REFLECTIVE ASSIGNMENT

This presentation was created in order to discuss what I have learned through Technical Writing this semester.

May 10, 2016

Prepared by:Caroline

Chapman

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Table of Contents Topics to be discussed within each slide:

- What work was completed within the unit

- How did this unit effect me

1 2 3page page page

4 5 6page page page

Unit 1: Communicating with Employers

Unit 2: Documenting Procedures

Unit 3: Usability

Unit 4: Proposing Actions to Decision Makers

Unit 5: Presenting Proposed Actions

Unit 6: Reflecting on Your Work

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Unit 1:Job Ad, Resume, Cover Letter, and Thank You Note

In Unit 1 we learned how to construct a resume, cover letter, and thank you note that were applicable for job positions we actually desired to obtain.

My personal advertisement was for an internship that I was applying for to be apart of this summer. The job is to predominately work as a receptionist for a personal and family counselor, but also sit in on some counseling sessions.

I personally had never created a resume or cover letter before. So, this particular unit was extremely applicable for me. I was able to begin a resume that I could adapt over the next few years as I gain more experience and apply for different positions. This unit gave me information that I will work with for especially the next few years of my life, but possibly even longer than that.

Design and layout of information is a concept that we began learning within this unit and continued to expand on within each following unit. We looked at resumes in class and it was obvious how the layout of your information played a vital role within your resume. Your information should be organized in such a way that it is pleasing to the reader’s eye and engages them so they continue to read it. Otherwise your resume, in this case, may be ignored if it is overwhelming or confusing to the reader. Unit 1 was very impactful, for me in particular, because of the extremely useful information it provided me with.

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Unit 2: Proposal, ToR, and Multimodal Instructions

In this unit we were individually challenged to discover a communication problem in which we could create a multimodal instructional document to better communicate the intended information.

Honestly, I found this part of the project very challenging. I could think of a lot of problems, but for each of those problems, finding a solution was where I struggled. However, with the help of a friend and the help of Ms. Jacobsen, I came up with an idea.

I proposed the creation of a website that assists people who struggle to fill out a W-2 form on their own. This would save individuals from having to pay someone to file their taxes for them, and would alleviate the fear of doing it wrong.

This unit challenged me to be more aware of communication errors, and also to think more innovatively when designing solutions to solve communication gaps.

After creating individual proposals, we were placed into groups and as a group decided which proposal to select as our project. We then created a multimodal instructional set designed to bridge communication gaps created by existing versions of our document.

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Unit 3: Usability Script, Memo Report, and Progress Report Email

For our project my group designed a brochure detailing how to construct your first freshwater aquarium. We each had pre-determined roles detailed in our ToR and fulfilled them very nicely. The emailed Progress Report gave me more practice in how to write a professional email. It’s purpose was to ensure that everyone had a role, and was completing their role, within our project.

To test the usability of our brochure, we created a mock brochure and asked users to evaluate and provide feedback of what would make the brochure better. This image is a screenshot of the Usability Report we created based off of this information.

This unit, while still applicable, was not as impactful as some of the other units for me in a personal sense.

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Unit 4:Proposing Actions to Decision Makers

This unit was very helpful for our group as we created our brochure. It provided us with a lot of ideas on how to organize our information so that it was most easily communicated.

In class we practiced using a couple of instructional documents that varied between being effectively communicated and really confusing.

Having to try and do whatever task that was at hand with a bad set of instructions emphasized to us again how important the content and design of our instructions were.This unit didn’t provide much new information to me, however, it was effective in allowing me to see, hands-on, the importance of design within communication.

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Unit 5:Group Presentation and Visual Aid

Finally after a lot of work and preparation, we presented our project to the class. We broke up the aspects of the brochure into a power point presentation in order to have a visual while we presented, and we also passed out copies of our brochure at the end so that our classmates could see the finished product.

Each group member had a role within the presentation. Because I had done a lot, pertaining to the creation of the brochure and power point, my role was simply to introduce the project, and then to let the rest of my group explain the rest of the project.

This part of the project was very impactful for me, because for the fist time I actually was not super nervous to present a project in front of the class. I think a lot of that had to do with the atmosphere that this particular class had created, but also I just felt very prepared for this presentation.

My roles within the project were to take the information Grayson provided and to put them into the brochure, and to organize group meetings.

I also assisted Avery in creating the PowerPoint for our presentation.

This group worked really well together and made this an enjoyable group project.

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Unit 6:Reflecting on Your Work

This course was very effective in teaching me the importance of technical communication, as well as, giving me practical information and documents that I will definitely use again.

At the end of this course, we participated in a culture walk, which led into an analysis of the culture that we are members of. This particular unit had the largest effect on me. It caused me to realize the importance of catering your information to your audience, rather than expecting them to understand your information within your own context.

As a class, we watched a video that illustrated what people from other countries think about Americans, and it was extremely interesting. One of the largest points I took away from the video was that very rarely do Americans step into and try to adapt to other cultures, but rather, we expect other cultures to adapt to our needs as Americans.

This has caused me not only to look at other cultures in a different light, but to also examine my own from a different context as well.

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Conclusion:Overall “Take-Aways” from this Course

This course, as I have mentioned, has taught me a lot of practical information about Technical Communication. It has shown how all of the concepts we have discussed this semester will be applicable, not only during my time in college, but also within a variety of work places.

For future students, I would advise them not to fear taking this course, but to be excited about it instead because the information they will receive will be entirely relevant regardless of their profession.

I would also advise future students to take this course with Kylie Jacobsen, if she is available, because she is absolutely fantastic and makes this course exciting to come to, even when it is at 8:00 am.Technical

Communication: It is a required course for a good reason.

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References for the Images used:

For the Tech Com picture (last picture used): https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=imgres&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiw2uH3t9DMAhVKQiYKHVXoDGUQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsites.gsu.edu%2Ftechcomm-fall-2014%2Fcategory%2Fblog-project-prompts%2Ftechnical-communication-and-aesthetics%2F&psig=AFQjCNEUm3hbzaqka_z0UrHeqWLSI_4rkQ&ust=1463001123949687

For the world map picture: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjg55rft9DMAhVKSyYKHe1wARoQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fcourtnieannpeart.wordpress.com%2F&psig=AFQjCNGdq6P3rPq5pp7u3MAMjcVUTRMR7w&ust=1463000402150487

For the screen shots: From Aquarium Brochure Project

For the Instructional pictures: From your slide show