Reflection on Learning

A close connection in assignments and learning that benefited two courses just this semester, was my work on the resume in this course and the instruction sets I was asked to make in my 2100 Technical Writing course. Both focused on concise writing and visual appeal. White space is important and block of texts is bad. Both had to be narrowed down to one page but say everything they needed to to get the points across. The chapter read in this class that helped me write that resume also reminded me to keep that up with the info graphic used in the zombie expo project for Technical Writing as well.

           The work on the signature assignment in this class (the profile of a professional writer) illustrates many more techniques to writing a profile than I didn’t have prior to this class. Such as the nut graph, the introduction of information of the person in a way that is creative versus solely informative and by extension bland, and paragraphs that flow together more smoothly. What this shows about me as a learner is that my creative side can still be improved and my writing can also always use a tune up, despite how much I may think it is already ‘marvelous.’ So in a way, the learning I found here has made me a more humble writer.

The three outcomes from the SLCC course goals list that I feel I have progressed the furthest from this course would be; students communicate effectively, students think critically and creatively, and students develop the knowledge and skills to work with others in a professional and constructive manner. Examples of this would be the concise writing I had to do in the resume and profile to keep it under pages and word count, thinking of what to include in both so neither seemed bloated but creative enough to keep them interesting to keep reading, and the group project at the end to create a social media campaign that displayed each of our strengths while supporting a common passion--the environment. That last one I feel like I progressed also by finding interest in the various professions presented to us and maintaining courtesy to speakers I had less interest in.

I thought we would explore many varieties of writing in various professions and through all the guest speakers in various jobs and that is just what we did. It was nice to ask them questions directly and it was also nice to see the different ways people use writing. My assumptions about this course did not change all that much because it covered exactly what I thought it would. I feel like the speakers have the biggest influence in learning how different writing can be but at the same time how alike. In the future, I will research what types of writing will be expected in my career/s of choice.

The signature assignment made me want to learn about other styles of profiles because the examples I have seen in the past and in this class are all unique.  I want to write more profiles that are as memorable to others as so many I have found have been for me. Reflecting on what I have learned about writing in the professions is that all jobs have one form of writing or another and in many cases, many forms. If I want have a job then I need to expect that in one way or the other--I will be writing.  

The first ‘Aha’ moment in this course was definitely the review we had on profiles before we were to start our own. That class was inspirational for sure! I only hope that the recent profile I wrote on my father made use of many of the things I learned that day because it definitely jump started that personal project that I had only thought about doing over the summer. Many of the ted talks had ‘aha’ moments as well. Except maybe the one on twitter posts, I can’t think of any that I didn’t learn something from or didn’t enjoy watching. Many of those videos I have suggested to other students in other classes, friends, and even family. The advice many of them had to offer has helped me with thinking about solving problems (Design for Disability), it's ok to be different (beauty in being a misfit), connecting to the world matters, spread your ideas (biggest leak in history) and just small changes, like your posture, can change everything (body language).