Article Production

Description / Purpose

The purpose of this process is to produce one article. This article can be either interactive (i.e. it includes assessments), or a standard text-based article. For video based article production, see the video article process page. For tutorial production, see the tutorial standards page.

Article Production Processes

Step 1: Outline Article

Briefly outline the article. Will this teach any new learning standards? If this is going to be an interactive article, map out where assessments will be needed.

During this period, make any ART requests that will be necessary for the article.

Step 2: Draft Article in Google Document

Write a first draft of the article. This first draft should be written in google docs to facilitate easy editing and revision. Even though this is being written in a google document, make sure to keep this first draft in Markdown to make the following steps easier.

Needs Review: First Draft

Step 3: Second Draft of Article in Author

Turn the first draft into a second draft by incorporating and feedback/revisions and moving it into Author.

OPTIONAL Step 4: Assessments Created and Added to the Article

For interactive articles, once the second draft has been created in Author, the assessments should be written. These need to be written as separate assessments (aligned with learning standards whenever possible), then embedded into the article.

Needs Review Second Draft (with Assessments, if they exist)

Step 5: Final Revisions

All previous revisions are incorporated and the article is ready to go live on the site.

Milestones/Deliverables for Production

We can break the process down into a series of deliverables.

Deliverable	Description	Duration
First Draft	The article is drafted in a google document. This allows for easy early revisions. This stage of production should get the most thorough review, any structural/fundamental changes should be brought up here before the article has been added to author.	5 days production + 2 days review
Second Draft	The article is imported into author and a second draft is created by addressing all of the feedback from the first draft	5 days production + 1 day review
OPTIONAL Assessments Created	If this is an interactive article, at this point the author should create the assessments for the article and embed them within the article in Author.	4 days production + 1 day review
Final Revisions	Any remaining changes are made to the article.	2 days production

Example Timeline

The following diagram shows the deliverables to produce a an article in a day by day gantt-like chart. Light green days are dedicated to production, darker green days are when deliverables are due, and yellow days are when the content is being reviewed.