only part one needs to be done
CMNS 1290 CMNS 1290Ráine SS 21 CMMS 1290 (Ráine SS 21) Final Project: Recommendation Report & Oral Presentation Your final project contains two parts: 1. Final Recommendation Report 2. Oral presentation Read all instructions carefully. Part 1: Recommendation Report – Value: 25% of total grade (Submit on MOODLE - Word or RTF format only). Part 2: Oral Presentation – Value 5% of total grade (Submit on MOODLE - in Kaltura assignment drop box). Part 1: Recommendation Report Read the following instructions carefully. Topic: Teamwork and collaboration are valuable, mandatory skills in the twenty-first century business environment, but the pandemic has made face-to-face meetings and collaboration challenging or impossible. Over the past year, many businesses have had to switch from face-to-face meetings, workshops, and conferences to online platforms (virtual meetings) in order to keep their companies viable and competitive. As well, many of their employees are now working from home. Businesses and people adapted quickly using technologies and equipment available to them at the time; however, now that it’s beginning to look like many of these changes will become permanent, some better solutions are needed. Your employer has asked you to write a recommendation report detailing ways to enhance virtual team meetings and collaboration as well as the overall health, safety, and productivity of staff members working from home. Choose ONE of the following topics: 1. Compare and contrast at least three virtual platforms and make some recommendations as to which one offers the best features for your company’s staff to attend team meetings and collaborate on written documents. Consider security, cost, reliability, accessibility, suitability, technological requirements, and other features. You must demonstrate a complete analysis of all suitable options, which will include arguments and counterarguments (pros and cons) for each of your choices and make recommendations accordingly. *You are comparing and contrasting at least three different virtual platforms and recommending only the best one. 2. Given the amount of time your employees spend sitting in front of their computers, your employer has asked you to research, compare, and analyze some different options for ergonomic chairs and workstations (including standing desks or devices that modify existing equipment). Some health and safety information on ergonomics would be a great addition to your report. Choose to investigate either ergonomic office chairs or ergonomic workstations – not both. This report will not be long enough to recommend more than one piece of equipment. You must compare at least three different options (either three chairs or three workstations). Consider factors such as cost, features, reliability, ergonomics, and ethical / local procurement. *You are comparing and contrasting at least three different office chairs OR three different workstations and recommending only the best one. ---------------------------------------- The audience for your recommendation report is Frank Gallagher, CEO of Streetwise Industries. Please respond to your employer’s call for recommendations with a memo-style recommendation report (approximately 750 – 800 words). There are examples of memo-style recommendation reports in the text and on Moodle. You may use academic and expert sources (examples: peer-revied journal articles, credible newspaper articles, trade journals, magazines, and websites) as well as information from retailers that specialize in the technology or products you’re researching. You can use customer reviews for products, but they must come from a credible, unbiased source – not the retailer’s own website. One example is a magazine called “Consumer Reports.” *Warning: There is a lot of information online, but don’t cut & paste or copy anything word-for-word. I’m evaluating your writing skills, not someone else’s. Use your own words by summarizing and paraphrasing, and cite all sources to the best of your ability. Also, be careful about the reliability of your source. There’s information on Moodle that will help you with this, and I strongly recommend you get help from the TRU Library. *I do check for plagiarism for all assignments I receive. Conducting Research: When conducting your research, use journalistic questions and consider the following important factors (and any others you can think of) before presenting findings, analyzing, comparing, concluding, or making recommendations: · Appropriateness, suitability, and effectiveness (for your organization’s needs) · Reliability · Hardware and software requirements · Accessibility · Ease of use · Cost: If you find several products that are equal in their suitability or effectiveness, you can rate them according to cost as one way to incorporate a chart or table into your paper. · Is training required? If so, is it available? Is the training free? · Are there any potential privacy or security concerns? Writing your Report Structure: Reports are to be double-spaced using a suitable 12-point font (do not use MS Word default font, size and line spacing. This will affect your formatting). Use headers and footers for your name, email, and page numbers. Your report will use the following organization (not necessarily in this order): · Title page with your name, student number, title of your report, and date. · Transmittal information – at the top of the first page of your memo-style report. · Introduction / Background / Statement of the Problem (provide a background. Context, or statement of the problem – not an entire history of the technology or poduct you’re investigating). Hint: the problem is that Covid ruined everything and forced us to change the way we do business. · Facts and Findings / Discussion and Analysis · Recommendations – more than one – in a bulleted or numbered list – based on your findings. · Conclusion · Or – Conclusions and Recommendations / Recommendations and Conclusions · In-text citations in APA format. · A brief, complete, correctly formatted References Page in APA. · Headers and footers – your name and page numbers. · Appendices: *Optional – if you want to add lengthy documents like an online catalogue. Note: The order of the above elements will depend upon whether you’re using a direct or indirect approach. Sources and Citations: As you conduct your research, keep track of everything and make sure you properly cite all sources in APA format. You are expected to provide a minimum of four (4) quality, academic and / or expert sources and two (2) graphic elements (correctly titled, labeled and cited both in-text and on your references page in APA format). Content: Stay within a clearly defined scope and don’t try to cover too much information. Your Facts & Findings and Discussion & Analysis section(s) should take up about half of your total word count and should contain lots of in-text citations to show that your work is based on research from credible sources. You must include at least two visual elements (graphics) to support your research, but don’t just cut-and-paste random images. Incorporating some statistics or cost comparisons into your work is a great way to integrate a table, chart, or graph into your paper. You can cut & paste graphics as long as they’re not copyrighted and as long as you cite sources, both in text and on the references page. You can also create your own charts or graphs if you find some good information or statistics. I suggest using Piktochart or another graphics program to produce visual content but cite the source(s) where you found the original information and cite yourself as the creator of the chart. For example: (Data retrieved from Ahmed and Bright, 2007, URL; chart created by Ráine, 2020). *We will cover skills in design and application of visual elements in the course. Writing Quality: This assignment requires effective writing, editing, and proofreading that demonstrate: · attention to detail · correct grammar, spelling, word choice punctuation, capitalization, parallelism, sentence structure, mechanics, and conciseness · all the CCCA guidelines – clear, concise, and complete Refer to the text, the PPTs, the OWL website, and other materials posted to Moodle. Send drafts of your work to the TRU Writing Centre for help with your writing and contact the TRU Library for advice on citing sources. Citing online sources can be difficult. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me right away and as many times as necessary. I’ll be happy to provide you with some brief feedback on your draft up until three days before the assignment is due (I can only review your draft once). *See tips on structure and grading criteria at the end of this document. Part 2: Oral Presentation Instructions: *This assignment requires you to make a videorecording of yourself so that I know who’s submitting the assignment. Make sure you introduce yourself and the topic of your presentation. For your oral presentation, please make a short (maximum 3 minute) video that summarizes your findings, conclusions, and recommendations. Watch the video resources provided on Moodle for tips on oral presentations and public speaking. *Pay particular attention to the 3-Minute Thesis videos, which is the model you should use for your presentation. Imagine I’m your intended audience and you’re telling me about your written report in a virtual meeting. Make sure your presentation is well-organized, informative, logical, persuasive and engaging. You'll be graded on content (the information you provide) as well as presentation skills. Speak clearly and at an appropriate pace, make eye contact (I know it's difficult to do with cameras built into our devices), and try to smile. You may use either Kaltura or a different app to record your video, but please submit via the Kaltura assignment drop box on Moodle. John Bantock, Lab Technician for Journalism, Communication and New Media, can help you if you're having any technical issues. He can be reached via email at
[email protected]. He also holds office hours on Big Blue Button at: https://bigblue1.tru.ca/b/joh-z7w-kkz. Please email him for an appointment. Structure of a Recommendation Report Front Section: Title Page – mandatory Transmittal information - mandatory Direct Approach Main Section: Introduction/Background/Introduction/Background/ Statement of the Problem Statement of the Problem Recommendation(s)ORConclusions & Recommendations ConclusionsFacts and Findings Facts and FindingsDiscussion and analysis Discussion and analysis Indirect Approach Main Section: Introduction/Background/Statement of the Problem Facts and Findings Discussion and Analysis Recommendations Conclusion Back Section References Appendix (Optional – not required for your project) CMNS 1290Final Project: Recommendation Report grading criteria Criteria Structure: 1. All elements of recommendation report are included: a) Title Page, header, page numbers, and reference page b) Transmittal information (date, to, from, subject) c) Title of your report d) Introduction / thesis statement