University of North Texas Course Syllabus -- Fall 2014

TECM 4950.001 3 hours Friday 12:00 AB312

Senior Capstone
_____________________________________________

Instructor Vicki V. Peake, Principal Lecturer
Department of Technical Communication

Office AB305
Office hours F by appointment
www.vvpeake.weebly.com
Home phone: (972) 625-7610

E-Mail Vicki.Peake@unt.edu (Please use the course number in the subject line of
your e-mail.)

Textbooks There are no required texts for this course.

Materials flash drive
UNT e-mail account
Your projects from all previous TECM courses


Course Description
The Senior Capstone Portfolio is the culmination of your program of study in the BA in
Technical Communication. The capstone portfolio serves three purposes:
By creating a capstone portfolio, you bring together and integrate your coursework to
demonstrate how you have applied concepts.
You will work with a real-life client on projects that require both written skills and design
proficiency.
Your portfolio is an important assessment tool. Your portfolio will be evaluated with two
goals in mind:
o to provide you with an overall evaluation of your work throughout the TC
Program
o to determine how well we, as a Program, are doing
Your portfolio provides a tool as you apply for employment opportunities and for
admission to graduate programs.

The Capstone course will assist you with the process of composing and presenting your
portfolio.

Course Requirements
You must register for the Capstone course in the semester you will graduate. You may
not take the Capstone course early.
You must pass the Capstone course with a grade of C or better. If you have not earned the
minimum grade of C, you must retake the Capstone course.
Your portfolio must be completed by the submission deadline. Portfolios will not be
accepted late. If your portfolio is late, you will be required to retake the Capstone course.

Course Assignments
Portfolio 80%
The portfolio will consist of the following documents
Persuasive introduction about what you have learned in the BA in technical
communication. You may select the format for this introduction. The introduction should
include the following:
o An explanation for the design of your portfolio
o A rationale for why you selected the artifacts to include
o A statement of the purpose, audience, and context of each artifact. If you revised
the artifact after you received a grade, explain how you have improved the
artifact. If you earned below a B on any of the artifacts, you must revise that
artifact.
Artifacts from your coursework and your internships (if applicable) to present and cite as
evidence for your persuasive statement. The portfolio has no requirements for number or
type of content to be selected; however, you should select and present enough artifacts to
convincingly support the argument in your persuasive introduction. Your persuasive
statement should link to or cite specific areas of your artifacts to support your claims.
This semester's client project, which will count as 50% of your portfolio grade
Your resume


Oral Presentation of Portfolio 20%
You will present your portfolio to a jury of faculty members and industry professionals. The
presentation must include the following:
A summary of your persuasive introduction
Examples of artifacts that support your summary
A PowerPoint or Prezi presentation

You are expected to answer questions professionally and succinctly and to demonstrate a
professional demeanor.

Grading Scale
The following criteria serve as general guidelines for the portfolio and the oral presentation.
"A" (90-100%): The portfolio is a pleasure to read, with excellent content, grammar, sentence
structure, mechanics, and visual design. In addition, the portfolio is thorough, complete,
coherent, well organized, supported sufficiently, and demonstrates a superior understanding of
audience, purpose, and rationale. The presentation demonstrates superior professionalism, is
effectively organized, has superior graphics, and is memorable. It demonstrates a superior
understanding of audience, purpose, and rationale.
"B" (80-89%): The portfolio is well written and well produced, and demonstrates a substantial
addition to the learning process. The portfolio is sufficiently developed, organized, supported,
and visually designed; it demonstrates a solid understanding of audience, purpose, and rationale.
The presentation demonstrates sufficient professionalism, is solidly organized, and has clear
graphics. It demonstrates a solid understanding of audience, purpose, and rationale.
"C" (70-79%): The portfolio may have clear, but underdeveloped ideas, or the portfolio might
not engage the reader. The portfolio may contain some errors in grammar, mechanics, or logic;
and may have an ineffective visual design. The presentation demonstrates adequate
professionalism, organization, and graphics. It demonstrates an adequate understanding of
audience, purpose, and rationale.
"D" (60-69%): This portfolio forces the reader to work too hard to understand the main ideas.
The portfolio may contain incomplete information, have serious grammar and mechanical
problems, lack clear organization, have an ineffective visual design, or be conceptually unclear.
The presentation demonstrates inadequate professionalism, organization, and graphics. It
demonstrates an inadequate understanding of audience, purpose, and rationale.
"F" (0-59%): The portfolio fails to address the tasks of the assignment, is so underdeveloped as
to demonstrate incompetence, and is mechanically and grammatically incomprehensible. The
presentation does not demonstrate adequate professionalism, organization, and graphics. It does
not demonstrate an adequate understanding of audience, purpose, and rationale. This grade will
also be assigned for any evidence of plagiarism.

Course Policies
These policies provide you with the formal regulations governing this course. Submission of
your first assignment indicates you have read, understood, and agreed to these policies.

Attendance
Your presence in this course is mandatory not optional.

General Technology Requirements
As this is a senior-level course, you are expected to be familiar with the day-to-day operation of
computers including email (and sending attachments) and standard software. If you need to
develop your computer skills, please consider signing up for the courses offered by the Computer
and Information Technology Center.
You are also expected to have regular access to computing technology whether it be your
computer at home or the computers provided by the Library. There are 14 computer labs on
campus, including one 24-hour lab should the library be closed.

Hardware and Disk Media Requirements
You are responsible to ensure that the computer(s) and disk(s) you use are functional and that
you have, in the case of technological failure, backed up your data

Email Requirement
All students must have a valid UNT email address. You can forward your UNT email to your
regular account (Hotmail, G-mail, Yahoo, etc.), should you not wish to directly check your UNT
account. I often use email to send class notices, updates, assignments, reminders, and advisories.

Assignment Submission and Grading Academic Dishonesty and
Integrity
It is your responsibility to become familiar with UNTs Policy of Academic Dishonesty.
This policy defines the following forms of academic dishonesty:
Cheating intentionally using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information, or
study aids in any academic exercise. The term academic exercise includes all forms of
work submitted for credit or hours.
Plagiarism the deliberate adoption or reproduction of ideas, words, or statements of
another person as one's own without acknowledgement.
Fabrication intentional and unauthorized falsification or invention of any information or
citation in an academic exercise.
Facilitating academic dishonesty intentionally or knowingly helping or attempting to
help another to violate a provision of the institutional code of academic integrity.
If any course material is submitted that violates this policy of academic dishonesty, the
assignment will receive a grade of "F" and appropriate judicial action will be filed. This action
includes a report of academic misconduct to your college Dean and possible dismissal from The
University of North Texas. There are no first-offense warnings regarding plagiarism.

Learning Outcome Justification
Essential competencies for this course include the ability to
read and analyze technical documents in print and online
better understand the requirements for job searches, successful employment, and/or
advanced study in technical communication fields
write clear, concise, and visually appropriate technical prose for the intended readers in
response to various types of assignments
use a computer with various word processing, e-mail, presentation software, web
authoring, desktop publishing, and graphics software applications
speak in front of the class and business professionals and use multimedia to support the
presentation
understand and follow the rules of standard grammar, usage, spelling, and punctuation.

ODA policy The University of North Texas is on record as being committed to both the spirit
and letter of federal equal opportunity legislation; reference Public Law 92-112 The
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended. With the passage of new federal legislation entitled
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), pursuant to section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, there is
renewed focus on providing this population with the same opportunities enjoyed by all citizens.

In accordance with the terms and spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504,
Rehabilitation Act, we will cooperate with the Office of Disability Accommodation to
accommodate reasonably qualified students with disabilities. If you have a disability for which
you will require accommodation, please advise us of your needs in writing not later than the end
of the second week of class.