The Community Connection (CC) project asks you to participate in relevant professional communities, and then present your experiences in a digital report. The CC project is challenging because it requires you to identify, join, and monitor professional communities so you can be prepared to discuss how these experiences might fuel future professional participation.
This project requires only a final submission. All files are submitted to a Community Connection folder in your shared course space on Dropbox.com. Your submission must include the following documents:
Document type: memo, screencast video
Document length: 150 words (memo), 6-8 minutes (video)
Project value: 200 points
Evaluation rubric: _RPW425_Eval_CommunityConnection.pdf
The CC report requires you to share the results of your foray into identifying professional communities and conversations that began with the Community Connection workshop earlier in the semester. As you began during that assignment, identify 5+ professional spaces that relate in some way to career goals you have begun to pursue. You may share community connections from networking and research that you have done prior to this class, or connections that you discover anew this semester, or any combination of the two.
For example, on LinkedIn and Facebook, I participate in professional communities related to an array of topics: online teaching, pandemic teaching (more specifically), technical communication, usability studies, ux design, podcasting, and more. On Twitter and TikTok, I follow conversation threads related to philosophy, technology studies, social media management, writing, publishing, editing, and more. You determine the communities that matter to you. Based on your on-going assessment, stay connected to or step away from communities throughout the semester.
Your screening document (that is, the document from which you record your screencast video) should stand in as an effective representation of your report even without your presence as a presenter. That means viewers (or readers) ought to be able to discern the core details and explanations from the content available on each screen. However, the document should be designed to serve primarily as the on-screen object during your screencast recording.
To meet these ends, your screening document must incorporate the following content and design elements.
Record your screencast using the screening document as your designated recording window. Use the content from that document as the basis for your presentation. But avoid reading it to viewers. Rather, bring it to life through your discussion.
Test the resulting video file prior to submitting your project. Make sure that the audio is strong and clear and that the video is free of glitches or background sounds.
Set up your report for streaming by posting the video file to Screencast.com (or another streaming service). One advantage of Screencast.com over some other services is that you control whether or not your files are publicly accessible. If you created an account here for the Screencast Design workshop, then you may remember that your video file is accompanied by a SHARE link. Copy that link and add it to your Memo of Transmittal (see below) prior to submission of the project.
A memo of transmittal introduces the accompanying document to its audience(s). Your memo should be addressed from you to me, and should introduce the accompanying project. Your memo should incorporate the following content elements.
Recommended tool(s): Techsmith Capture, Screencast-O-matic.com (all platforms), or Apple Quicktime (Mac) for the screencast; Adobe InDesign for the on-screen document; microphone; headphones
This section offers guidance for how to interpret the project and how to proceed with your work on it. Consider the following strategies.
You establish your technical writer/designer ethos with the way you present your descriptive details. Be as specific and concrete as you can throughout your discussion. The more details you incorporate into your report, the more observant you appear to be. That helps establish and maintain your credibility and authority. However, it is also important to focus on the details that truly matter for understanding and interpreting your experiences.
Consider what viewers might find most useful. Provide as much detail, explanation, and evaluative discussion as you can in the allotted time.
Establish a connection with your audience. Sustain that connection throughout your video. Consider what would help you create a connection to a topic, issue, or author, and seek to develop such connections with your audience now. For example, consider the needs and expectations of a professional such as yourself in seeking out a review like yours.
This section is designed to help you anticipate and avoid problems as you work on this project. Therefore, as you work, consider the following hints and tips.
Remember that communication in professional and technical contexts values highly the ability to write and speak with economy, directness, and professionalism. Another way of saying this is to make every word count. Stay focused on the details necessary to understand your OoS, the research you conduct, and the conclusions you draw from your work. Write and rewrite until your explanations make sense, and represent careful, concise, professional communication.
Focus on the little and big details. Proofread your on-screen report carefully. Make sure your audio is strong and clear. Review what you say and how you say it. Check the quality of your audio and video. Redo material that does not meet expectations. Test your SHARE link after you add it to the Memo.
Design a document that presents completely the report's core content. Because you will record a screencast of your movement through this document, it is most effective to design a document that fits on screen and requires no scrolling. That means using the landscape orientation rather than portrait in your design package.
I recommend Adobe InDesign for this project. InDesign offers the best combination of design power and stability. Your transitions between pages during the screencast will go more smoothly if you convert your report document to PDF before you record your video.
I offer this caution about using Microsoft PowerPoint. Although a slideshow created in PowerPoint suits your needs for this task, I strongly recommend that you avoid using any templates provided by Microsoft. Such templates are designed to meet outdated standards for projected documents, and are not at all appropriate for a professional document such as the one you need to create here.
Consider as well that if you want to integrate any other video content, such as a live tour of a community stream / space. If so, prepare in advance to make that content easier to integrate. If you resize and reposition the demo window so it fills the same space on screen as your report document, then you can pause during the recording process to put that demo space in the recording window.
Screencasting tools allow you to designate a recording window, which may be a portion of your computer screen or the whole screen. The contents of that window are recorded during the screencasting process. Designate the report document as your recording window, rather than the whole screen. This is more professional. However, it is also more effective because it eliminates unnecessary screen content, and may allow you to record the screencast document at a larger scale.
Plan and rehearse your report so that you use the time allotted to you for your presentation. It is often obvious when presenters have not planned well or rehearsed their presentation. In such cases, they may have little to say, or struggle to do more than read from their report, or or simply stop because their time is running out. You do not have much time to discuss your topic, and thus need to emphasize organization in your planning. Plan the general presentation sections and the key details from each. Work your way through the topics toward your conclusion.
Once you have completed your recording, review your screencast to make sure that (1) your delivery is professional, coherent, and well paced, (2) your video is clear and free of flaws, and (3) your audio is clear, audible, and free of distracting clicks or other background sounds.
Although it is possible to upload a video file (typically an .mp4 format file), such files can be large. Screencast.com allows you to share a link with others that, when selected, provides access to a video stream. Because most email packages (including SVSU Vmail) have limits on file size for attachments, this sharing option is often the most effective. Always test your link before you submit your project.
Read and attend carefully to these submission guidelines. Failure to do so may result in delays in receiving feedback on the draft of your project, or in points lost on the final evaluation of your project.
Create a project folder inside your shared class folder on Dropbox.com. Remember, I can only view files that you place inside the shared folder. Until you place files in that space, you have not in practice submitted them.
Name the folder Community Connection.
When you assemble your submission for the CC project, there will be 2 files in the folder. Again, model your filenames on the examples listed here.
Note. Do not share the individual files with me. By placing them in your project folder, you have already shared them by default.
Take the time to organize your work as directed here, and to name each file properly. This helps me keep track of your work, and makes clear which files are meant to represent the on-going and final stages of project development.
This section describes the standards by which your submission will be evaluated.
There are 200 possible points for the final project. You will earn points according the following variation to the standard described on the policies page (40% content development, 40% delivery and design execution, and 20% professionalism & attention to detail; see Policies). The specific areas of emphasis for this project are drawn from the description and discussion of the project, and are detailed in the evaluation rubric (_RPW425_Eval_CommunityConnection.pdf).
Remember that I will only post the point values for projects on the Grades page in SVSU Canvas. I will post the details relevant to that evaluation in your class folder in a project-specific file.
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