IT 385 Final Project Guidelines and Rubric Overview IT professionals perform various functions within an organization and must demonstrate strong interpersonal and communication skills in addition to their technical abilities. These communications can involve the creation of technical instructions to end users and should be displayed in a clear, concise, and consumable fashion. The final project for this course is the creation of a training manual. In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:  Create technical and specialized artifacts for explaining products, services, and legal and organizational policies that meet end-user needs  Utilize visual representations to communicate technical and specialized information for a variety of audiences  Select appropriate oral, print, and multimedia tools for communicating technical and specialized information  Craft technical and specialized artifacts for training and development purposes Prompt For your training manual, consider the following situation. You are an employee of the XYZ Company and work in the corporate training division of the company. XYZ Company is planning a move from using Outlook for a corporate email system to Gmail. As a part of the Gmail rollout, you are being tasked with the development of a training manual for employees of XYZ that will ensure a smooth transition to the new email system. As part of the training document, you will address the issue of different technical abilities of the various audiences within the corporation. The manual should provide the end user with clear and concise instructions that can be used effectively by any member of an organization. Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed: I. Executive Brief – create an executive brief that addresses the following points: a) Describe the key features of the product specific to the target audience (users that will be trained). b) Explain how the content of the manual will address the needs of end users at various levels of technical expertise. c) Describe your manual and discuss how it will be comprehensive and logically organized. d) Create an exemplar to showcase the specific training format and delivery method(s) appropriate for the target audiences. Be sure to include research or rationale to justify your formatting and delivery methods. II. Basic User Training – complete the part of the training manual that trains users on basic skills of the new email program. Make sure to include the following: a) Describe the purpose of the training—be sure to describe the skills that basic users should possess upon completion of the training. b) Apply appropriate formatting that supports basic user skills and needs. c) Create instructions for explaining operation of the product or service for basic users. d) Select and include appropriate visual representations or graphics to support basic user needs. III. Intermediate Training – complete the part of the training manual that trains users on more advanced skills of the new email program. Make sure to include the following: a) Describe the purpose of the training. Be sure to describe the skills that intermediate-level users should possess upon completion of the training. b) Apply appropriate formatting that supports intermediate-level user needs. c) Create instructions for explaining operation of product or service for intermediate-level users. d) Select and include appropriate visual representations or graphics to support intermediate user needs. IV. Training Manual – complete and submit the final draft of the training manual, including all previous sections, with adjustments and changes based on the feedback offered by your instructor. In addition: a) Compose disclaimers or legal notices that address legal and organizational ramifications for misuse of the manual, product, or service. b) Apply formal naming and brand recognition (i.e., trademarks, copyrights, and other applicable legal notations) throughout the manual. Milestones Milestone One: Executive Brief In Module Two, students will create an executive brief that addresses the following points: 1. Explain the key features of the product on which your users will be trained. 2. Explain how the content of the manual will address the needs of end users at various levels of technical expertise. 3. Describe your manual and discuss how it will be comprehensive and logically organized. 4. Create an exemplar to showcase the specific training format and delivery method(s) appropriate for the target audiences. Be sure to include research or rationale to justify your formatting and delivery methods. Successful completion of this milestone will lay the groundwork for how to approach the development of the training manual based on the needs of those who will be using it to learn to use the new system (the target audience[s]). This milestone is graded with the Final Project Milestone One Rubric. Milestone Two: Basic User Training In Module Four, students will complete the part of the training manual that trains users on basic skills of the new email program. This will include the following: 1. Describe the purpose of the training—be sure to describe the skills that basic users should possess upon completion of the training. 2. Apply appropriate formatting that supports basic user skills and needs. 3. Create instructions for explaining operation of product or service for basic users. 4. Select and include appropriate visual representations or graphics to support basic user needs. This milestone is graded with the Final Project Milestone Two Rubric. Milestone Three: Intermediate Training In Module Six, students will complete the part of the training manual that trains users on more advanced skills of the new email program. This will include the following: 1. Describe the purpose of the training. Be sure to describe the skills that intermediate-level users should possess upon completion of the training. 2. Apply appropriate formatting that supports intermediate-level user needs. 3. Create instructions for explaining operation of product or service for intermediate-level users. 4. Select and include appropriate visual representations or graphics to support intermediate user needs. This milestone is graded with the Final Project Milestone Three Rubric. Final Submission: Training Manual In Module Seven, students will complete and submit the final draft of the training manual, including the following: 1. All previous sections with adjustments and changes based on the feedback offered by your instructor 2. The addition of legal notices that address legal and organizational ramifications for misuse of the manual, product, or service 3. The application of formal naming and brand recognition (i.e., trademarks, copyrights, and other applicable legal notations) throughout the manual 4. The manual is checked for grammar, spelling, syntax, and proper citations and is well written, organized, and concise This submission is graded with the Final Project Rubric. Final Project Rubric Instructor Feedback: This activity uses an integrated rubric in Blackboard. Students can view instructor feedback in the Grade Center. For more information, review these instructions. Critical Elements Exemplary (100%) Proficient (85%) Needs Improvement (55%) Not Evident (0%) Value Executive Brief: Product Meets “Proficient” criteria and discusses additional features that may be of benefit to users Comprehensively describes the product or service on which users will be trained and discusses the key features appropriate to the target audience Describes the product or service on which users will be trained, but does not discuss key features, or key features are not appropriate to the target audience Does not describe the product or service on which users will be trained 7 Executive Brief: Content Meets “Proficient” criteria and provides specific examples to substantiate claims Explains the deliberate aspects of the manual that ensure that all levels of user technical expertise are addressed Explains how the content of the manual addresses user needs, but does not address all levels of expertise Does not explain how content of manual addresses user needs 6 Executive Brief: Manual Meets “Proficient” criteria and cites research to substantiate claims Describes how the completed artifact will be comprehensively and logically organized for training Describes how the completed artifact will be comprehensively and logically organized, but does not address the impact on training Does not describe how the completed artifact will be comprehensively and logically organized 6 Executive Brief: Format and Delivery Meets “Proficient” criteria and discusses why the chosen exemplar is more appropriate to the target audiences than other formats and delivery methods Creates an exemplar that showcases the training format and delivery method(s) appropriate chosen for the target audiences and justifies formatting and delivery choices with research or rationale Creates an exemplar that showcases the training format and delivery method(s) appropriate chosen for the target audiences, but does not justify formatting and delivery choices with research or rationale Does not create exemplar that showcases the training format and delivery method(s) appropriate chosen for the target audiences 6 Basic Training: Purpose Meets “Proficient” criteria and connects the benefits of the new product for the end user Describes the purpose of the training and describes the skills that basic users should possess upon completion of training Describes the purpose of the training, but does not describe the skills that basic users should possess upon completion of training Does not describe the purpose of the manual and does not describe the skills that basic users should possess 7 Basic Training: Formatting Meets “Proficient” criteria and discusses why the format chosen is more appropriate to support basic user skills and needs than alternative formats Applies formatting to the training artifact that is appropriate to support basic user skills and needs Applies formatting that is somewhat appropriate to support basic user skills and needs, but may still be too technical or advanced in parts Does not apply formatting suitable to the skills and needs of basic users (too technical or advanced) 6 Basic Training: Operation Meets “Proficient” criteria, and instructions support ease of use of product Creates comprehensive instructions for of product or service for basic users Creates instructions for operation of product or service, but instructions lack detail or are not appropriate for basic users Does not compose instructions for operation of product or service for basic users 6 Basic Training: Graphics Meets “Proficient” criteria, and visual representations complement training instructions to support ease of use at each step Selects and employs appropriate visual representations that support basic user needs Selects and employs visual representations, but representations are not appropriate for basic users Does not select or employ visual representations 6 Intermediate Training: Purpose Meets “Proficient” criteria and connects the benefits of the new product for the end user Describes the purpose of the training and describes the skills that intermediate users should possess upon completion of training Describes the purpose of the training, but does not describe the skills that intermediate users should possess upon completion of training Does not describe the purpose of the manual and does not describe the skills that intermediate users should possess 7 Intermediate Training: Formatting Meets “Proficient” criteria and discusses why the format chosen is more appropriate to support intermediate user skills and needs than alternative formats Applies formatting to the training artifact that is appropriate to support intermediate user skills and needs Applies formatting that is somewhat appropriate to support intermediate user needs, but may still be too technical or advanced in parts or too basic in parts Does not apply formatting suitable to the needs of intermediate users (too technical or advanced or too basic) 6 Intermediate Training: Operation Meets “Proficient” criteria, and instructions support ease of use of product Creates comprehensive instructions for operation of product or service for intermediate users Creates instructions for operation of product or service, but directions lack detail or are not appropriate for intermediate users Does not compose instructions for operation of product or service for intermediate users 6 Intermediate Training: Graphics Meets “Proficient” criteria, and visual representations complement training instructions to support ease of use at each step Selects and employs appropriate visual representations that support intermediate user needs Selects and employs visual representations, but representations are not appropriate for intermediate users Does not select or employ visual representations 6 Training Manual: Legal Meets “Proficient” criteria and does so in accessible language for all audiences Composes disclaimers that address legal and organizational ramifications for misuse of manual, product, or service Composes disclaimers for misuse of the manual, product, or service, but does not include both legal and organizational ramifications Does not compose disclaimers 5 Training Manual: Brand Recognition Meets “Proficient” criteria and expands acronyms for nonindustry-standard terms Applies formal naming and brand recognition conventions appropriately and consistently throughout artifact Applies formal naming and brand recognition conventions inappropriately or inconsistently Does not apply formal naming and brand recognition conventions 5 Articulation of Response Submission is free of errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, and organization and is presented in a professional and easy-toread format Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas 15 Earned Total 100%