April 26
So, I have been working on my poster. It took me awhile to decide which pages of the manual I should include. I wanted to include about four or five, but I don’t think that I will have enough room. So, I decided to put the finished manual on the table in front of my poster. I decided to do the poster in blue and yellow so that it coordinates with the colors I used in the manual.
My supervisor is planning on coming, which will be nice. She has helped me out a lot throughout the semester. The poster presentation will be the first time that she will have seen the manual all put together, which makes me a little nervous, but oh well. We are supposed to meet the day after the presentation to do a final edit.
I have finished everything in the manual except the glossary and the appendix. I forgot to do the glossary and I am still waiting for documents to put in the appendix. But, I finished the table of contents, and I think it turned out pretty well.
Hopefully, everything will go good during the poster presentation on Tuesday.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Almost Finished!
April 22
I worked all weekend finishing the last two sections so the manual will be pretty much finished by the poster session. They are finished, I just have to meet with my supervisor to see if she wants anything changed or wants to add anything. There will be a couple parts that I won’t have finished, because I have to wait for my supervisor’s supervisor to write them (which will probably be awhile). But, I want to have everything else finished.
I am now starting to work on the table of contents and the appendix. I am having trouble deciding how to do the table of contents. I want to include every heading, so it is easy to find information quickly. Word has a table of contents tool, but I can’t get it to cooperate. So, after spending a couple hours fooling around with that, I have decided to do it on my own. The problem is getting all of the numbers aligned. Something this easy should not be taking this much time. Oh well. I guess I will figure it out eventually.
I am also having trouble figuring out how to do the appendix and how to include the appendix in the table of contents. I have tried a few different ways, but I haven’t decided on which way is best. I think I will ask my supervisor what she thinks. I still need about five different files from her before I can even put the appendix together.
Now that everything is starting to come together, I can finally sit back and look at what I have accomplished this semester. I am really excited to get this thing completely finished.
I worked all weekend finishing the last two sections so the manual will be pretty much finished by the poster session. They are finished, I just have to meet with my supervisor to see if she wants anything changed or wants to add anything. There will be a couple parts that I won’t have finished, because I have to wait for my supervisor’s supervisor to write them (which will probably be awhile). But, I want to have everything else finished.
I am now starting to work on the table of contents and the appendix. I am having trouble deciding how to do the table of contents. I want to include every heading, so it is easy to find information quickly. Word has a table of contents tool, but I can’t get it to cooperate. So, after spending a couple hours fooling around with that, I have decided to do it on my own. The problem is getting all of the numbers aligned. Something this easy should not be taking this much time. Oh well. I guess I will figure it out eventually.
I am also having trouble figuring out how to do the appendix and how to include the appendix in the table of contents. I have tried a few different ways, but I haven’t decided on which way is best. I think I will ask my supervisor what she thinks. I still need about five different files from her before I can even put the appendix together.
Now that everything is starting to come together, I can finally sit back and look at what I have accomplished this semester. I am really excited to get this thing completely finished.
Lots of Writing
April 18
I have worked a lot on the manual over the last few days. I have been trying to get the last two sections finished. I am taking most of what will go into these sections from materials that they use when training new Admissions Reps. The materials they gave me are not all that great, but they gave me a good place to start.
The first section that I am working on is the introduction to the company. This section will have the company’s mission statement and statement of values. My supervisor’s supervisor is also supposed to be writing a general history of the company. I think he is also writing a letter to put in the very beginning of the manual. I doubt he will finish these two things by the end of the semester, though.
The next section is an introduction to the Admissions Rep’s job and the general skills that he or she will need. I am including job descriptions in this section. I thought that job descriptions would go better in the first section, but my supervisor wanted it in this section.
Overall, these two sections are going to be pretty short compared to the last two sections. I think the manual will end up being about forty pages before the appendix.
I have worked a lot on the manual over the last few days. I have been trying to get the last two sections finished. I am taking most of what will go into these sections from materials that they use when training new Admissions Reps. The materials they gave me are not all that great, but they gave me a good place to start.
The first section that I am working on is the introduction to the company. This section will have the company’s mission statement and statement of values. My supervisor’s supervisor is also supposed to be writing a general history of the company. I think he is also writing a letter to put in the very beginning of the manual. I doubt he will finish these two things by the end of the semester, though.
The next section is an introduction to the Admissions Rep’s job and the general skills that he or she will need. I am including job descriptions in this section. I thought that job descriptions would go better in the first section, but my supervisor wanted it in this section.
Overall, these two sections are going to be pretty short compared to the last two sections. I think the manual will end up being about forty pages before the appendix.
Feedback on Design
April 14
I met with my supervisor yesterday and showed her my design. I was really nervous. I liked the design that I came up with, but I wasn’t sure what she would think about it.
She loved it!!!!! She loved how I used the logo throughout the manual and the blue headings. She couldn’t quite talking about it. Then, her supervisor came in and looked at it, and he loved it just as much as she did. I guess all of the hard work and the hours I put in trying to come up with a design paid off.
Besides working on the design, I had also been making the edits that my supervisor wanted made on the interview section. So, after she spent a lot of time looking at the design, she looked over the section. We decided on a couple of minor changes and then did a final edit of the first section. Once I make those little changes, those two sections will be completely finished!!!
Now just two more sections to do!!!
I met with my supervisor yesterday and showed her my design. I was really nervous. I liked the design that I came up with, but I wasn’t sure what she would think about it.
She loved it!!!!! She loved how I used the logo throughout the manual and the blue headings. She couldn’t quite talking about it. Then, her supervisor came in and looked at it, and he loved it just as much as she did. I guess all of the hard work and the hours I put in trying to come up with a design paid off.
Besides working on the design, I had also been making the edits that my supervisor wanted made on the interview section. So, after she spent a lot of time looking at the design, she looked over the section. We decided on a couple of minor changes and then did a final edit of the first section. Once I make those little changes, those two sections will be completely finished!!!
Now just two more sections to do!!!
Design
April 12
Yay! I finally figured out the design. It took me awhile, but I think that the design that I have chosen is good.
The hardest part of the design was choosing something that would tie all five schools together. Every school has its own name, logo, and colors. Fortunately, I found out that each school’s logo has this starburst (or I believe that is what it is called) in their logo. So, I decided to use this star throughout the design. I used it on the title page of each section and in the header of all the pages. It adds a little color to it and carries the company logo throughout.
Then, after deciding to do that, I came up with a heading that has the section heading. I also added a footer with the page number. After coming up with that, I decided to use blue as the primary color. I figured that blue was professional. I used two different colors of blue: a dark blue and a lighter blue. I used the dark blue for the section title pages and for level one headings throughout the manual. I used the lighter shade of blue for level two and level three headings.
I also used a line under the level one headings. I made the level two and level three headings different sizes. There are parts throughout the manual that are scripts that the Admissions Reps say during a phone call or an interview. I decided that these parts needed to be highlighted. So, I put them in the lighter blue, italicized them, and finally put a line on the top and the bottom of the section.
Overall, I think that the design that I have come up with works. It looks nice, but is also professional. Hopefully, my supervisor will agree.
Yay! I finally figured out the design. It took me awhile, but I think that the design that I have chosen is good.
The hardest part of the design was choosing something that would tie all five schools together. Every school has its own name, logo, and colors. Fortunately, I found out that each school’s logo has this starburst (or I believe that is what it is called) in their logo. So, I decided to use this star throughout the design. I used it on the title page of each section and in the header of all the pages. It adds a little color to it and carries the company logo throughout.
Then, after deciding to do that, I came up with a heading that has the section heading. I also added a footer with the page number. After coming up with that, I decided to use blue as the primary color. I figured that blue was professional. I used two different colors of blue: a dark blue and a lighter blue. I used the dark blue for the section title pages and for level one headings throughout the manual. I used the lighter shade of blue for level two and level three headings.
I also used a line under the level one headings. I made the level two and level three headings different sizes. There are parts throughout the manual that are scripts that the Admissions Reps say during a phone call or an interview. I decided that these parts needed to be highlighted. So, I put them in the lighter blue, italicized them, and finally put a line on the top and the bottom of the section.
Overall, I think that the design that I have come up with works. It looks nice, but is also professional. Hopefully, my supervisor will agree.
Writing Second Section of Manual
April 9
I have been working very hard over the past few days trying to get another section of the manual finished. Fortunately, besides making any changes that my supervisor wants, I am about done with it.
The section is on the interview and enrollment process. Basically, it tells how the Admissions Rep conducts an interview with a potential student and, then, how a person is enrolled in the school. The major part of this section is on a PowerPoint presentation that is shown during the interview. There is a script that the Admissions Rep is supposed to say during the presentation. My supervisor gave me the script so I could put it in the section. However, the script is not all that great. In fact, if I were thinking about going to that school and saw that script, I would definitely walk away. I don’t think, or at least I hope, that the Admissions Reps actually use this script. There were tons of grammatical errors and most of it didn’t even make sense. So, I have had to work on that a lot to make it a little more professional.
Besides the presentation, this section also discusses the financial aid meeting and a few other things that happen during the interview. I think that this section will end up being the longest. It is about sixteen pages long.
I am supposed to be meeting with my supervisor tomorrow to see if everything that I have written is fine. Plus, speaking on previous experience, she will probably remember another part that needs to be added. Then, I can start on the other sections. I think that there are only two more sections that I have to write and I am pretty sure that both will be a lot shorter than the first two (or at least I hope so!).
I have been working very hard over the past few days trying to get another section of the manual finished. Fortunately, besides making any changes that my supervisor wants, I am about done with it.
The section is on the interview and enrollment process. Basically, it tells how the Admissions Rep conducts an interview with a potential student and, then, how a person is enrolled in the school. The major part of this section is on a PowerPoint presentation that is shown during the interview. There is a script that the Admissions Rep is supposed to say during the presentation. My supervisor gave me the script so I could put it in the section. However, the script is not all that great. In fact, if I were thinking about going to that school and saw that script, I would definitely walk away. I don’t think, or at least I hope, that the Admissions Reps actually use this script. There were tons of grammatical errors and most of it didn’t even make sense. So, I have had to work on that a lot to make it a little more professional.
Besides the presentation, this section also discusses the financial aid meeting and a few other things that happen during the interview. I think that this section will end up being the longest. It is about sixteen pages long.
I am supposed to be meeting with my supervisor tomorrow to see if everything that I have written is fine. Plus, speaking on previous experience, she will probably remember another part that needs to be added. Then, I can start on the other sections. I think that there are only two more sections that I have to write and I am pretty sure that both will be a lot shorter than the first two (or at least I hope so!).
Forgot to Post Blogs
Well, I have decided that I am not that great at blogging. I have never done a blog before.
Anyways, I have written quite a few blogs over the past three or four weeks, but I keep forgetting to post them. I just remembered, so I am posting them all today.
Anyways, I have written quite a few blogs over the past three or four weeks, but I keep forgetting to post them. I just remembered, so I am posting them all today.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Working Hard
I have been working really hard trying to get the procedures manual finished. I still have a way to go though. The sections that I have to finish aren't going to be as hard or as long as the first one was. I am working on the next section right now, so I thought I would take a break to write this blog.
The material that my supervisor gives me are documents that they have used in the past for training. Unfortunately, a lot of the documents are not finished and many aren't very professional. I am having a difficult time deciding how to rewrite the material and where to place them within the manual. Fortunately, my supervisor is helping me figure this out.
In fact, my supervisor has helped me a lot. She gives me a lot of suggestions, most of which are really helpful. However, the titles she suggested I use for some of the sections do not really make a lot of sense. I have still not figured out any better alternative titles. I suggested a few that I thought were good, but she didn't really like them.
I am still trying to figure out a good style for the manual. I have tried several different ones, but haven't come up with one that I think will work best. I think it needs some color to make it stand out, but I don't know which colors would work best. The manual is for Admissions Representatives at 5 different schools and all of the schools have different colors and logos. I am having trouble deciding how to make it consistent. But, I am sure that I will figure it out eventually.
Well, I think that is all that I have to say right now.
The material that my supervisor gives me are documents that they have used in the past for training. Unfortunately, a lot of the documents are not finished and many aren't very professional. I am having a difficult time deciding how to rewrite the material and where to place them within the manual. Fortunately, my supervisor is helping me figure this out.
In fact, my supervisor has helped me a lot. She gives me a lot of suggestions, most of which are really helpful. However, the titles she suggested I use for some of the sections do not really make a lot of sense. I have still not figured out any better alternative titles. I suggested a few that I thought were good, but she didn't really like them.
I am still trying to figure out a good style for the manual. I have tried several different ones, but haven't come up with one that I think will work best. I think it needs some color to make it stand out, but I don't know which colors would work best. The manual is for Admissions Representatives at 5 different schools and all of the schools have different colors and logos. I am having trouble deciding how to make it consistent. But, I am sure that I will figure it out eventually.
Well, I think that is all that I have to say right now.
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