Appendix A
FINAL PROJECT, “APPLYING COMPUTER TECHNIQUES”
This project works great. Students learn so much about the powerful tools for business
communication: word processing and computer presentations.
I emphasize that the students:
Must teach the class, not just say a bunch of stuff about, say, flow charts
Must go beyond simply showing which menu items to use and explain what makes for a
good (for example) flow chart
Appendix B
FINAL PROJECT, “CREATING REPORTS”
I’ve used the final project many times. It’s a great way to have students take responsibility for
presenting important material to the class and for them to learn practical, easy skills they can
apply to business writing and to papers for their other college classes.
I tell my students I don’t expect them to do any research in the sense of finding an article on, for
example, how to prepare a table of contents. Instead, I tell them to go to the library or bookstore
and look at a few hundred tables of contents. They’ll see an amazing range, from dull to
extremely engaging, and they’ll see many interesting ways to do them.
I also tell my students not to limit themselves to looking at reports (which are often hard to find).
Instead, I tell them to look at books and magazines. Magazines are especially helpful in showing
ways to do the various elements of a report. Again, suppose students are looking at the tables of
contents in some magazines. They’ll find:
•Pictures. Magazines usually have pictures in their tables of contents. Reports could, too.
Suppose you’re preparing a report on whether or not your company should extend its
current lease or build a new building. The cover for your report could have pictures of
both the current building and the new building your report is going to recommend. The
table of contents could then repeat those images, somewhat smaller. That’s a good way to
use pictures — as a unifying technique. Magazines do that all the time.
•Narrative. Magazines often have some narrative after each item in the table of contents.
Reports could, too. In fact, the narrative after each item (such as a chapter or a section) in
your report’s table of contents could be the bottom line for that item — an extremely
efficient technique for communicating to busy readers.
Here are some suggestions for the final project:
• Remind students they’re not showing the rest of class how to prepare the parts of a
magazine. They’re showing them how to prepare the parts of a report — using reports,
books, and magazines as examples.
• Tell students they’re teaching the class how to do, for example a table of contents — not
just saying a bunch of stuff about tables of contents. The presentation must meet the
practical needs of the class, people who will actually have to prepare tables of contents
for their final papers.
• Encourage presenters to demonstrate how to do certain techniques on a computer. For
example, drop caps and sidebars are easy to do with word processing — once people
know how. So part of the presentation on drop caps and sidebars (or bar and pie charts)
should probably be a demonstration on a computer.
• Urge students to use examples early and often. Some groups want to teach everything
about, for example, sidebars, but wait until the end of the presentation before showing
any actual sidebars.
In addition, I spend time helping my students before they give their group presentations. Here’s
what I do:
• I assign the project early in the semester and bring it up every now and then.
• A week or two before the group presentations begin, I have each group stand up in front
of us and show us one visual aid containing teaching points and one visual aid containing
an example. The purpose of this is to examine their visual aids. Almost all of them need
help. For example, if a student wants to show the neat colors on a cover page, bringing
the actual cover page and holding it up is usually more effective than scanning the image
into a computer. After all, the color on the original will stay that color — but the colors
may be different on a computer projection.
• I meet briefly with each group and ask members to tell me who is going to do what
during their presentation and what their class activity will be. They often appreciate help
refining the class activity. While meeting with them, I ask each student what the most
important point he or she wants to make to the class. I want to be sure the goal is on
teaching.
• I tell students I’m expecting a rehearsed, polished presentation. My expectations are high.
Most do extremely well.
For my undergraduates who need a little more help, I have them submit a proposal in writing, in
advance of their group presentation. This is the assignment I give them:
Writing Exercise
For this exercise, prepare a proposal for what you and your partner plan to cover for your group
presentation. Prepare this by yourself — not with your partner. You’ll each hand in separate
papers and receive separate grades.
The proposal is a good writing assignment in itself, and it gets them (and me) involved with the
content of the final project early.