IT SKILLS (ITS1110 + SIS1000) ASSIGNMENT 2 TECHNICAL WRITING SKILLS

INSTRUCTIONS:

3-4 Students per Group (penalties for incorrect number of group participants) Assignment to be completed in Ms Word and Microsoft Outlook (Email) Font Arial, size 10 points, line spacing 1.5, and alignment justified. Cover page o Student No., Student Name, Surname and Group (SS, SD, CN) for all group members must be on the cover page. Teamwork Declaration o All group members are to sign a declaration of their contribution to the assignment and indicate the percentage of input per individual, i.e Joe Soap 25%. Marks will be deducted for lack of contribution. o Access this Teamwork Declaration from learn.nmmu.ac.za Page numbers at bottom of page (centered) and should be in the format Page 1 of...

[5 marks] PLEASE NOTE:

Due date and time: Tuesday, 12th April 2011 before 1pm Group SSa & SSb: place in box marked Yiota Moutzouris found opposite office R136. Group SDa, & SDb + CN: place in box marked Helen John found opposite office R136.

THE BACKGROUND
For the purposes of the assignment, the NMMU is the customer. They are experiencing the following problems in the practical computer labs: General poor student behaviour in the labs Unauthorized access and/or unavailability of the labs Unauthorized eating, drinking and general untidiness Unauthorized downloading of files and music from the internet and accessing prohibited websites Failure to report technical problems with the computers and printers through the correct channels The customer requires feedback from the students on ways to solve and overcome these problems with your help.

PART 1 QUESTIONNAIRE PREPARATION

[15 marks]

To be completed in MS Word (as per instructions above) Using the information provided in the background you are required to prepare a student questionnaire. The questionnaire will not be anonymous but will reflect the respondents student number for verification purposes where necessary. There must be a header that has two spaces provided, for the student number and the date of the interview. It must consist of 12 questions, of which must be closed ended questions with a choice of supplied answers. The other must be open ended questions leaving enough space to record the answers The questions must be relevant to the problems that are being faced by the customer. It should not contain questions that will not add value to the survey.

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The questions should generate appropriate and pertinent information to ensure that the customer receives sufficient information to be able to alleviate the problems faced The questionnaire may not exceed two pages in length

PART 2 CONDUCTING THE SURVEY

[10 marks]

A sample of 8 people are to be surveyed One questionnaire is to be completed per student surveyed The selected students must be representative of the complete IT faculty, in both nd rd st demographics and levels (i.e 2 and 3 year students as well as 1 years) There student number must be recorded on the survey and they must be informed that random check may be complete to verify authenticity. The survey is to be conducted by the group members on the respondent.(i.e Group members to ask the students the questions) 8 completed surveys are to be handed in as part of the assignment

PART 3 COLLATION AND THE FINDING

[10 marks]

Once the questionnaires have been completed on the sample students, the information is to be analyzed and evaluated. o o o This finding is to be documented in Microsoft Outlook (E-Mail) in the format of an EMail (as per the instructions). One of the members of the groups e-mail may be used. rd The information covered in Chapter 4 - Technical writing skills in the 3 Edition text book must be referred to.

E-mail Guidelines: The e-mail should be addressed to relevant person (Yiota Moutzouris or Helen John, address is on the global address book) There should be a relevant subject line The body of the e-mail should consist of two parts: o Part 1 Heading Findings This should include the information gathered from the students, including key points, comments and concerns raised from the questions raised. The information should be a minimum of two paragraphs. o Part 2 Heading Conclusions This should be a summary of the way forward, highlighting your groups recommendations on methods to overcome the challenges that the customer is facing. This should be one paragraph The email must be signed off with an E-mail standard signature for the group which must be designed using the format suggested in Chapter 4 The E-Mail must be submitted in the form of a hard copy print out. It must not be EMailed to the recipient once it is prepared it should be printed. (Print Screen) The E-Mail should not be longer than one page long.

ASSIGNMENT SUMMARY
Assignment must consist of the following: Cover Page Teamwork Declaration 8 pages of Completed Questionnaires 1 page E-mail of Findings and Conclusions

[40 marks] Total

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