Assignments


 * Sample Assignment: Personal Employment Packet (Alexa Dimakos)**

This assignment requires that students research a job, create a resume and cover letter as well as participate in a mock interview with me. The assignment fulfills the following SLOs:


 * ability to communicate effectively in writing, orally, and visually
 * ability to reflect critically on the rhetorical choices involved in the communication process
 * ability to communicate with a diverse audience.

Although this assignment is lengthy, students have expressed that they find it to be the most helpful assignment in regards to "real world application."

[|Personal Employment Packet Prompt Fall10 Mon.doc]


 * Sample Assignment: Letter (Amber Norwood)**

This assignment asks students to consider cross-cultural communication, and responds to the following SLOs: • ability to communicate effectively in writing, • ability to reflect critically on the rhetorical choices involved in the communication process; and • ability to communicate with a diverse audience.



This assignment follows a discussion on the subject and an assigned reading from Chapter 5 in //Successful Writing at Work//, which addresses letter writing and international business correspondence. I also provide students with these two websites. They're helpful in generating discussion (or debate) and helping them get started on their letters.

Geert Hofstede Cultural Dimensions for International Business International Business Etiquette and Manners

This assignment requires the student groups to lead a class discussion about an article from //Ethics on the Job//. This handout is only a basic layout of the assignment as a lot of class time is spent discussing the assignment before the students begin working on it. This assignment responds to the following 3 SLOs (along with some of my comments in italics): > //there is a written component (Moodle), oral component (speaking/presenting the information to the class), and visual component (most students use PowerPoint or some other visual aids to supplement the verbal discussion)// > //we use the RESOLVEDD strategy from the text, Ethics on the Job, to analyze the ethical situations in the articles// > //some of these articles are controversial so the students must communicate in a way that they don't alienate those who might not agree with them because of different cultural, religious, or generational differences//
 * Sample Assignment: Group Discussion Facilitation (Angie Misaghi)**
 * **ability to communicate effectively in writing, orally, and visually**
 * **ability to recognize and analyze ethical issues**
 * **ability to communicate with diverse audiences**

The memo assignment asks the students to explain the basic principles of business writing to their coworkers. Sample Student Work: Below, please find a few sample memos of students who got high A's on the assignment.
 * Sample Assignment: Memo (Erin Delaney)**

I have students do this on a Moodle forum as well as an in-class follow-up discussion. Jacqui.

[|**http://www.thesunmagazine.org/_media/article/pdf/392_Wicks.pdf**] Read the article and post a detailed and well-written response that specifically adresses at least one aspect of the business model described that you like or dislike, state what that is and justify your opinion. First post is due by Tuesday, September 7 at midnight.

A detailed Moodle response to one classmate (agree or disagree, but discuss and provide support for your opinion) is due by Sunday, September 12 at midnight.

So THREE things to do: 1) Read this very long interview-style article 2)Post your response to the article by Sept. 7 3)Post a response to a classmate's response by Sept.12

SLOs that this assignment addresses are: critical reading skills, engaging in serious consideration of business ethics, clear, concise writing in support or in opposition to a particular business model. Colleagues, please feel free to use this interview/article; it is really thought-provoking. Students love to love it or hate it.


 * Sample Assignment: Oral Presentation (Ian Barnard)**

This assignment is primarily designed to enable students to fulfill the the "orally" part of the following course SLO:

You will develop the critical thinking abilities necessary to engage in the professional literacy demands of a complex and evolving local and global economy, as demonstrated by your
 * ability to communicate effectively in writing, orally, and visually;

I also like the assignment because it offers students an opportunity to reflect on the work they have done over the semester, and to articulate what they have learnt (much as the portfolio cover letter assignment does in some of our other writing courses). In addition it seems to work well at the end of my online class, as this is the first time that students get to "see" and hear one another, and so they enjoy giving each other feedback on their videos. In preparation for the assignment, we analyze some sample presentation videos and students read up on oral presentation in their textbook. Some students produce very high tech videos, while others are more basic, but I emphasize that either kind can be effective (or not). Students are eager to help each other with the technology, so instructors shouldn't feel that they must have expertise in the appropriate technology in order to assign this project! Here's an example of one student's work. I welcome your comments/critiques, etc. of this assignment--feel free to post them on the "Discussion" tab. Ian.

__Oral Presentation__

Due Date: xxx Create a 3-4 minute video and post it on youtube or another videosharing website. In this video you should give prospective employers a 3-4 minute interesting and informative overview of one of the major assignments you have developed for this class (choose one of these: Email Assignment, Collaborative Wiki Memo, Ethics Website, Language Letter). This should be a professional presentation, and you should dress, speak, and behave appropriately. In your overview of your assignment you may discuss what you did the assignment on, why you chose the topic that you did, how you developed the assignment, what conclusions you came to, how you revised the assignment after getting feedback (if applicable), what you learned from the assignment, etc. (These are suggestions, not requirements.) Remember to introduce yourself at the beginning of the video. You may use visual aids, though this is optional. As you develop your presentation, keep in mind what you have learned from Chapter 14 of //Writing That Works// and from our analysis of sample presentations.

If you do not have access to equipment needed to make a video (e.g., FLIP or webcam on your laptop) or don't know how to make or post a video, please let me know so that I can arrange to have your video filmed on the CSUN campus.

This assignment is part of a larger group project—it is intended to help facilitate effective collaboration (Kim Wells--with inspiration from Kimmerly Brady)


 * Sample Assignment: Oral Presentation--Communicating Across Cultures (Sandra Jackson)**


 * Sample Assignment: Email- The basics (Emmanuel Sabaiz)**

This particular assignment is based on Chapter2 from the book __Contemporary Business Communication__. 7th Edition Boston by Scott Ober, publisher Houghton Mifflin Company.




 * Sample Activity: Social Networking Exercise (Erin Delaney) **

In this exercise, students develop a social networking plan for a product of their choice.



**Sample Activity: The Drawbacks of Social Networking Exercise (Alexa Dimakos)**
Students are asked to read a short 1-page article titled "How Facebook Can Harm Your Finances." Then they use the information from the article and their own knowledge of this social networking site to present a 1 to 2 minute group presentation.


 * Sample Activity: Creating a professional Facebook page (Emmanuel Sabaiz)**

This assignment shows students how to create a professional Facebook page;however, this assignment is split into several parts that are covered throughout the semester.