Category: Uncategorized

First Draft Success

Hello, everyone!

It’s been an exciting week of drafts and collaboration. I will admit it has been difficult keeping up with every single message and discussion on our Slack work space, especially with other classes in the semester coming in full-force. Our wonderful teammates, Eveline and Siobhan, have made headway with our first official draft. It’s a basic outline of Google Forms instructions and screen-captures that has been the jumping-off point for editing, discussions, and revisions. There are some things that need to be edited in the document. For example, meaningful, consistent headings need to be established. We should also make sure to use step-by-step instruction throughout the entire document; as of right now, it is only in a few sections.

Irish team member and editor Michael Clarke has provided us with many helpful links to Markel’s Technical Communication textbook, outlining important things like layout, page design, and typography. Michael Clarke has also created a Team 6 banner, representing all of our individual schools. There is a sense of unity in this team, though some members are speaking more often than others. However, we all have busy collegiate lifestyles and are still learning to work in this online environment. We’ve been editing and revising our first draft on Google Drive, and I am collecting screen captures for my involvement in graphics and page design moving forward. We are in a good position as of right now, and hope to keep the momentum going.

Second Meeting’s Tidings

Hello, everyone! We had our second meeting on February 6th, 2019. We have started producing our draft documents and collaborating on areas that need revision. We have officially decided to create instruction for Google Forms. I’m learning that our Ireland counterparts are extremely flexible with decisions and responsibilities, similarly to our own U.S. mindset. Our team meetings (still taking place on Slack), are loosely structured yet still cover all areas necessary to complete this project successfully. However, after looking back in Hofstede’s Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, I’ve noticed that Ireland and the United States are along a similar quadrant on the Power Distance versus Uncertainty Avoidance matrix; our French team members fall on the opposing diagonal quadrant. So, while we collaborate with our Irish students, we have similarities in that we are taking more creative steps to complete research, layout design, and rule orientation. We engage in more conversational meetings, taking time to exchange humor and banter in this otherwise commonplace situation. Yet, our French students are very straightforward, to-the-point, and have specific expectations for deadlines or draft uploading. Even though our Uncertainty Avoidance levels vary, we are still well underway in research and preparation for our instructional document. I am confident that we will communicate accurately and that my team members will help me while I design graphics for our Google Forms first draft. I think I’ve been so used to the individualist mindset of the United States that it’s new to see a team that makes decisions based on general agreement. It’s refreshing and I am looking forward to week two. Bye for now!

Preliminary Challenges

Hello, everyone! It’s been a great week of introductions, conversations, and role assignment for Team 6. Our team members in Ireland and France seem so lively, friendly, and intelligent; both my partner and I are excited to be working with them. At this point, I can identify one major challenge that will come along with our production: time zones. Ireland is five hours ahead of Florida’s EST, and France is six hours ahead. Since I work two jobs, it’s been a struggle to make sure I’m available for team meetings and decision-making. We are using the collaboration software called Slack to message, interact, and share topic ideas. It is certainly different than a video or face-to-face meeting. However, we all seem to be excellent communicators and it’s been smooth sailing with online messaging so far. We discussed using Zoom for video conferencing on our next meeting, tentatively scheduled for Thursday 2/7 this week at 12:00 PM EST. Hopefully video-chatting will clear up any discrepancies some team members might have (though I do not believe there are any), or relay ideas more clearly.
We all seem like busy, well-rounded college students with full lives and I suspect the time differences will be our only real challenge moving forward.
Thankfully, we’ve done an excellent job of identifying our own strengths and weaknesses; everyone has taken on a role that they are comfortable with and we have stated our intention to help each other along the way. I have been placed in charge of graphics and vector imaging for the document we produce. I know my way around Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, but I have never worked in the applications knowing my images will be directed toward an international audience. I trust that my team members will assist and provide detailed feedback while I take on this challenge. Well, that’s all for now. I will send an update after our next meeting.