Blog Page

This page contains my reflections throughout the course, please visit this site to see my first version reflections.

Unit 1 Reflection: Business Communication 

Business Communication 

Thinking back to my first version unit 1 reflection, I think I failed to make my points more organized, which makes my expression a little confusing to the reader. Therefore, I used subtitles and pictures to make my reflection more visually appealing. I also self-edited parts that I think needed to change. Please see the revised reflection below!

The first unit of the course aims to help all students acquire the basic knowledge of writing business correspondence, develop abilities to communicate effectively in a business environment. We were tasked to write an application letter to our classmates to showcase how our unique combination of skills and experience meets the key requirements of a 301 professional writing team. We also learned how to write memos, informing our instructors that we have completed our application letter.

 

Definition Assignment and Peer Review 

The Definition Assignment is our first major assignment in this course. The aim of this assignment was to write three definitions: a parenthetical definition, a sentence definition, and an expanded definition of a technical term related to our discipline for a lay reader. In completing the assignment, we have to ask ourselves these questions: Was the definition clear? Was it easy to understand? Did the word choice help enhance meaning?

The term I chose is “Dao”, which is related to one of my majors–Chinese. I really like this term because it tells me how to live in a state of harmony with the universe.

I recently had a new understanding of what ‘Dao’ is. I read a novel with the theme of revenge. The story is based on the Tang dynasty. The main character (a princess) wants to kill the new king for murdering her family and taking power from her father’s hands. On her way to revenge, she realized that although the King murdered her family, she is indeed a good leader for the country. As a princess, she is obligated to care for her people, but as a daughter, she feels obligated to murder the new King. So she was really struggling. Eventually, she chooses to put aside her own hatred and do what is best for her people, and this is her ‘Dao’.

Please see the attached for the revised definition assignment: 301 Revised Definition DZ

Peer Review 

The peer review that my team member Jenny Li wrote me made me realize that there’s a huge gap between “knowing something” and “explaining something”, especially when it comes to a philosophical term like “Dao”. I learned that I can’t explain in a way that would make everyone understand what I mean, even though I provided a standard definition for the term. The approach I took in the revision process is to induce resonance, using simple examples to make my audience understand. From reading Jenny’s definition assignment, I was able to read an explanation of the complex term “cognitive dissonance”. I was impressed by how precise Jenny’s definition was. However, I also realized that repeating the same explanation is not going to make readers understand, and that’s the key suggestion I gave to Jenny. We need to find different synonyms and maybe even use the ‘constructive’ learning theory to let readers connect the new knowledge (which is the meaning of the term) with something that they are familiar with.

Unit 2 Reflection: Professional Learning Network

Let’s LinkedIn!

Thinking back to my first version unit 2 reflection, I am lacking more detail about the peer review process, therefore, I included more details below!

To begin, in this unit we were tasked to find “10 best practices for building a professional LinkedIn profile” for our writing team. At first, I am confused about the objective of this assignment. But as the semester progresses, I learned that using social media platforms such as LinkedIn can help us to build a professional learning network that benefits our personal growth. Using social media correctly will allow us to establish relationships with peers and people who are like-minded, and we come together to share ideas about our education or discuss other topics of interest.  Below are the 10 best practices that I find:

How to Advance Your Profile

Formal Report: Proposal, Outline, and Progress Report

In the second unit of the ENGL 301 course, we begin our writing of the major assignment–Formal Report. We were tasked to write a proposal, an outline, and a progress report of the Formal Report.

Unlike other academic reports, this assignment is more like the kind of report I would be writing in a workplace. For someone who has little work experience like me, I am not very familiar with how to identify a problem in a professional setting, so my first attempt –“propose to add a multimedia tutorial in the first week’s of the class” failed. Due to this failure, I start to reflect on the purpose of the report, then I realized that if I want to write a feasibility report, I must think of something that’s not only original but also workable.

Then I start to reflect on my volunteering experience in the UBC Chinese Learning program, I think critically about what UBC students want to obtain from Oral Practice sessions, what can I (as a volunteer) do for them. So I come up with this idea–to add an assessment in every OP session. An assessment is critical in lesson planning, but it is absent in the OP session. Hence I wonder:

1. Why something so critical can be omitted from a learning session and,

2. What kind of assessment can fit in a 50-minute session.

Deciding what topic to write is both a fun and struggling experience, but once this phase is passed, I am more confident to proceed with writing the outline and the progress report, which are assignments that I am familiar with because I have encountered them in my other writing courses. Here are my 301 Darius Zhang Formal Proposal,301 Revised Formal Report Proposal Darius Zhang, 301 Formal Report Outline Darius Zhang, 301 Formal Progress Report Darius Zhang

Conclusion

In this unit, I learned a lot from peer review. I am very impressed from reading my peer’s proposal, they have all kinds of working experience, and their proposed solution to the potential issue faced by companies/programs is very original. I enjoyed reading Catherine Yu’s proposal, she was thinking about why we have an end-of-term teacher evaluation instead of in the middle of the term. This is an excellent idea because if teachers can receive feedback in the teaching process, they can modify the lesson plan to better meet the students’ needs. The purpose of the proposal is simple, but it shows how my peer is able to spot on about normal life, and that’s the magic about this assignment, it allows us to pay attention to our school/work life, and observe what improvements could be done.

 

Unit 3 Reflection Blog: Writing with ‘You’ Attitude

Your Attitude!

Thinking back to my first version of the Unit 3 reflection, I could be writing more about the process of drafting the formal report, which is a major component of Unit 3. Therefore, I included more details about the difficulties I encountered and how I tried to overcame them in this revised reflection.

In Unit 3, we were introduced to the assignments that help us to practice our professional tone in writing. When we communicate with others in the workplace, it is important for us to consider our audience. If we want to maintain a business or professional relationship with our audience, then we should adopt an appropriate tone, even when we are complaining about something that they did.

First, in the “You Attitude Assignment”, we were writing from a position that offer help/recommendations for others. When we are recommending others what they can do or cannot do, we shouldn’t make our audience feel like we are instructing them what they should or should not do. Eliminating the pronoun “you” can help us achieve this aim. Reflecting on this matter, I do see the difference between ” You should say this..” and “It is recommended that adding XXXX…” is large, the latter does sound more polite and less condescending.

Second, in the “Business Letter & Complaint Letter” assignment, I learned that when discussing personal issues, the pronoun “you” or “I” should be used occasionally. The trick here is to figure out whether you want the audience to focus on you or them. I tried to balance between the use of “I” and “Your company” in this assignment because I think if I focused too much on what happened to me, I will get my audience defensive, as I am writing a complaint letter. In responding to complaints, I tried to build goodwill by using gift cards and apologies. I think people are more willing to let the issue go if they get some true benefits. Otherwise, customers can always sue a store that is meaningful to them, and with the use of social media, customers can also let other people resist buying stuff in that store.

 

Drafting the Formal Report & Peer Review

In the third unit, we continue to work on our formal reports. You can really see how this is an uneasy task! I encountered many problems in the drafting process, I was not getting enough responses for my survey. My goal is to get 50 responses because a large sample size provides more accurate mean values. I need to know what’s most people think about my proposed solution so that I could decide whether I should offer alternative solutions. Initially, I got only 13 responses, and that really challenged me to write a detailed data analysis. Moreover, as I was doing secondary research, I found many critics against ‘quizzes’, which makes me really question my ‘proposed solution’. So then, I begin to think about some alternatives that I can put into my report, and evaluate which solution best fits my stated problem. In the process, I learned that sometimes a ‘good’ idea might not be workable if we examine it carefully, so it challenges the report writer’s ability to measure, examine and evaluate different solutions.

In the peer review, I learned a lot from my peer’s formal report drafts. Even though we each write different topics, I am able to get inspiration from their writing. Again! The magic of collaboration!

My peer Catherine Yu did an excellent job on her draft, she wrote her draft in a very organized and detailed manner. She broke down her analysis to each survey question, which helps me (as a reader) to understand what leads to her conclusion.

Catherine really helped me to see what’s missing in my report, and because of her, I was able to quickly identify potential areas for improvement. As I was doing my final edits, I would place her peer review right beside my word document, to remind myself to pay more attention to the details.

 

Reflection On The Process of Creating My Web Folio

 

The process of creating the Web Folio makes me reflect on the Visitor and Resident map that I learned in my media course. As a digital native, I always imagine myself to be the resident of the net, but gradually I realized that being a digital native requires one to actually make a contribution to the internet world, and I consider this Web Folio to be my first step to contribute. Please see the V&R map that I made!

Creating a media project such as the web folio is uneasy, but it has taught me multiple things. In the process, I went back to the course materials, revisited my past assignment, and edited my works based on the previous feedbacks. I think this is a great way to review a course, even better than studying for the finals because I am reflecting on the assignments’ objectives, and using all the knowledge that I learned from the course to revise my works. I start to see how each assignment is purposeful, and they are linked with each other. For example, the application letter in the first week of class is linked to the final application project. The ‘Writing with You’ attitude is linked to all our assignments’ requirements. The emails sent to our classmates to form a professional writing team are linked to the request reference letters and so on. Hence, in the process of creating the web folio, I realized that I was learning in a holistic way. By revisiting and revising, I have developed a much deeper impression of this course.

This web folio also made me think of the UDL guidelines (see left). When we use technology to do an assignment, we can have multiple ways to engage, present, and express our learning. Although I have encountered many difficulties in laying out all the content and tried different ways to make the blog site more visually appealing, I enjoyed the process of seeing myself building a clear image of all the valuable lessons I learned in this course.

Overall, this web folio helps me to know how to market myself as a business. I first have to identify a target audience, and balance between being professional and showing a little personality (eg. insert images, etc). It gives me an idea that in order to get my potential reader to be interested in my work, I have to make an effort to make them appealing.

 

Final Reflection: Self Assessment 

 

At the beginning of the term, I don’t know much about what to expect from the course. Initially, I thought this will be another writing course that improves my English level,  but now it exceeds my expectations because I have learned some very practical knowledge about how to communicate in a business setting.

To start off, I was quite intimated by the formal report. I have never written a long report before, nor have I explored a topic on my own. I was accustomed to writing essays with given topics, so the formal report really challenges me to think outside the box, and carefully observe my volunteer environment. I think this is a simulation of what I will be going to do in the actual workplace–observing a problem, coming up with a solution, testing such solution through an appropriate method, and writing a report that has a professional tone and style. I didn’t expect that I got an 80 on this report, words can’t express my excitement and satisfaction! I believe this is what it means to ‘take ownership of your learning.

Reflecting on my strengths and weaknesses in this course, I believe my strengths are: a. Willing to challenge myself and push myself to achieve my set goals for the course; b. Willing to collaborate and make a positive contribution to the writing team; c. Willing to take advice and improve my own works. I still have many weaknesses in writing, and there’s still a long way ahead of me before I can write at an advanced level, but I have the patience to keep cultivating my writing skills. One of the things I love in this course is the peer review, I believe that I could not learn this much if I haven’t got a professional writing team with me in this learning journey. Most importantly, I realized that I could be a little defensive in the face of judgments, but that get me to be more careful when I was writing the peer review. Thankfully, my peers are very kind and they gave me suggestions that are very constructive.

Finally, although I have not yet decided on my future career, I believe my skills and strengths as a student will support me in challenging work situations, I am determined and hardworking, and with the technical communication skills I learned from this class, I am more confident than before in the face of difficulties.