GCE Applied ICT G040: Lesson 08 Planning and Drafting Communications Mr C Johnston

Learning Outcome Understand what makes a good plan Know the difference between a plan and a draft, Know how to annotate drafts

Planning Each communication needs a plan before you make it on the computer, A plan will show somebody else: how to layout the communication, what styles to use, what content to include, where the content could be sourced from, The plan needs to focus on what the communication will look like (layout etc.) rather than the process you will use to make it, Plans could be an annotated paper based sketch or made using drawing tools, The detail of the plan will part determine your mark for task bi of this unit.

Planning Mark Scheme Planning needs to be consistent across all 6 communications – if some are good and others are bad they might as well all be bad!!! Your final plans will be marked as Mark Band 1 Outline plans are produced for most of the communications, Mark Band 2 Plans are produced for all communications, some of which are detailed, Mark Band 3 Detailed plans are produced for all communications.

Detailed Planning?? As a rule even the most basic plan will enable a computer literate person to create your communication however they may have to make some design / content decisions, Detailed planning will include notes on everything required to make the communication – no design / content decisions will have to be made by the person making it, As a rule detailed planning will include: Plans for layout (including component positioning and measurements), Details of font styles (including size, face, colour, style), Colour schemes Content (text, graphics and other media) to be used along with a possible source.

    ½ ½ Question Is this planning sufficient? Planning images Planning text Image  Image of Dog Image of brown German Shepard lying down facing outwards  ½ Text In this box will be a German Shepard fact file German Shepherd Dog fact file KC Group: Pastoral Size: Large Height: Dogs around 63cm; bitches around 58cm Weight: About 34kg Average lifespan: 10 years Temperament: Intelligent and loyal, devoted to his owner Exercise requirement: Lots Good guard dogs?: Yes Moulting level: High Grooming: Moderate Jogging partner: Yes   ½

Drafting Drafting is the process of developing a communication so it looks better, is error free and is completely suitable for purpose and suit the intended audience, It should show a natural progression of adding or removing elements so to enhance the final communication, Drafting is NOT “oh dear I left out something(on purpose)” OR “look I’ve spelt ths wrong” A series a printouts showing the communication at different incomplete stages with annotation stating… next I will add

Drafting Procedures The first stage is to take your plan and make a computerised version of it exactly and print it out Study the printout and think about: Is this suitable for the audience and purpose? How can it be improved? Write possible changes which can be made to the draft on it and why – use a draft evaluation form to give an overview of the draft, Repeat this process to or three times so you communication evolves into a completed best copy, REMEMBER to check the spelling of any text - its good practise (although not essential) to use the proofreading symbols - see slides 12 / 13.

Drafting Mark Scheme Drafting needs to be consistent across all 6 communications – if some are good and others are bad they might as well all be bad!!! Your final drafts will be marked as Mark Band 1 By presenting annotated draft copies, you show that you have checked the accuracy of the layout and content of your work, and proof-read it to ensure that information is placed in appropriate positions and the content is correct and meaningful

Mark Band 2 By presenting annotated draft copies, you show that you have checked the accuracy of the layout and content of your work, and proof-read it to ensure that information is placed in appropriate positions and the content is correct and meaningful, Annotations show how the you developed each communication to achieve a consistent style and organised a variety of different types of information in a coherent and easy-to-read way. Mark Band 3 Annotations will show in detail how you developed each communication to achieve a consistent style, made good use of standard formats and organised a variety of different types of information in a coherent and easy-to-read way.

For each draft make evaluative notes on a post-it note using a layout similar to above. This will to help collate evidence for your evaluation.

Principal Moderators Comments “To achieve beyond mark band 1 of task bi, candidates need to show evidence of planning for all six communications, with some planning being detailed. They also need to have annotated draft copies to show development. The requirements for planning and drafting had been misunderstood by many. Candidates may carry out research on existing communications of the type they will create to gain ideas, however, these ideas should be summarised, rather than detailed research being included. Candidates should then produce a single design, usually by hand. This should include plans for layout (including component positioning and possibly measurements), details of the font styles, colour schemes and content (text, graphics and other media) to be used, along with a possible source of this content. The next stage is to produce an electronic copy of the complete communication to match the design. Candidates should then annotate this first draft to indicate changes that they will make to improve it prior to implementing these changes to produce a second draft. This draft too may be annotated with proposed changes before, hopefully, the final version is produced. A hand-drawn exact copy of the final communication is not detailed planning and suggests that this was produced retrospectively. Similarly, providing printouts of the communication at different stages of completion indicating what will be added next, does not meet the requirement for annotating drafts to show development. For mark band 3 for task bi communications need to be fully planned and drafted. Planning too frequently lacked the required detail so that somebody else could make the communication as planned and annotation of draft documents was poor. ”

Proof Reading Communications Proofreading is for eliminating spelling and grammar errors in your work. There is a set of common symbols you could use when checking your work,

no paragraph begin new paragraph a space needed here close up this space transpose elements delete use a period here use double quotation marks insert something apostrophe or single quotation mark insert a comma Example Meaning Symbol

Activity Have a go at this proofreading exercise to practise your drafting Review these plans and drafts showing the complete How can they be improved?? Plan Draft Versions Final Version cycle.