WRITE AN ORIGINAL SHORT REPORT BASED ON A CASE $3\mathrm{.}5$ PAGES MAX

INSTRUCTIONS:

DO NOT OPEN THE MIDTERM MODULE UNTIL YOU ARE READY TO WRITE:

your $4-$hour period begins when you first access the Midterm Module.

$*$Remember$,$ in D$2$L your instructor has a record of every module you access, when you

access it$,$ and for how long. You must submit your answer to Dropbox within $4$ hours of

when you first open the Module. Do not be tempted to share information about the

Midterm Module with your classmates, as the Midterm Module will be changed part$-$way

through the week.

The structure and organization of your short report should be similar to the sample

reports in Module $2.$ The Midterm is open book; you can access any course materials

during the Midterm, but you should not use the Internet $($outside of our D$2$L course$)$ or

consult with others.

CASE:

You are a computer systems manager at Envision, a large chain of electronic stores.

Envision has a policy of paying for professional development courses for employees on

an individual basis. But you think it would be a good idea for your whole department $$

all $5$ systems analysts, plus you $$ to take BCIT courses together so you can discuss ideas and

work on homework exercises together. You think both COMM $2202$ and COMM $2203$ would be

good courses. But there$$s no way Envision will agree to pay for both courses this year. You will

need to pick the best one to propose attending as a department this January; the other one can

wait until September. You had the following conversation about them with your supervisor,

Anthony Bruckner:

You: I$\text{'}$m not feeling all that comfortable about working on the Procedures report

you$$ve asked my department to create. I don$$t have any training in writing

reports, and this has to be accurate and readable for all employees in the

company. Also, all the members of my department will be contributing to the

report over the next six months $$ I$$m not sure about how to structure a group

report like this. There's a course at BCIT on reports; I wondered if that would

help.

Anthony: The report writing course? That's a good one. I took it a few years ago, and I

think you could adapt most of the principles to our needs. You$$d get some

useful ideas, anyway. I$\text{'}$m sure the Personnel department will approve it$.$ You

just have to send a memo including the details $-$ you know, what, where,

when, how much, why it$$s important, all that.

You: How much justification do they need for these courses?

COMM $2203$: Midterm Timed Writing Exercise $(20\%)$

$2|$ P a g e

Anthony: As long as you can show that it's relevant to the work you're doing for

Envision, approval is virtually automatic.

You: But have they ever had anyone ask for all their department members to attend one

course? That$$s a lot of tuition. Also, will they go for two in the same

quarter? I$\text{'}$d like to suggest taking another COMM course at BCIT, on writing

persuasive and negative news messages. Our department often has to convince

Envision employees to use new technologies and tools, and also announce

$$bad news$$ like system outage or network downtime... I feel like we don$$t do

a great job, and we create unnecessary tension for ourselves.

Anthony: BCIT has a course on that? That will be very useful to the company; I can$$t see

Personnel having a problem with it$,$ especially when you have my

approval.

You: Can I include both courses in my memo?

Anthony: Well... yes, but, I don$$t think you should ask for money for both courses this

January. Why don$$t you talk about both courses, you know, compare the courses,

and make a recommendation about sending your department to one this January

and one next September. But don$$t just make a random choice $$ show the Personnel

dept you have compared the two courses to each other and selected the most

appropriate one for your department to attend first. You can say I asked you to

write this memo $$ it shows I approve the idea.

You: That$$s a good idea. Hmm. It sounds like an ordinary memo won$$t be good

enough. I$$m going to have to write a short report with an introduction and

everything. And I should mention that I did research online at the BCIT

website, and maybe give the URL$$s for the course outlines. And I should

organize my memo with headings and a separate conclusion and

recommendations section. I wish I had taken COMM $2203$ already