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Subject:Re: Exercises for Students From:Cathy Luther <cluther -at- UNM -dot- EDU> Date:Fri, 8 Sep 1995 20:17:24 -0600
> Also, for those of you who can remember your student days, what were the best
> (most effective) assignments? I will probably give them at least one major
> document, but I would like it to be a fun assignment. (I believe we learn
> more when we're having fun.)
> . . . . . . . .
> My students come to school after working all day, so I really want to make it
> a valuable experience for them. Any tips you may have will be greatly
> appreciated.
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One of the earliest technical writing classes I took was one mixed bag -
memos, especially the "bad news" memos, abstracts, instructions, manual
writing, patent application, proposals, etc., etc.
The two I learned the most from was the instruction assignment and the
manual assignment. The instruction assignment was limited to one page
and no graphic explaining how to use the copier for architecture plans
since those don't operate like normal xerox machines and you can hurt
yourself when using it. Was to be written for understanding by temporary
employees, meaning they'd never seen one before and had to be able to use
it immediately.
The manual assignment was the final project and could be about _anything_
we wanted, but it had to be at least ten pages, with or without
graphics. I did one that I was already committed to - a manual
explaining how to put together a newsletter that I do for a small museum
- in anticipation of the time I have give it up or I might be unable to
do it. Some of the other manuals submitted were how to coordinate
volunteer projects and get parents involved in those projects for
schools, making a quilt, the standard syle guide.
Our class was about half workin' folks so that final assignment could be
anything anyone wanted and many of them did something related to their
workplace, hobbies or community activities. The assignment included a
short show-and-tell presentation so everyone benefited from everyone
else's work.
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Cathy
From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000====
Catherine Luther snail mail: 2701 Campus Blvd. NE
CIRT/IRC Albuquerque, NM 87131
University of New Mexico e-mail: cluther -at- unm -dot- edu
"Life is what happens while you are making other plans"
(paraphrased/author unknown)
From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000====
