Practicums

Practicum

A practicum is a situation in which you receive credit for performing a communication task for another person or company. Usually Practicums are unpaid positions. Students typically set them up in offices or companies that they work in or as an independent project for a person or company as arranged either by the Director of Practicum or by the student. Usually each practicum credit requires 75 hours, including planning, research, writing, revising, and producing the final document.

The prerequisite for a practicum is ENGL 415 Technical Writing

List of Fall 07 due dates for ENGL 437 Practicum in Technical Writing

A. Proposal

Due
October 2—Email the proposal to Dan Riordan at riordand@uwstout.edu

Contents
Include all of the following; write in report format:

1.       List your learning goals for the practicum

2.       Name the audience for the ‘deliverable”, and tell your goal for the audience,

3.       What are the basic sections of the deliverable.  What is the content?  What is the order of the sections?

4.       What is the final form of the deliverable? What do you have to leave with your client?  Hard copy? Digital file? CD?

5.       What are the milepost dates?  Milepost dates are times by which you have to finish something:  include meetings with your client, date of finishing the ‘alpha’ version, the ‘beta’ version, and the final version,

6.       Will you perform a usability test? If so, when and who will be involved? If not, who will give you feedback on your drafts and when?.


B. Status Reports

Due Dates

Send Status Report to Dan Riordan riordand@uwstout.edu on these dates:
Just type the report into the email. Don’t send attachments.

·         October 15

·         November 1

·         November 15 on this day, in addition to your status report, also make an appointment for me to review the "alpha draft" of your work

Sections for the Status Reports
Put these sections into the status report:

1.       Introduction,

2.       Log of Hours,

3.       Work Completed,

4.       Work Yet to Complete,

5.       Problems/Accomplishments,

6.       How You Are Meeting Your Learning Objectives.

 

C. Final Portfolio

Due December 15--Final Portfolio Due.

Sections

Include all of the following in your Final Portfolio

1.       a "learning report" in which you detail what you have learned about communication--explain whether and how you achieved your learning goals, and other topics as necessary. A sample learning report.

2.       a narrative history of the project and a log of the dates and hours spent on the project

1.       a copy of the proposal and of the plan

2.       a copy of the final deliverable

 

 

To create a practicum

1. Articulate in broad terms the project that will be performed. The Practicum Director OKs the project.

2. Write a plan for the project including audience, goal for the audience, final form of the deliverable, basic content of the document, milepost dates including alpha version, beta version, final version, review process with client, status report dates to Director, and usability test dates if applicable. In addition list your learning goals for the practicum.

3. Submit the plan for approval to both the Director and the client.

4. Create a plan for the document including audience, goal for audience and page template (margins, fonts, handling of visual aids, colors).

5. Enroll in ENGL-437 Practicum. Note: YOU CAN NOT ENROLL ONLINE. To enroll you must meet with the Practicum Director (Dan Riordan, HH 202F, riordand@uwstout.edu) and get his signature on an Add Card.

During the project

1. Send a detailed status report to the Director every two weeks. This report must include introduction, log of hours, work completed, work yet to complete, problems or accomplishments, learning objectives met.

To conclude the project

1. Deliver the final product to the client.

2. Hand in a final portfolio for the course. This portfolio must contain:

a. a "learning report" in which you detail what you have learned about communication--explain whether and how you achieved your learning goals, and other topics as necessary. A sample learning report.

b. a narrrative history of the project and a log of the dates and hours spent on the project

c. a copy of the proposal and of the plan

d. a copy of the final deliverable