331 – Assignment 1.1

Assignment 1.1

Chapter 1 of the text introduces critical thinking as an active process and lays the foundation for achieving goals, making effective decisions and learning to think creatively.  For this assignment, you will analyze a future decision. First, describe an important decision in your academic or personal life that you will have to make in the near future. Then, using the five-step decision-making approach described in Chapter 1, analyze your decision and conclude with your “best” choice. Using your webcam, share your analysis with your colleagues.

After I graduate from this class, I would like to write a book on technology. The reasons I would like to write a book are as follows. I enjoy sharing about technology. I am able to organize and communicate information about technology in an easy non-threatening way. This endeavor will also help me become a better writer and communicator. I would also like to use this as a platform for consulting and expanding my career.

Step 2: Consider All the Possible Choices

• What technology would I write about?
• Who is the intended audience?
• Why is there a need for this information?
• Is there already something out there?
• Can I write this or should I consider a ghostwriter?
• Is there a model I can follow?
• Who could I contact about publishing or would I self publish?
• What medium would I make the book available or would a publisher decide this?
• Where and how would I market the book?
• Who will review my work?
• How much time and effort am I willing to submit to this project?
• Are there any legal issues related to writing about a particular technology?

Step 3: Gather All Relevant Information and Evaluate the Pros and Cons of Each Possible Choice

What book would I write?

Google Apps for Educators

Pros: Not a lot of material on Apps out there that is targeted toward educators. This is a huge target audience. I know and use Apps on a regular basis. I have educators that are also using it that I could bounce ideas off of. Limited topics that could be covered as there are only so many programs in the suite.

Cons: Limited to educators + Limited topic = Narrower market.

Google Tools for Educators

Pros: Lots of possible content to draw from. Wider, focused audience. Content could be more general and easier to comprehend. I have a very good understanding of the content. There is much to draw on already from my GoogleTips twitter account. Content from this could easily be transferred to a later Google Apps book.

Cons: Lots of possible content may be hard to organize and put in a concise book form. There is already lots of material online for free. Might be outdated quickly.

Digital Clutter

Pros: Unique topic that affects many people. Interesting topic to me. Might be easy to translate real-world to digital. Opportunity to work with lots of people.

Cons: Would require much more research and cross-platform work. Time consuming as it would require lots of research and working with others.

Step 4: Select the Choice That Seems to Best Meet the Needs of the Situation

At this point, I believe writing a book “Google Tools for Educators” would be the best solution for the reasons outlined in the pros section as they outweigh the cons.

Step 5: Implement a Plan of Action and Then Monitor the Results, Making Necessary Adjustments

• Answer the questions in Step 2
• Brainstorm topics from GoogleTips account
• Develop an outline
• Have someone review the outline and make suggestions
• Start writing the pieces
• Organize the pieces
• Have someone review the organization and make suggestions
• Compile first draft
• Have someone review the progress and make suggestions
• Develop book proposal
• Talk to publishers
• Finish draft
• Have someone review the final draft and correct errors
• Market
• Publish
• Market