Final Reflection

During this assignment I have learned quite a bit of stuff about technical writing. At the end of this course, I don’t really think that my portfolio has done me any good. My online portfolio is a series of blogs that I put together during the class, that use neither good writing skills or correct format. However, I will continue to discuss what I have learned in this class.

With each assignment I chose to make minor revisions for the portfolio. For the most part my grades were very good and my papers were minimally edited. For all the assignments I think that my greatest strength would be my writing. In each project I effectively got my point across. My biggest weakness coming into the class would probably be my format usage of technical writing. I have done plenty of technical writing in the past, but was always unsure with the formatting. Having a textbook that outlined every detail of memo’s, instructions, and complaint letters really made learning easy. It almost made it to easy in fact. I would catch my self often times just copying the outline of the book rather than thinking about why the outline is a certain way.

I am most proud of the final group project. I feel that our group has really come together and finished the entire assignment ahead of time. We are well prepared. I am least proud of my memo assignment because I notice small errors that I made. They were errors that came with being in a hurry. The most challenging assignment was the group project. It is the most challenging only because it required the most outside class time. Other than that, all the assignments were pretty cut and dry. I learned most from the complaint letter package assignment. The easiest assignment was without doubt the memo assignment. I was able to finish this in class with no problem. Once again, my text book really helped me out on this assignment.

My performance with revision was effective. I made the changes in revisions that were needed to improve my papers. I feel that the revised papers could be presented to a professional pretty confidentially.

My performance with collaborative writing also is a strong point at the end of the class.

The reflections were beneficial because it allowed me to see what I have just done. However, I think that they also allowed me to see how easy the assignments were and made me feel like I wasn’t being pushed hard enough.

I did not accomplish anything surprising in the portfolio. Dr. Liu said if we show up and do the work we will learn. That is what I did and I feel that I got out of the class what I put into it. Showing up to class every day has paid off.

I have learned several formats for presenting formal letters in this class. Being a writer, I think this will pay off in the long run. I will walk away with all the knowledge I have learned on proper formats.

I am now able to solve problems and improve situations through communication, analyze communication contexts (audiences, purposes, situations) design convincing and usable documents, communicate ethically, communicate effectively with diverse audiences, and collaborate on communication projects