "C" in Tech/Pro. If you show up, do the work, make an effort, and are willing to work at revision within a schedule of deadlines, you'll do well (A/B). If you don't, you'll do very poorly (D, or more likely, F). It's that simple!