Oral Presentation #2 (Group Project)

Oral #2: Stupid Computer Tricks (Group instruction project)--6% of final grade (including memo and handout)

Purpose and Client Situation	As the instructor in WRIT 465, I frequently see that students claim to have more facility in using technology than they actually do. Routinely I get second pages of documents that have no headers, have students tell me that they cannot create tables of contents, see amateurish PowerPoint presentations, and find that students cannot present basic information in on the Internet. As a result, I have to lower their grades for ineffective presentation of information. This assignment will require you to become familiar with three of the world's most commonly used software programs, Microsoft Word for Windows, PowerPoint, and FrontPage, which are part of the Microsoft Office suite. Your task, as a group, is to work together to make us all familiar with aspects of these programs needed to produce professional-looking documents and presentations. The "tricks" you learn will be needed to produce your final report and presentation this semester. Your group has been assigned to demonstrate a set of skills that you all may have; do not, however, assume that everyone in the class shares your level of skill, even if they claim they do. Do not "blow off" any of the tasks or say "You all know how to do X." As your client/boss/teacher, I can assure you that they do not. I see the communications they produce. If I detect that your group has a blasé attitude about your task, your grade will suffer for it. Your group will be given a group of "tricks" to figure out in these programs and to teach to your classmates. Each group will have from 15 to 25 minutes (depending on the "tricks" assigned). [You should try to figure out the tricks as a group first. If you can't figure out how to do the tricks, come see me, and we'll go through my books to get the exact steps.] I will place you in groups based on information you provided on your information sheet the first day of class. Your groups will be competing for the best grades on this assignment; I will rank the groups by overall performance in meeting the expectations of the assignment. No sabotage is allowed, but remember: may the best team win!
Presentation Guidelines	You will need to demonstrate on the computers in the classroom how to do these tricks for your oral presentation. Your group has the choice of creating a document for the class to work on together, thinking up exercises or applications, or otherwise engaging your audience so that they don't just watch these tricks--they actually learn how to do them. Each member in the group must visibly participate in the presentation, though not all group members must talk. (This means that some can work the computer, some can circulate to terminals, etc.) Your group will be expected to provide each class member with a hard copy of a handout explaining your tricks; it should be clear enough that if they have questions at 2 a.m., the handout will provide the answers. (And they are allowed to call you at 2 a.m. for clarification, so take this into account!) You may use Microsoft's online help features and the tutorials on our Resources page to assist you in designing the content, but you must write and design the handouts yourselves. Be careful not to plagiarize and document any sources you use correctly. Plagiarism or faulty documentation will result in an F on the assignment. Make sure your names, e-mail addresses, and phone numbers are on the handouts. You will need copies for all students in the class and one to turn in to me. (You can e-mail the handouts to your classmates using the class list-serve if they are small files and not graphics-heavy; most outside e-mail accounts will not accept large, graphics-laden files. However, not all your classmates will print out the handouts and bring them to class; be prepared to deal with this eventuality. They may also alternate clicking on the handout and watching your presentation if you do this, so you will have to figure out how to keep their attention and communicate effectively if this is the case.
Other Group Work	Each group must also prepare for me a memo detailing how the group approached the assignment; when you met, who did what, etc. This, along with a clean copy of your handout, gets turned into me on the day you do your presentation. Once the presentation is over, each individual member must send me an individual e-mail evaluation of the group's performance. I must receive these no later than three weekdays after your group presentation. After the project, you will be able to correct your handout (if needed); your team must then turn in a corrected copy on disk or CD before your team's grade is assigned. It will then be hyperlinked to this page so that your classmates can check it if they lose their paper copies. The revised copy is due no later than one week after your presentation is given.
Grading	You will share a grade with your group members, so you must inspire each other to great efforts. I will be grading you on six criteria: the clarity and accuracy of your instructions (remember some tasks can be completed in more than one way; I will be looking to see if you have figured those out) the quality and correctness of your handout the quality of your oral performance (including demonstrated attitude) the evidence of teamwork you show (I don't want to see five individual presentations done in sequence: Bobby does trick A, Johnny does trick B, etc. Think about ways [for instance, using the same font and type size on handouts, your presentation style, etc.] that you can present yourselves as a team.) the degree to which you get your audience involved, so think about ways to create an active learning experience as you demonstrate how to do these tricks the timeliness, presentation, and execution of the supporting materials for this assignment (memo, individual evaluations, cleaned-up copy for the web page) Remember that groups are competing against each other, so the group with the highest overall achievement will get the highest grade (whether that is an A, a B-, or whatever it earned) and the other groups will then be ranked accordingly. Your challenge is to communicate well with each other in your group, then communicate effectively with the class as a whole.
Task Breakdowns	Group I: Word (15-20 minutes) How to use the timed save feature to back up your work onto media or Z-drive account every five minutes How to put in page numbers and the date using the specific features of the program to do this How to put in headers and footers (and how to edit them); make sure your audience can reproduce the headers required in The Business Writer's Companion How to suppress headers, footers, and page numbers, both on the first page of the document and within it (hint: you will need to explore the concept of section breaks) How to change the placement and style of page numbers (e.g. Roman to Arabic numerals) within the same document (again hint: you will need to explore the concept of breaks) How to use heading levels (Level 1, Level 2, etc.)--and where and why to use them (Hint: start on p. 194 of your book) Team members MW 3:30 class: Shanetta, Michelle TR 5:00 class: Tracy, Jennifer, Phillip Group II: Word (25-30 minutes) How to work with a standard Word template (for instance a résumé) and the dangers of doing so slavishly (do some research on this) How to insert a picture, graphic, or video clip and display text around it How to insert symbols like foreign letters, fractions, stars, and other small typographic designs How to create Tables of Contents (bonus points if you can show how to use Tab Leaders to fake that you have created a Table of Contents) How to create a pie chart and a bar chart in Word (not importing one from Excel or another program) How to edit or change such a chart Team members: MW 3:30 class: Jerron, Denise, Kristina TR 5:00 class: Pamela, Dupree, ~~David~~ Group III: PowerPoint (20-25 minutes) How to create a basic presentation using the "wizard" or template How to add sounds and "fly" animations How to print speaker's notes How to print handouts How to show a slide show What not to do in a PowerPoint presentation (do some research on this) Team members: MW 3:30 class: Jenny, Johnny, Courtney TR 5:00 class: Tamara, Carrie, Timothy Group IV: Power Point (25-30 minutes) How to customize a presentation by changing background colors, fonts, etc. How to insert a graphic or video clip into a slide How to import text from Word or Excel into a slide How to add a live hyperlink in a PowerPoint presentation Dealer's choice: one additional trick not listed here that can increase audience engagement with a visual presentation Team members: MW 3:30 class: Amanda, Jennifer, Matthew TR 5:00 class: Shayla, Jessica, Steve Group V: FrontPage (30-45 minutes) How to create a basic web page in Front Page and put text information on it How to insert a graphic on a web page and edit its placement, text wrapping, etc. How to create and edit a hyperlink How to insert a document from Word or a chart from Excel into a web page How to put dynamic elements (e.g. counter, date of last update) onto a web page. How to publish your web page onto the Birdnest server Team members: MW 3:30 class: ~~Nneka~~, Jason, Tabitha TR 5:00 class: Amy, Gerlyn, Russ