Summary:The Instructions Project asks each student to produce one set of clear, concise instructions that fits an authentic context and covers a substantial, complex task of genuine utility. Professional writers are often tasked with producing such documents, and producing helpful, user-centered instructions is quite challenging. A main goal for this project is for students to explore how instruction sets address specific audiences, contexts, and purposes. Topic and format choice is open, but all instruction sets must fit real contexts and target defined audiences. (Students needn't necessarily be the instruction sets' primary audience, although they will constitute the testing pool.) All instruction sets must include non-textual elements, such as tables, graphs, illustrations, screenshots, or multimedia content. All material in instruction sets must be original or acceptable for commercial use. Students have successfully covered subjects including creating histograms with Microsoft Excel, constructing a tournament-grade horseshoe court, using successful strategies in the online game League of Legends, and cooking jambalaya. Instruction set formats have ranged from small printed package inserts to online tutorial videos. All final instruction sets should be delivered in their intended format. For example, if you design a poster, you should turn in an actual printed poster. Students will use two different usability tests to develop their instruction sets: one usability test that can be administered inside of class; one usability test that can be administered outside of class. It is very likely that some of the topics students select will have existing instructions. This is fine, but students should not simply replicate others' work, nor borrow extensively from existing materials (although students of course can glean strategies from them). Deliverables:
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