Syllabus & Calendar
Course Title: Management for Technical Writers
Instructor Contact Information
Instructor: Tom Whitlam
Contact via email only using Moodle class email.
Technical & Administrative Support
Julie Clarke, Vancouver Island University, Powell River
Email: julie.clarke@viu.ca
Telephone (toll-free) 877-888-8890 or 604-485-8032 (Powell River)
Course Description
Technical writers who hope to move forward in their careers may seek to become head of a writing department, manager of a team, or an independent contractor working on a project-by-project basis. Unfortunately, many brilliant writers learn in the process that a whole new set of skills are required, skills that have little to do with a carefully constructed sentence or a well-written product description.
Whether you come from a technical writing, IT, or project management background, this course will give you the tools you’ll need.
Goals & Objectives
In this course you will learn key project management concepts and tools, and how to apply them specifically to technical communicaitons and knowledge management projects. This course is intended to supplement your technical writing skills with project management skills. It can benefit technical writers of all levels of experience.
After completing this course you will be able to scope a technical communications project, schedule it, staff it, and complete it following industry best practices.
Texts and Materials
No required text. The instructor will provide a lecture for each topic, as well as a list of books and web resources that students may find helpful.
Instructor Bio
Tom comes to us with an extensive background in both Project Management and Technical Communication. He is a past president of the STC (Society for Technical Communication) Singapore chapter, a past senior member of the STC India chapter, and a current senior member of the Canada West Coast chapter. He has worked as a Project Manager and Technical Communications Team Leader for a number of high-profile organizations all over the world, including Hewlett-Packard, Hexaware Technologies and Dell Inc. Tom speaks a number of languages, but his key occupational interests lie in Technical Communications and applying his talents in this area to project management and service delivery.
Our Moodle Classroom
Our Moodle space is our online classroom. Here you’ll find the following:
News Forum – The news forum is a general discussion forum used for the delivery of class news and events. Check here for any date changes or news of general class interest.
Course Syllabus - You are currently reading the Course Syllabus. It will be posted in your online classroom to give you an overview of the online classroom setup and the week-by-week schedule for your class.
Water Cooler - The Water Cooler is a discussion area used for non-course-related topics.
Lectures – Lectures will be delivered as html or pdf files, and should be easily viewable. If you have any problems, please let the instructor or administrator know.
Reading/Resources - Additional reading or resources may be part of your course. Use this material for additional interesting information related to your lectures, or as assigned by your instructor.
Sample/Practice files – There may be sample or practice files included related to your weekly lesson or assignment.
Assignment and posting of assignment instructions – The Assignment area is where you will upload your completed assignments. If more than one file is required, you will need to zip them before uploading.
Discussions (also known as 'Forums') - Be sure to visit the Discussion area for each week’s lesson. Discussion topics will be posted by the instructor for each week’s lesson. You will be expected (as part of your grading for the course) to contribute. For more information on what’s expected here, see the ‘Grading’ area below.
On Groups - The instructor may assign groups throughout the course as needed so that students can work on assignments in collaboration. Both class email and discussions will be useful as you work with others in the class on various assignments.
Grades is where you'll check your points to date.
Grading Criteria and Total Components of a Grade
Each student will be graded by earning points for class participation, for assignments, and for the final examination. Grades will be assigned as follows:
97 - 100 points = A+
93 - 96 points = A
90 - 92 points = A-
87 - 89 points = B+
83 - 86 points = B
80 - 82 points = B-
77 - 79 points = C+
73 - 76 points = C
70 - 72 points = C-
65 - 69 points = D
Less than 65 points = Fail
Points will be distributed as follows:
Participation in class discussions: 30 points possible
Students should participate in class discussion by posting their comments or questions and by responding to at least one other classmate each week. The instructor expects each student to contribute at least one thoughtful, quality posting per week (including the response to a classmate). Just logging on and reading other people's postings is not considered participation, nor is mere agreement with others' postings.
Quality of postings is more important than their sheer frequency, length or grammatical form. Quality includes, but is not limited to:
- commentary on the lecture for the current topic;
- detailed sharing of a student's experience or research relative to the week's topic;
- opinions on the topic that are backed with compelling facts and reasoning;
- raising questions that help the class better understand the topic, particularly by proposing; and explaining
implications that might have been overlooked in the lecture, or in previous discussion.
Quality participation also means conveying your experience, research, opinions, questions or commentary in a professional manner. Comments on projects produced by other students is an important part of the learning process. Comments must be made in a respectful and constructive manner. Disagreements among students are expected and often valuable, but they should be expressed tactfully, not in a confrontational tone.
Assignments: 50 points possible
Assignments are listed in the Course Schedule, below. Assignment instructions will be found in the assignment instructions found in each weekly outline. Completed assignments should be posted in the Assignments area as described in the assignment instructions. Please do not send completed assignments to the instructor's email box. Use either (preferred) pdf (Acrobat Reader format), html (save as web page), rtf (save as rich text format) as the format for your completed assignments. Other formats may also work but check with the instructor prior to submitting. Some formats do not work well (Word documents) as they do not transfer well to other computers and are best saved as .pdfs.
Late assignments will automatically have one point subtracted for each day late, unless prior arrangements have been made with the instructor for late submission due to extenuating circumstances.
Final examination/Assignment: 20 points possible
Instructions for the Final Exam/assignment will be posted in the Week 9 area (hidden to students until Week 9), and are to be submitted through the Final Exam Assignment area by the due date listed in the Final Exam instructions.
Final grade in class
Your unofficial grade in the class will be available to you no later than one week after the class ends, either posted in the 'Grades' area on your course site or emailed to you directly by the instructor.
Feedback Schedule
The instructor will provide feedback and points on graded assignments within one week of the due date of that work, unless otherwise noted in the assignment instructions. Late submissions may take longer. Feedback and points will either be posted online via the 'Grades' area, or emailed to you directly by the instructor. Your official final grade will be sent to you via 'snail mail'.
The instructor does not normally participate in real-time chat discussions, but students are welcome to use this feature on their own.
The instructor normally logs on at least once daily, every day of the week, although he may log on more often than once a day. Exceptions will be posted as an announcement on the Homepage, and will advise of time away from home office or when working out of town.
The instructor's office hours are anytime via his Moodle email.
Student Conduct
Vancouver Island University students are expected to behave in a responsible manner respectful of the learning environment inside the classroom, whether attending in person on online. This policy applies to all Vancouver Island University campus and off-campus locations where Vancouver Island University sponsored activity is occurring. For further information, link to Vancouver Island University Student Conduct Code pages.
Course Topics and Assignments Outline
Part 1: Project Planning
Week 1: Introduction
Topics:
- Overview
- Project management & technical communication
- The project management workflow
- People and your plan
Assignment: Your sandbox project description
Reading: Internet research
Discussion: What makes a great (or poor) project manager?
Week 2: Deliverables, Time & Cost
Topics:
- Needs analysis
- Deliverables
- Estimating the time required
- The relationship between time and cost
- Other cost factors
Assignment: Calculate the size and cost of your project
Reading: Internet research
Discussion: Estimating the time required
Week 3: Scope & Stakeholders
Topics:
- Appropriate project scope
- SWOT Analysis of your organization
- Identifying the goals of the stakeholders
- The document development lifecycle
Assignment: A SWOT analysis of your company and a project scope section based on this analysis
Reading: Internet research
Discussion: How can a SWOT analysis of your company help you define your project's scope?
Week 4: Writing & Reviewing your Plan
Topics:
- What your plan needs
- ROI (Return on Investment)
- SWOT analysis of your project
- Reviewing your project plan with stakeholders
Assignment: Complete your project plan
Reading: Internet research
Discussion: Selling your plan to stakeholders
Part 2: Project Execution
Week 5: Staffing & Teambuilding
Topics:
- Assembling your team
- Working together
- Efficient scheduling
Assignment: None this week
Reading: Internet research
Discussion: What motivates a team
Week 6: Project Management Tools
Topics:
- What you need to succeed
- Project management tools
- Using the GanttProject tool
Assignment: A project work breakdown by small deliverables
Reading: Internet research
Discussion: Compare project management tools
Week 7: Monitoring & Rescheduling
Topics:
- Recordkeeping
- Meeting goals & benchmarks
- Crisis management
Assignment: A progress report document
Reading: Internet research
Discussion: War stories
Week 8: Improving your Future Plans
Topics:
- Listening to the numbers
- Lessons learned
- Adapting successful plans
Assignment: A lessons learned document
Reading: Internet research
Discussion: Project lessons you have learned
Questions, comments, or concerns? Please contact Instructor via Moodle e-mail.
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