1-2-4-All, Part II

If you received an email from Professor Barlow pairing you with someone else, follow the instructions below. If you did not receive and email, contact Professor Barlow right away.

When you get the email from Professor Barlow, contact the other person who also got your email. You can decide how you want to be in contact, through email, texting, Zoom, whatever. If your partner does not respond, contact Professor Barlow right away to make sure you don’t get delayed. The two of you should exchange your ‘outside the window’ paragraph, comparing and contrasting what you have found and coming up with a description that can cover the people in both neighborhoods. Remember, your ultimate audience is going to be wider than one neighborhood; you are starting of the significant Technical Writing task of defining your audience.

When you are done with a combined paragraph or page, one of you should paste it as a comment on this post, making sure the other is mentioned within the comment.

I’m loving what I have been learning about you all so far. Keep it up!

Justice in America

Be sure to read and respond to the posts below. We have a lot to do this month so should get started as quickly as we can.

When I envisioned this course, the novel coronavirus pandemic was the major story in the United States, if not the world. Now, just as we are beginning, there is another gigantic issue hovering over all of us in the United States: Can we have justice for all?

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The 1-2-4-All Challenge and… oh, yes, Hello!

Your first assignment is to get to know each other. Technical writing is always a group activity and you have to interact well with each other if you are going to be successful–this will be just as important in your jobs as in your classes.

We don’t have a lot of time, just a month, so you need to get going. Your first task will be to respond to this post with a brief description of yourself. Post it in the comments below–much as I do below but in the comments section. Do it today (June 1), but don’t forget to do the second task, too (see below).

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The Dunning-Kruger Effect

Did you ever think that the people who are the most sure of themselves are also those you would least trust to be right? And that those you are most inclined to believe seem to have the least confidence in themselves?

As technical writers, you need to understand the Dunning-Kruger effect. Alexandru Micu describes it well:

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