Category: Writing-Intensive

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Final Hotel Design Project

Final Hotel Design Project

Harry Shapiro

Hospitality Management

Services Marketing & Management

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Students create a blog post that contains the conceptual design of a hotel that has a specific place-based location. They will design services for their hotel along with a service delivery system (Heskett, 1994), and elements of a servicescape (Bitner, 1992). They will also explore how information about this hotel will be brought to market; they must contemplate how they will create marketing messages for the hotel. They will use the hotel to explore the interdependencies between services management and marketing. Students will be given an example outline, and an example of a completed assignment.

This is the fifth of five related assignments and it will be used by the students as the input to a final summative exam.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

Students will create a blog post. Critical Reasoning about Ethics will play a major role in crafting this post; such thinking will help students understand and balance the diverse needs of guests, staff and management.

However, there are additional and overlapping goals and objectives including place based learning, and storytelling. This activity will use a peer reviewed critical thinking (around Ethical issues) rubric to help the students understand the complex balance that must be achieved in consideration of the needs of the staff, the customers, the managers, and the owners when designing, managing, and marketing a service.

Ultimately they should be able to demonstrate that if staff are not properly treated, the guests will not be treated well and they will have a hard time marketing their property; inversely when they go above in beyond in caring for staff, not only will it help improve guest experiences it will help the hotel "market itself." They will also make it clear how the Servicescape of the hotel plays a role in the treatment of guests and staff, but also in how the hotel is able to "auto-magically create its own marketing."

Services management is often an futile attempt to brindle, constrain, and restrict the activities of staff while demanding impeccable service delivery — Heskett (1994) turns this on it's head by making it clear that management must first create an impeccable workspace for the staff (the Service Profit Chain) if they wish to have an effective and impeccable service delivery system. Bitner (1992) makes it clear that the space in which the service is delivered also plays a key role in the service delivery. Bitner's work pre-dates the Instagram Selfie, the smartphone, and the selfie stick — yet a property with an excellent servicescape will generate its own inbound marketing (Shah, & Halligan, 2005).

The final summative assessment for the course will ask students to draw from this assignment; this assignment is asking them to create their own Services Management and Marketing "crayon box" and during their final exam use it to draw-out the learning they have synthesized during the course.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

Very little time is to be spent in class on this phase of the assignment. Classroom time will include a discussion of the assignment during week 10, a review of the assignment week 11, and during week 12 a showcase covering how the assignment will be used during the exam week. During week 14 the students will peer review each other's assignments using several rubrics. During week 15 the students will use a print-out of their post as part of their final exam.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

The prior assignments should help students prepare for this assignment.

Prior Blogging Assignments
* Design a Dish
* Design a Signature Dish
* Design a Hotel (Group Assignment)
* Design a Customer Relationship Management Process (group)
* Design a Hotel (Individual Assignment) ← This assignment

The instructions are found here:
https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/service-product-design/2018/04/15/example-individual-hotel-concept/

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

Students will peer review with several rubrics including the Ethical Reasoning Value Rubric. The instructors assessment using the Ethical Reasoning Value Rubric will also be submitted to the school.

Since this activity is a precursor to the final and summative assessment for the course, the assignment will be "graded" during this assessment. The course is a writing intensive course.

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

I have completed parts 1 – 4 (see below); it has worked effectively. Students have demonstrably been able synthesize the learning outcomes from the course into real world examples. A challenge to this specific was the negative reaction to the detailed nature of the assignment. This negative reaction was discussed openly and compassionately; I presented a counter narrative discussing how since this was part of the final exam, they were better off with an assignment that gives them five weeks to complete it vs. having to craft it only within the time allowed during an exam. Most students accepted the "open book" and "take-home" nature of the assignment. Prior assignments included

* Design a Dish
* Design a Signature Dish
* Design a Hotel (Group Assignment)
* Design a Customer Relationship Management Process (group)

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/service-product-design/category/one/

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Testing Usability, Learning Ethics

Testing Usability, Learning Ethics

Joe Jeyaraj

English

Planning and Testing User Documentation (Eng 3780)

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Students will do usability testing of a health document either they or a friend or relative may have used.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

How well the document works for its audience and purpose.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

In the second section of the course.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

As assignments go, it is simple in its planning, but complex in its completion.

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

I use a rubric that I have for upper level courses in technical and professional writing.

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

I have given students a document I have personally used, and students generally respond well to this type of assignment because it involves their personal life.

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

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Clinic Journals

Clinic Journals

Annie Chitlall

School of Professional Studies department of Dental Hygiene/New York City College of Technology

Princinples of Dental Hygiene Care II

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Students will write 3 clinic journals in Dental 1200. Each journal will be written on a completed patient. The students will enter the journal on the Den 1200 open lab site. There will be an open discussion between each student and his/her clinic advisor to ensure that the journal has met all the required information listed on the handout/rubric.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

Students will post a clinical journal within 48 hours of patient completion. Clinical journals are to be written after each step of patient care is completed. This activity will not occur in the classroom. Students will need about 2-3 hours out-of-class time to complete these journals if they the recommended timeline is followed.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

The students need to be able to demonstrate writing mechanics, understanding, and completeness of the assignment. Writing must be clear, concise, and correct. No spelling or grammatical errors. Extremely well organized. The student must demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the concepts in the assignment and must address all elements in the assignment in an appropriate length. This activity is low-stakes.

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

There will be a grading rubric for this assignment.

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

Currently and from previous experience, the students do not follow the recommended timeline and rush to submit the required 3 journal entries on the deadline. The last-minute submissions or journals have not yielded positive results since most entries are missing pertinent information and students do not have an opportunity for open discussion with assigned faculty members. I would repeat this activity but will modify the requirements for submission. Students will develop a better appreciation of this assignment if after each patient care visit there is a required entry for that visit and an evaluation of their goals for a specific aspect of the patient care process was met. Over the semesters the biggest challenge is receiving these journal entries in a timely manner. Most students wait for the deadline date and post their entries at midnight, this does not allow for a discussion and often results in a low grade. Most students seem to enjoy the self-reflection portion of the assignment most.

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

Journal __________ Principles of Dental Hygiene Care II- 1200-Spring 2018

Criteria
4
3
2
1
Score
Completeness
Addresses all elements in the assignment and is of appropriate length
Addresses most of elements in the assignment and is of appropriate length
Missing some minor elements in the assignments
Incomplete in most respects; does not address the assignment properly

Understanding
Demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of the concepts in the assignment
Demonstrates an accomplished understanding of the concepts in the assignment
Demonstrates an acceptable understanding of the concepts in the assignments
Demonstrates an inadequate understanding of concepts in the assignment

Writing Mechanics
Writing is clear, concise, and correct. No spelling or grammatical errors. Extremely well organized.
Writing is clear and concise but may have one or two spelling or grammatical errors. Well organized.
Writing lacks clarity or conciseness and contains numerous spelling and/or grammatical errors.
Writing is unfocused, rambling, or contains serious errors in spelling and/or grammar. Poorly organized

Total:

Grade = 12/12 = 100%
Instructor Comments:

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

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Designing New Services

Designing New Services

Harry Shapiro

Hospitality

Services Marketing & Management

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Students working in groups are requested to design a new hotel with the business or economic goal of service a specific class of customers. For example: high school students on a class trip, teams from start-ups that are traveling together for business, groups of millenial age friends who are traveling together, LGBTQ travels, folks who have any disability covered by ADA who are traveling for business or pleasure.

Specifically the students are to create several services within the hotel that are designed to appeal to the travel, describe a Servicescape for those services to "live within," and use the Service Profit Chain (SPC) to create rewards, tools and other innovations to find, hire, and create an awesome team of staff and managers.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

The objective is for students to use critical thinking and pull-in much of what they know about hospitality to design amazing servicescapes that can support amazing new and innovative services and use the tools offered within the SPC to insure that those services are delivered effectively and efficiently.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

Throughout including the first few weeks, after the mid-term, and again towards the end of the course. In case students will have 20-30 minutes in groups. The groups are based on the normal table seating. However, diff. exercises will mix and match the students so they can interact and engage with the entire class through the exercise.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

Students should be current on reading. There is both instructor assigned reading and self assigned materials.

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

The goal is to refine this over the course of the term. There are several initial assessments verbally in class as well as peer assessments.

The core exercise is going to be a critical part of the final exam which will offer a summative assessment assessment: have students learned how servicescapes and the SCP work together? Have students learned how the design of a new service impacts staff & customers. How students learned how to design innovative management and reward structures to support their innovative new services.

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

It is going well. This is the firs term

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

Please see the examples from class.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

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Exploring cultural differences in dental care

Exploring cultural differences in dental care

Anna Matthews

Dental Hygiene / SPS

Oral Anatomy DEN 1112

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

In Fall 2016, students in three sections of DEN1112 completed a term project assignment with the focus on Intercultural Knowledge and Skills assessment.
This assignment consisted of several parts.
Individually, students watched a Frontline PBS documentary “Dollars and Dentists” (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/dollars-and-dentists/ ) which explores the complexity and availability of dental care in the U.S.
Next, students read the case study “Mortality associated with odontogenic infection” (Green et al., 2001) and answer accompanying questions. Students were asked to discuss the documentaries they watched in small groups. Students were provided questions for discussion prompting them to discuss their opinions regarding the status of dental health care in the U.S. as presented in the documentary. Students were also asked to share their cultural beliefs and attitudes towards dental care. Given the diversity of students in our Dental Hygiene program (over 50% of students were not born in the U.S. and speak over 20 primary/first languages), a difference of experiences and resulting opinions about health care more broadly and dental care in particular emerged in their discussions.

Individually, students wrote an essay reflecting on the Frontline documentary and the case study. Among the questions they were to address in their essay, they were asked to describe their interactions with peers in their groups and to evaluate how their own attitudes/opinions were or were not different from those of their classmates, what have they learned about other cultural beliefs/attitudes from the dialog with other students, how their own opinions have or have not changed as a result of the whole experience (watching the documentary and learning about the subject and their subsequent discussion of it in small groups).

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

1. introduce students to the complexity of dental care and its availability in the U.S.
2. connect the topics of spread of dental infection, as introduced in their Head & Neck portion of DEN1112 course, to the real-life situations leading to serious and life-threatening outcomes discussed in the scientific article (case study) and Frontline investigation.
3. work in teams to discuss the different cultural influences on how people perceive the necessity of dental care and its various aspects.
4. reflect on the whole experience by connecting all parts of this assignment in the written essay.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

This assignment begins during week 13 of the Fall semester. The students discussed in small groups during class sessions twice for about 20 min. Depending on how long it takes students to write their 1200-1500 word essays, the activity would take at least 10 hours to complete outside of class.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

This term project is worth 10% of their final grade for DEN1112. The students were given detailed instructions for each part of the assignment and provided with the PDF of the article and a link to Frontine documentary.

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

In 2016, my course was part of college-wide assessment of Intercultural Knowledge and Skills. An appropriate AAC&U VALUE rubric was used for this evaluation, however, it was not used for grading. Students’ essays were evaluated based on the clarity and organization of the information, providing accurate and appropriate sources and citations (they were asked to substantiate their writing with at least two sources analyzing the topic of the video, other than the documentary itself), sentence structure, grammar and spelling.

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

This activity worked very well and I intend to repeat it in Fall 2017. I don’t plan to introduce any changes at this time. The students seemed to enjoy the small group discussions and according to their reflections in the essays, they learned a lot from each other as well as the case study and Frontline documentary. One student’s essay was selected for publication in the 2017 issue of City Tech Writer.

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

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App Review

App Review

Tanya Goetz

Communication Design

COMD 4900 Internship

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Students are assigned the task of reviewing 2 iPad or iPhone apps for the Creative Professional as one of their internship journal entries in this class. As preparation for this assignment, during our class meeting, I present several apps currently in use in the industry such as Paper, Evernote, Flipboard, MyPrice, Pocket, and Neenah Cabinet. I also provide them with time during class on the department’s iPads to work with these apps after we discuss them. I also given them a verbal review of the app Flipboard, an app I use regularly. During class, I also have them read this short review for the Paper app from MacWorld at http://www.macworld.com/article/2107944/paper-review-fiftythrees-sketching-app-gets-ios-7-update-dots-and-brush-sizes.html
In order to help them find pertinent apps to review, I provide them with the following article from the Guardian ” The top 50 apps for Creative Minds” http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/mar/22/the-top-50-apps-for-creative-minds. I also allow them to review one of the apps we’ve discussed in class. I give them three weeks to complete this journal entry on their internship blog. I also provide them with samples of a past student’s review of an app such as this one: https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/rbayron-eportfolio/academics/internships/week-5-6-apps/

I also the students to present their app reviews orally to the class once the reviews are completed.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

Lifelong Learning
Writing for Professional Purposes
Thinking Critically
Oral Communication

I want students to realize through this assignment that the tools are ever changing in our field and that, as part of their professional lives, they will be required to use new skills, update their skill sets and find new methods to become more efficient at doing their work. Reading professional journals and technology sections of general interest magazines and newspapers that cover our field are key resources for identifying tools they should be exploring. Along with identifying these new tools, they will often be required to communicate how they are using these tools to supervisors and to colleagues. Writing a review of an apps key features helps students develop their abilities in this area as it necessitates thinking critically about an app’s features and then requires them to articulate their thoughts first in writing and then orally to the class. I want the students to share their experience with their classmates, perhaps inspiring a peer to use an app they hadn’t yet tried out.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

I assign this lesson sometime between week 5 and week 7 in the semester because at that point most of the students are at this point established in their internship. I devote 45 minutes of one class to covering different apps currently in use and then allow the students 45 minutes to explore working on the department iPads experimenting with the apps I’ve just shown.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

For this lesson, one needs to have available a projector/screen and at least one’s own iPad or iPhone (or Android) and have previously worked with the apps you are demonstrating so that you model for the students how to go about evaluating different features, providing a rationale to them for why this app is useful, etc. In the COMD department, we have iPads to use in the classroom and so in advance of the class, I ensure that all the iPads have the apps I will be discussing during lecture and I also make sure I have reserved the iPads/cart for that particular class with the CLTs in advance of class.

This activity is not graded on its own. Instead, the written journal assignment becomes part of their whole internship blog, which is 30% of their grade for the course. So, in that sense it is part of a high-stakes assignment but just a small piece of an overall package. The oral presentation they do on the app review in not graded at all and so is low-stakes but I hope that this time in front of the class helps prepare them for the oral presentation of their complete blog, which is 10% of their grade for the class.

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

There is a rubric for the overall internship journal. I use a rubric that is based on the original ePortfolio rubric that was part of that Title V grant at the college and I have tweaked it for this class.

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

This activity has worked extremely well in the classroom. The students really enjoy evaluating and experimenting with apps on their iPhone or iPad and many of them write detailed reviews and are enthusiastic in sharing these apps with their classmates.

The only challenge one faces in the classroom is when the iPads for the department need updating or one has an app that only runs on IOS and not on Android, etc.

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

Samples of student App reviews:

https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/rbayron-eportfolio/academics/internships/week-5
https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/sharad/internship-2/app-review/trello-app-review/
https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/sharad/internship-2/app-review/vscocam-app-review/
https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/a-blog/from-the-field-2/app-reviews/

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

http://www.macworld.com/article/2107944/paper-review-fiftythrees-sketching-app-gets-ios-7-update-dots-and-brush-sizes.html

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Writing With Purpose

Writing With Purpose

John McCullough

Entertainment Technology

ENT 1100 Intro to Entertainment Technology

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

This lesson introduces the writing concepts of thesis statements and supporting evidence, and trains students to analyze their writing assignments and prompts.

After a brief review of the five-paragraph essay structure and the definition of a thesis statement, students are asked to write thesis statements in response to questions or topics suggested by the instructor.
Students share their thesis statements, then discuss which ones were stronger and why, offering suggestions on how to improve weaker statements.
Finally, the class chooses one or two thesis statements and brainstorms about what kinds of supporting evidence are appropriate to use to support that statement and why.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

Students will be able to…
a. analyze a writing assignment to identify if they should be answering a question, persuading the reader, or stating an opinion.
b. define the term ‘thesis statement’
c. write a strong thesis statement for a five-paragraph essay
d. use appropriate evidence to support their thesis statement

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

This is an in-class activity for early in the semester, and it takes about 60 minutes for a 25-person class.

There is a follow-up homework assignment which is due the following week.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

The only preparation required is to generate a list of questions and topics for the students to write their thesis statements about. These topics can be discipline specific to reinforce other material from the class, or they can be based in current events, or some other area of interest to the class. They should be accessible enough that everyone in the class can have an opinion.

I have used the following questions in ENT 1100 and gotten good engagement from the students:
o Are copyright laws too restrictive?
o Which is more important, freedom or safety?
o Is technology good for society?

This is a low-stakes activity, and nothing is collected or graded.

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

This in-class activity is not directly assessed.

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

This activity worked well, and I would repeat it. I found it helpful to do some in-class writing early in the semester before the first essays were assigned to work on the basics of essay structure. It seemed to have a positive effect on the later writing assignments.

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

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