Syllabus
Welcome to the course site for RPW 350 Information Architecture in PTW. The SVSU Catalog describes this as a course about how technical communication professionals manage complex information design projects.
Course Description
The SVSU Course Catalog description of Instructional Writing & Design.
Examining and developing instructional documents (e.g., procedures, specifications, manuals, tutorials, help systems) from a user-centered perspective. Emphasis on understanding page/screen design and whole-document information design; designing documents for print and digital environments, integrating audio and static/moving visual content; engaging in inclusive information design; and the design and implementation of usability studies.
Course Objectives
I designed this course to foster professional development in the context of the following objectives.
- Explore strategies and practices of effective, context-appropriate, audience-aware information design. Effective information design demonstrates awareness of and respect for the needs, knowledge, expectations, and work habits of audiences, and takes advantage of the most appropriate and contextually effective media for expression. All information is designed in some manner. Some is crafted carefully and well to fit the context in which it is offered and encountered. Some falls short of audience needs and expectations in one or more ways. We study design with a critical eye because we want to do it well.
- Examine cultural, professional, and disciplinary standards for communication. Quality communication is created to meet or exceed a spectrum of standards for excellence. Many professions have adopted their own particular standards to guide their members. Accessibility and inclusivity drive design in a variety of ways. Industries and economic unions maintain their own as well. It is thus important to explore what standards apply to each kind of communication we create.
- Examine links among communication, professional authority, and ethical responsibility. Professional and disciplinary credentials carry with them both the authority to communicate and the expectation that you will do so responsibly. Ethical action demands that professionals examine the ways power knowingly and inadvertently influences the effectiveness and impact of design thinking, design action, and professional conduct more generally. Because technical communicators work within, and thus perpetuate, the language(s) of social, political, and economic power active in and beyond professional spaces in the United States, they must seek understanding of how to do so consciously, critically, and inclusively.
- Consider the promise and peril of emerging technologies. Technologies that we refer to collectively as generative artificial intelligence have captured the attention of experts from many fields of inquiry as well as that of people prone to spreading mayhem and misinformation. Emerging technologies challenge us in a variety of ways. Understanding them, harnessing them, and dealing with them ethically and responsibly presents an array of complex challenges. Bring a critical research and design mindset to your work this semester and focus on developing professional strategies for implementing these new tools into your toolkit, and you will position yourself to lead when leadership is greatly needed.
- Demonstrate the ability to execute effective communication in the context of the other objectives. Professionals and scholars earn privileges and opportunities with their credentials and certifications. Observation of cultural practices in a variety of contexts consistently reinforce that the most respected and enduring professionals communicate effectively. Such success does not come easily, even to those who possess seemingly natural gifts and abilities for communication. Whether you are an accomplished communicator, or someone who struggles to succeed in this endeavor, my baseline goal is to help you become more aware, better prepared, and more effective as a communicator than you are when you enter the course.
Textbooks
This course requires that you acquire one textbook.
- Don Norman. (2013). The Design of Everyday Things: Revised and Expanded Edition.
Because our emphasis on this text will come early in the course, you must secure access to this text right away. It is available in both print and digital formats from a variety of vendors.
In addition, I will assign readings, listenings, and viewings from a variety of other sources. I will provide or direct you to materials for these assignments through our course space in SVSU Canvas.
Other Course Materials
To support your work here this semester, you will use the following services, tools, and technologies.
- SVSU Canvas. I will help you organize your time in the course through weekly modules. I post supporting materials (e.g., articles, sample docs, supplemental docs for workshops) to Canvas Files. I typically use the Announcement page to facilitate communication with the whole class. Note. Although I create assignments in Canvas, it is only so I can use the Grades page. (No detail about workshops or projects appears on the Assignments page in Canvas. All descriptions are posted here on this course site.) You will post most of your workshop submissions through the Discussion page.
- SVSU Vmail. Use campus Vmail (aka Outlook Mail) or Canvas Mail for all correspondence with me. Note, however, that I typically only check Vmail, and Canvas Mail is sometimes remarkably slow at forwarding messages to the campus email servers. I may not see a message posted to Canvas in a timely manner.
- Dropbox.com. You will create and manage a shared folder on this service. All of the file exchanges between you and me for course projects (e.g., your submissions, my feedback and project evaluations) will happen through Dropbox.com. Dropbox offers a free service option. That will be all you need for this course. Do not sign up for a paid business or pro account.
Note. I strongly recommend that you install Dropbox on your computer if you have one. The service is much more easily navigated from a computer desktop than it is from a browser window. If you try to do anything other than view documents from a tablet or smartphone, you will likely become rather frustrated.
- Audio production software. You will use audio production and transcript technologies to complete multiple assignments. Audio recording apps and packages are now standard on computers and smart devices. Familiarize yourself with the capabilities and limitations of these technologies at the beginning of the semester to avoid uncecessary difficulties later.
- Video production software. Some of your work will feature video production here this semester. Although there are many tools that you could use to complete this work, I will recommend tools and services (e.g., Techsmith Camtasia, Adobe Premier, Screencast.com). Such tools require some time investment to learn. Prepare yourself for that work.
Although you will use several communication tools and technologies during your work this semester, all of these things are either provided by SVSU, or are available to you for free. If you want to be able to work off campus, or on campus on your own terms, you might need to purchase some of these items. But recognize that this is a choice you face. How you get the work done is up to you. If you have questions about such details, please follow up with me. Among the most important priorities in your professional development should be identifying successful strategies for acquiring and refining technological knowledge, and finding comfort in learning new tools and processes. If technology intimidates you in any way, then emphasize achieving this professional goal this semester.
Some of the work you do might be made more convenient or easy if you have access to the following additional materials.
- Portable storage device. I strongly recommend that you always carry a portable storage device (e.g., flash drive, external hard drive) with you to store project and workshop files, or anything else you might need for your work in this course. Although SVSU provides you space on the Microsoft OneDrive system, I recommend that you use it only as a backup, rather than as your primary work space. The system has proven unreliable for countless students during my time at SVSU.
- Scanner or scanning app for your phone/tablet. You will at times integrate visual content that you draw from source material into your work. Although you can use a camera to accomplish this task, the results are typically clunky and unprofessional. Scanners and scanning apps allow you to digitize content at a much higher level of professionalism. Several apps are available for free or at little cost. I strongly recommend that you acquire one, and learn to use it.
- Headphones. Because you will use audio and video for some of your work, and because you will have opportunity to work with these technologies during class sessions, headphones are a convenient item to have on hand.
- Microphone. Because you will record audio this semester, a microphone (even an inexpensive one) is a useful addition to your toolkit. It will raise the quality and professionalism of your audio. Because I administer the departmental Audio & Video Production Studio, I can grant you access to quality equipment.
Because I serve as the Director of the PTW Audio and Video Production Studio, I am able to loan out audio and video equipment when assignments demand it. The University Writing Center also has facilities and equipment that will serve your audio production needs. However, we do have limited resources, so you may want to consider purchasing your own equipment at some point. If you do so, please consider consulting with me when selecting equipment.