Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia

Academic and Research Vice-rector

Task 2 - Writing assignment - Production

1. General description of the course

Faculty or Vicerrectoría de Relaciones Internacionales

Academic Unit
Academic Level Professional, specialization, master
Academic Field Common basic interdisciplinary training
Course Name English B2
Course Code 900005
Course Type Methodological Can be re- yes ☐ No ☒
opened
Number of Credits 3

2. Description of the activity

Type of the Individu Collaborativ Number

☐ ☒ 5
activity: al e of weeks
Intermediat
Moment of e, Unit: 2 -
Initial ☐ ☒ Final ☐
evaluation: Hypothetica
l situations
Delivery Environment: Monitoring
Evaluative score: 90
and Evaluation
Starting date: June 21st,
Closing date: August 1st, 2019
2019
Competence to develop:
Write clear, detailed text related to the topic.
 Write a letter to United Nations Secretary-General1;
 Talk about Effects of technology on the environment;
 Talk about past events;
 Use “If clauses” to express future meaning;
 Use “Wish” to express hypothetical situations;
 Give advice and recommendations.
Topics to develop:
Past events, conditionals, recommendations with “wish” and “hope”.

1
The Secretary-General of the United Nations is the head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United
Nations. The Secretary-General serves as the chief administrative officer of the United Nations.
Steps, phases of the learning strategy to develop:
Central task - Writing assignment - Production
Phase 1: Students work in collaborative groups.
Phase 2: Students present a written text.
Phase 3: Students give feedback and reflection on the task.
Activities to carry out:

Dear Student,
You must take into account three aspects:

 Write a letter to the UN Secretary-General:

a) Express your opinion on the positive or negative effects
of technology on the environment;
b) Give recommendations on what you would improve or
change.

Dear student,
 You will develop this task in the Writing forum.
 At the end of this task, you will collect all the parts in a final
document.
 Follow each step, post all the activities in the forum and get
feedback from your partners and tutor.
 The final product must be sent individually. You construct
your final product through the process you develop
collaboratively.
Stage 1: Technology and its effects on environment (1st week)

 Write about technological advancement and the effect on the

ecosystem.

- Text length: 100 words

- Write about: What do you think are negative or positive effects
of technology on the environment? How did it affect to Climate
Change in the last decades? Did it cause environmental
pollution or natural resources scarcity?
- You can use the following text as an example:

Stage 2: Technology and global warming (2nd week)

 Write a paragraph answering this question: What do you think will

happen if current trends of technology development and
consumerism continue? You can use the following vocabulary for the
text:

According to… I consider… global warming… environmental

pollution… the impact of… degradation of lands… economic
growth… poverty… developing countries… population growth…
rapid urbanization… natural resources scarcity… If current trends
continue… rising levels of consumption… etc…
Stage 3: What can be done? 2.1 (3rd week)

 Write your advice on how we can contribute to the improvement of

current environmental crisis. Use the following vocabulary for the
text:

Governments… United Nations (UN)… measures… take actions…

sustainable development… policies… climate policy… eco-friendly
technology… it is necessary… I recommend… I would… etc…

Stage 4: Write a letter (4th week)

 According to the previous writing exercises, you will design a formal

letter addressed to the UN Secretary-Executive (200 words)
including the following steps:

Use the following tool: https://goo.gl/wxXAZD

Example: https://goo.gl/AhQjia

Stage 5: Upload the final product in the Evaluation and

Monitoring Environment

Convert the letter to a PDF document and upload it in the Evaluation

and Monitoring Environment.
Environme
nt for the
Collaborative Learning
developme
nt
Collaborative:
Upload the Final Document in PDF or Word format in the
Products to Evaluation and Monitoring Environment.
deliver by
student  Each student must give feedback to one of his/her
partners.
 Each student is responsible for his/her process.

3. General guidelines for the collaborative work

Planning of
activities for
the
Each student has to develop each step of the task and
development
post the evidence in the forum.
of
collaborative
work
Roles to
perform by Each student must give feedback to one of his/her
the student partners.
in the Each student is responsible for his/her process.
collaborative
group
Roles and
responsibiliti The final product must be sent individually in the
es for the Evaluation and Monitoring Environment in a PDF or
delivery of Word document.
products
It is necessary to use the APA standards in order to
Use of
provide a bibliography of the sources cited in the
references
document.
According to Diccionario de la Real Academia Española
Plagiarism “Plagiarism is the action of substantially copying other
policy people's works, presenting them as own creation."
Therefore, plagiarism is a serious offense; academically
speaking it is equivalent to theft. A student who
plagiarizes does not take his education seriously, and
does not respect the intellectual work of others.

There is no small plagiarism. Using any portion of

another person's work, without acknowledging the
author or source is plagiarism. Now, it is evident that
we all take some ideas from others when it comes to
presenting ours, and that our knowledge is based on
someone else’s knowledge. But when we rely on the
work of others, academic honesty requires that we
explicitly announce the fact that we are using an
external source, either by citing or by paraphrasing
(these terms will be defined below). When we cite or
paraphrase, we clearly identify our source, not only to
give recognition to its author, but also to allow the
reader to look up in a reference text.

There are certain academic events in which it is not

acceptable to quote or paraphrase the work of others.
For instance, if a teacher assigns his or her students a
task in which they are clearly required to answer using
their own ideas and words, then the student should not
consider external sources regardless if they are
properly referenced.
 4. Evaluation rubric

Evaluation rubric
Activity Collaborative
Individual Activity ☐ ☒
type: Activity
Intermediate,
Moment of
Unit: 2 -
the Initial ☐ ☒ Final ☐
Hypothetical
evaluation
situations
Assessed Performance levels of the collaborative activity
Score
Aspect High score Media score Low score
Writes a note in the
forum about
Shows imprecise Doesn’t
technology and its
sentences with an upload the
effects on the
inconsistent style; activities from
environment with a
shows some lack of stage 1.
Stage 1 maximum of 70 15
control in
words and using
grammar.
time markers from
the unit.
(Up to 0
(Up to 15 points) (Up to 7 points)
points)
Writes a paragraph Shows imprecise
about what will sentences with an
Doesn’t upload
happen if current inconsistent style;
the activities
trends of technology shows some lack of
Stage 2 from stage 2. 15
development control in
continue. grammar.
(Up to 0
(Up to 15 points) (Up to 7 points)
points)
Shows imprecise
sentences with an
Writes complex Doesn’t upload
inconsistent style;
sentences for giving the activities
shows some lack of
Stage 3 recommendations. from stage 3. 15
control in
grammar.
(Up to 0
(Up to 15 points) (Up to 7 points)
points)
 Designs the letter to
UN Secretary –
Designs the letter
General;
to UN Secretary –
The final product is a
General;
complete evidence of
Develops some of
the process Doesn’t design
the activities from
developed in the the letter to
the stage 1 to 3;
forum; UN Secretary –
The final product
Stage 4 The final product has General. 35
doesn’t show a
the three stages of
complete evidence
the writing exercise
of the process
(talking about the
developed in the
past; expressing the
forum.
opinion; giving
recommendations.).
(Up to 0
(Up to 35 points) (Up to 15 points)
points)
Doesn’t upload
Uploads the final
the final Doesn’t
document in the
document in the deliver the
Evaluation and
Evaluation and final
Stage 5 Monitoring 10
Monitoring product.
Environment.
Environment.
(Up to 0
(Up to 10 points) (Up to 5 points)
points)
Final score 90