Project 3: Client Service Learning

For Project 3, we will be working with a client organization to create its website. Class members will work in small groups each comprising four members. Each group will produce a revised website, but only one will be selected and used by the organization. Only the group whose website is selected by the client will receive full credit for the "final website" grade component. Each group will also produce a short document that covers basic information about how to make changes to the website. The selected group must provide assistance to get its design up and running on the client's server, but the group is not expected to provide continuing support.

The groups are as follows:

Each group has a wiki page for team communication. The members page contains a class email list

To produce their websites, groups will do rhetorical research through course readings and activities. Groups will also use specifications and feedback from the organization's contact.

At the end of the project, each group member will complete a postmortem that evaluates the contributions of the all group members, including himself or herself. The group's postmortems will be the basis for each student's "individual postmortem" grade component.

• design plan
• final website (with short document covering basic information about how to make changes)
• individual postmortem

• draft design plan 4/16
• draft website and short document 4/16
• final design plan 4/28
• final website and short document 4/28
• individual Project 3 postmortem 5/2

• design plan = 10% (group grade)
• final website and short document = 80% (group grade—only the group whose site is selected will receive full credit for this component)
• postmortem = 10% (individual grade—formed from a student's average numerical score on his or her group's postmortems)

• account for all the design plan elements outlined in Compose, Design, Advocate
• proceed through a structure based on the sequence of design plan elements in Compose, Design, Advocate
• provide a coherent narrative rather than a collection of disconnected parts
• speak in third person about how the website functions, not in first person about the designer's process of creation
• speak in present tense about how the website works, not in the future tense about what it will or might do
• demonstrate thoroughly what rhetorical purpose the website intends, who is targeted, and how the message is to be delivered
• demonstrate thoroughly how the website's medium, strategies, and arrangement accomplish its goals
• demonstrate coherence between the design plan and the resulting website
• be in a finished, polished format appropriate for an academic/professional reader, including appropriate grammar and mechanics

The website grade corresponds directly to the client organization's evaluation. For this reason, it is paramount that groups shape their website in accord with the client organization's specifications, and that groups respond to feedback provided by the client organization.

The postmortem grade is formed from the average of a person's evaluation scores.

• "Feuds in Student Groups"
• Project 3 postmortem
• 4/21 Client Files

• Open Source Web Design
• CSS Zen Garden
• Color Schemer
• Daily Color Scheme
• Webmonkey web design tutorials and resources
• Creative Commons search engine
• Purdue Library royalty-free images
• List of Content Management Systems (Keep in mind that our client may or may not be comfortable using a CMS. If you want to use a CMS, you will have to discuss with your client what doing so would entail.)