Post-Pandemic Education and Student Life
In March of 2020, Iowa State University, along with the majority of the United States and the world, moved to an entirely virtual environment. Although some sources claim that the push for an online environment in both education and the professional realm was long overdue, that change resulted in extreme and sudden changes for both students and the University.
Now, at the start of the 2021-2022 academic year with safety precautions in place and a COVID vaccine available, the university is considering how to carry new understandings derived from those changes into the future. President Wendy Wintersteen charged Dr. Toyia Younger (Senior VP Student Affairs), Dr. Ann Marie VanDerZanden (Associate provost for academic programs), and Dr. Sharron Evans, JD (AVP Student Affairs/Dean of Students) with addressing these opportunities for improvement. The offices are now actively seeking recommendation reports from students for how to address the education and campus life of Iowa State students post-pandemic. These improvements include but are not limited to online academic support, community building, and technical support for students and/or staff and faculty.
Thus, your instructor has asked your team to identify, define, and investigate an opportunity for improvement in the area of post-pandemic education and student life. Your team composed a topic proposal and it was approved, so you can now compose the recommendation report for Dr. Toyia Younger, Dr. Ann Marie VanDerZanden, and Dr. Sharron Evans, JD.
The final recommendation report will:
- Discuss the campus problem and its impact on the ISU community and learning environment.
- Clearly outline recommendations for change.
- Employ authoritative, academic sources to support the problem description and recommendations.
- Avoid biased language and stereotyping.
- Demonstrate a clear understanding of the rhetorical setting and audiences.
Audience
Primary: Dr. Toyia Younger (Senior Vice President Student Affairs), Dr. Ann Marie VanDerZanden (Associate Provost for Academic Programs), and Dr. Sharon Evans (Associate Vice President Student Affairs/Dean of Students)
Assignment Components & Expectations
Your formal recommendation report should include the eight major report slots defined by Locker and Kienzler. These slots include:
- Title Page
- Letter of Transmittal
- Table of Contents
- Executive Summary
- Introduction (including all subheadings outlined in Locker and Kienzler)
- Background/History
- Body
- Conclusions and Recommendations
Include credible sources to support any claims and recommendations (a minimum of five sources is a good guideline), strong document design, visual representations of quantitative data (at least 5 visuals is a good guideline), and professional language. The document should demonstrate a strong audience analysis.
A sample formal report can be found in figure 15.12 of your textbook. (NOTE: parts of the report’s body are omitted to maintain concise content.)
Resources
- Chapter 6: Communicating across Cultures
- Chapter 7: Working and Writing in Teams
- Chapter 13: Creating Visuals and Data Displays
- Chapter 15: Writing Reports
- English 302 Business Communication Library Guide
- ISSO OfficeLinks to an external site.
- ISU News ServiceLinks to an external site.
- Iowa State University Campus Climate websiteLinks to an external site.
- Executive Summary of Campus Climate Survey for Learning, Living, And Working dataLinks to an external site.
- 2019-2020 Academic Affairs Diversity and Inclusion ReportLinks to an external site.
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