Reference no: EM131064035

The purpose of this assignment is to develop writing skills:

1. Academic Referencing Skills Exercise, and
2. Reflective writing using the DIEP Method.

Folio A, Part 1. Academic Referencing Skills Exercise (750 words)

Write 3 brief reports (250 words each) summarising one of the key ideas from each of the articles listed below. The articles are discussed in Seminars one, two and three. In each report you are required to refer to the relevant article at least twice using the Harvard
referencing system.

The three academic referencing reports are to be no more than 250 words each to give a total of 750 words for Assignment 1, Folio A, Part 1.

The following articles are to be used for this exercise.

Folio A, Part 2. Reflection writing using the DIEP Method (750 words)

During the trimester you are encouraged to observe the process of communication in your life and within an organisation to which you are connected. This exercise requires you to report on experiences from six examples of such communication that directly involve you.

For each experience you are to write a reflective piece (250 words). The reflective pieces are to be structured using the four stages of the DIEP Method (Describe - Interpret - Evaluate - Plan). This method is described in the prescribed text (Ch. 22, Dwyer, 2012, 5th Edition) and will also be discussed in the seminars.

After you have written the 6 reports you are to choose the best three of your reflective writing pieces (using the DIEP Method) to submit as ‘Assessment 1, Folio A, Part 2'.

Each of these reflective writing pieces is to be no more than 250 words to give a total word count of 750 words Assignment 1, Folio A, Part 2.

Notes:
Each student is to compile both parts (Part 1 Academic Referencing Skills Exercise (750 words) and Part 2 Reflective writing using the DIEP Method (750 words), which equates to a total of 1500 words as their submission of ‘Assignment 1, Folio A' for marking.

Please refer to ‘Rubric for Assignment 1, Folio A' for more details.

The aim of this assignment is for students to communicate who they are in a series of images, and then to explore how these images of self are perceived by others. The assignment also provides students with the challenge of presenting a range of information
(images, words, sentences and discussions) within an integrated and professional looking
report.

Folio B, Part 1

Identity 1: Personal Imagery (750 words)

The purpose of this assignment is for students to develop a series of images and scripts that will help them clarify their professional identity and gain feedback about the way they are perceived by peers.

1. Have someone take four quite different photographs of you, which could be used in a professional situation (LinkedIn Profile, Company website, skype photo).

a. For each photo, you are to write a brief impression of what each photo suggests (3 to 5 words and a single sentence).
b. Email your 4 photographs to 3 friends and have them write their impressions of the pictures. Ask each person to write 3 to 5 words suggested by the photograph, and then write a sentence describing their impression of the photograph.
c. Have one friend email the 4 photographs to someone who you do not know. Have your friend ask that person to write 3 to 5 words, and then write a sentence describing their impression of the photograph.
2. Reflect on this learning experience and compile your impressions, and the feedback from others about these photographs, in a brief report that includes

a. A title page
b. An Introduction
c. The photographs and the feedback
d. Your reflections on the feedback, and your reflections on the process of using photographs to communicate who you (and who you want to be seen as by others).

The total word count for Assignment 1, Folio B, Part 1 to be submitted for marking is to be no more than 750 words.

Folio B, Part 2

Identity 2: Self Imagery of Self and Career Identity - Mood Board, Feedback and Reflection
(750 words)

1. Create a ‘mood board' of 6 - 10 pictures or images that illustrate your professional skills, talents and experiences as well as your career ambitions. Avoid being literal (with photographs of yourself) but instead use images that are representative of whom you are and who you will become professionally (no clip art please!) Search ‘mood board examples' to gain a sense of what this form of communication involves, and the range of ways that it can be assembled and presented.

Present the mood board to two friends and have them provide you with feedback about what they see.

2. Write 350-400 words summarising the impressions that these people have of your visual representation of yourself, and include your own reflections (300-350 words) on this feedback.

The submitted assignment will include the following elements:
• A Title for the Assignment
• The Mood Board (no more than 50 words)
• Your 700-750 words written piece summarising the feedback from others and your own reflections on this feedback.

The total word count for Assignment 1, Folio B, Part 2 is to be no more than 750 words.
Notes:
• For ‘Assignment 1, Folio B', please compile and submit both Parts 1 and 2 for marking. Each student is to compile both parts (Part 1- 750 words in total and Part 2- 750 words in total) which equates to a total of 1500 words as their submission of ‘Assignment 1 - Folio B' for their first assessment task to be submitted for marking.

• Please refer to ‘Rubric for Assignment 1: Folio B' for more details.

ASSIGNMENT 2
PEER REVIEW OF PERSONAL WRITING - INCORPORATING FEEDBACK INTO ESSAY

Group submission
Weight: 30%
Word count: 4000 words
Due Date: Week 8, Friday 6th May
The aim of this assignment is for students to experience the process of requesting peer feedback about a piece of their writing (their communication) in the form of an essay and then incorporating this feedback into an edited version of the piece of writing.

The Task:
1. Formation of the team and initial team meeting/s
a. Students are to form groups of 4 students.
b. The team creates a group Mission and/or Vision Statement for the group, and a set of Values to guide the group's process (300 words, 3 marks).
c. The team members pick topics for task 2 (below) and discusses with team members. The team may wish to have an overarching theme.
d. The group develops a Gantt chart to map out the various tasks that need to be completed and coordinated, with due dates for each element of the task.
2. Write and distribute initial essays (300 words per team member, 3 marks)

Each team member writes a 300 word essay on one aspect of communication that they have learned about during the course. The piece is to include:

a) two academic references
b) a title, and
c) a subtitle with a clearly stated aim for the piece of writing. Each essay is then distributed to the other three members in the team.
Note: It is very important for all team members to contribute a good quality initial essay. Your fellow team members need to provide high quality constructive feedback and they will only be able to do so if the initial essay is done well. If readers have difficulty understanding your message, or if there are too many messages (one is best, probably) or if there is material that is not relevant or even if there are grammar and spelling mistakes, the feedback might be effectively "I don't understand", which is not very useful. Or feedback may focus on the English, which again is not very useful or constructive. Feedback is best when the work is best.

3. Provide feedback
Each team member reads the other three essays and provides 100 words of constructive feedback per essay. This feedback is returned to the original authors.

Note: The feedback needs to be high quality, which means critical and constructive. Try and provide specific suggestions for improvement - not general statements. If possible do not focus on issues such as grammar and spelling. See the previous note.
4. Group discussion of the essays and feedback (100 words per team member, 3 marks)

The author of each essay summarises the feedback in 100 words and distributes the summary to all team members. The team then meets to discuss each essay and the feedback.

Note: The summaries of the feedback need to highlight those aspects where the feedback received was useful: critical and constructive; specific, not general.

5. Revise essays (300 words per team member, 6 marks)

Each student rewrites their essay incorporating the suggestions of their peers
(300 words).

Note: A further round of feedback and review (tasks 3, 4 and 5) may be necessary or desired - the team as a whole needs to be satisfied with the quality of each essay in task 5 and the feedback summaries in task 4.

6. Reflection and introduction
a. Reflection on the process (600 words, 9 marks) The team writes 600 words reflecting on the process used in stages 1-5 above following the DIEP (Describe, Interpret, Evaluate, Plan) method (see Ch. 22 and in class discussions).

b. Write an introduction for your report (300 words, 3 marks).

Both 6a and 6b should, of course, be developed iteratively using feedback  you should adapt the process used to develop the essays earlier.

7. Compile report (3 marks for ‘presentation of report') Compile all the elements of the assignment into a single report structured with
the following elements:

• Title Page (name of the document, group members, date submitted)
• Introduction to the Group report (300 words)
• The Group's Mission/Vision and Values (300 words)
• The writing pieces of each member of the group:
o The First Draft (300 words per each of the student in the group)
o Feedback (100 word summary by the essay's author). Attach the three clearly labelled individual 3 pieces of 100 words feedback comments received from peers / members of the group in the appendices of the report. Each appendix needs to be labelled and referred to within the document.
o The Final Draft incorporating feedback (300 words)
• Reflections on the process to be summarised and compiled into a group summary (of no more than 600 words).
• The Gantt Chart
• Appendices (eg you might want to include the original feedback provided by team members in task 3. Appendices do not count in the word count, but will not be marked.) Page numbers, and header or footer to be used throughout the report.

Note:
• Word limits are strict.

• Please refer to ‘Rubric for Assignment 2' for more details.

ASSIGNMENT 3

GETTING THE MESSAGE ACROSS! ONE MESSAGE, THREE AUDIENCES, THREE MEDIA.
Individual Submission
Weight: 30%
Word count: 2000 Words Report and a Podcast of 5 mins
Due Week 11, Friday 27th May
The aim of this assignment is to give students some practice at writing the same message to different audiences. The assignment requires students to create a communications strategy to deal with a significant organisational issue that will be requiring communications to both internal and external audiences. We see examples, both positive and negative, regularly in the media. These may include, but are not restricted to such instances as:

Organisational Change:
Negative: closing down a department, off-shoring
Positive: expansion of the organisation, takeover, restructure
Organisational Embarrassment or Celebration:
Negative: faulty goods or services, internal issues;
Positive: celebration of milestones or Innovations.
Image Management for Person with a Public Profile:
Negative: redemption after a personal embarrassment
Positive: launching the media profile of a person (eg seeking office)

The potential audiences for the communication can be:

1. Internal Management / Board / Parent Company
2. Government / Industry Regulator
3. Staff / Supervisors / Employees
4. Consumers / Public
5. Local Hospital / Health Services / Emergency Services
6. Media - Radio / TV / Chat Shows / Popular Magazines

The range of media to be used for the communication can range from Press Releases, Statements on the Company Website, to YouTube announcements, FB campaigns, and PowerPoint presentations (with recorded voice).

Process of Completing the Assignment
Step 1: Context and Situation
Choose the ‘situation' that you are going to address in this assignment. If possible select an industry about which you have some inside information and understanding so that you are attuned to the dynamics of the industry and the various stakeholders that will need to be
addressed in the Communications Strategy.

Step 2: Stakeholders
Identify the 3 stakeholder groups that you will address in your communications strategy.

E.g. Stakeholder 1 Employees
Stakeholder 2 Government Body
Stakeholder 3 General Public
Step 3: The Media for your Messages

Once you have chosen the stakeholders, select 3 different media to communicate your message. While the content to each of the groups will be similar, the form and tone of the message will be quite different. You will need to select different media for each
Stakeholder. So, as an example, from above:

Stakeholder Media
1 Employees PowerPoint (PPT) Presentation (no more than 500 Words, with 5 mins recorded narration)
2 Government Body Written Report (no more than 500 Words)
3 General Public Press Release to Daily Newspapers (no more than 500 Words)
Specific Requirements of the Three Messages

While there are no limitations on the type of media chosen for the assignment, at least one of the communications must be a formally written piece (500 words) and one of the communications must be a multi-media presentation (graphics, sound and voice) that will be either a 5 minute YouTube clip (POSTED TO DEAKIN'S SITE), or a PPT presentation which includes recorded audio embedded into the slides). Students need to present a 5 mins Podcast along with the report to be submitted on CloudDeakin for assessment.
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Assignment Submission
The completed assignment will include the following. Descriptive Title (e.g. Restoring Confidence in the Brand)
Introduction to provide the context for the media strategy (500 words)

• The context piece will introduce the organisation, the situation that needs to be addressed through a communication strategy, and a rationale as to why the three stakeholder groups, and choice of media, were chosen to address this issue.
• The aim of the media strategy (The aim of this media strategy is to ........)
• The rationale for the choice of the three media used in the strategy.
• Expected outcomes of the strategy

The 3 different media to communicate your message to the three stakeholders
Notes:
• The total word count of this assignment must not exceed 2000 Words (Eg a 500 words report introduction, 500 words written report, a 500 words Press Release, and a 500 words PPT with 5 mins recorded narration embedded).

Please note that there must be a 5 mins Podcast component to be submitted on CloudDeakin for marking. You can do this as part of the PowerPoint presentation or if you do not choose a PowerPoint presentation as a medium, then you must submit an additional 5 mins podcast for marking.

• The assignment will be evaluated based on the content and the professional style of presentation of the document.
• Please refer to ‘Rubric for Assignment 3' for more details.

HINTS

Assignment 3
Hints for preparing a multimedia presentation One of the communications for Assignment 3 must be a multimedia presentation with graphics, sound and voice. In other words, a podcast, such as might be posted to YouTube.

Here are some hints to assist you with creating such a podcast using PowerPoint. Firstly you should read pages 9 - 11 of the Assessment Tasks document. To create your presentation you can use PowerPoint. You can use PowerPoint's ‘Record
Slide Show' facility or record audio files separately on a smartphone or similar device and embed them on slides. This can produce quite an effective multimedia presentation. If you are not sure how to do it, please do a search on-line for the instructions. Alternatively, you might create a PowerPoint presentation then use software such as Camtasia to record the slides on your computer screen with a voice-over. You might like to combine such a voice-over with other images or videos, such as a video of yourself demonstrating an idea; Camtasia allows you to edit and combine video files.

• Camtasia allows you to record a PowerPoint presentation that you have on your screen.
• It will record your voice from the microphone built into your computer (or a plug-in microphone if your computer does not have one built-in).
• It can record your face while you are talking.
• You can edit what you have recorded. You can remove mistakes or crop at the start and the end.
• If you submit a file created using Camtasia you MUST save your file as an mpg-4 file, by going to Share and then advanced export. A 5-minute presentation created with Camtasia will probably be around 40MB, and you will be able to upload this Video to
the Assignment 4 Dropbox.

• Alternatively, you can save the presentation as a YouTube video and when you go to submit via the Assignment Dropbox paste a link to your YouTube video in the Comments box. If you save to YouTube you may want to make sure the settings for the presentation is on private - otherwise the whole world will be able to find and watch your presentation.