The Blog of Sam

As this course winds down to an end, I come to realize just how much I have learned.  Combing through all of the assignments to choose which ones I should include in my web folio opened my eyes to my progression of technical writing skills.

Online learning is not all that new to me but the way this course was structured forced me to change my learning habits.  In my previous experiences, the online classroom involved pages of lecture notes to skim through that would be eventually tested in an exam worth 50% of your grade.  The depth of learning that occurred in these classrooms was fairly superficial now that I look back.  In this classroom however, the weekly engagement with the material through short assignments really help the material sink in.  It was more about learning how to use these skills rather than just learning that they exist.

50 hour work weeks, meant that my learning approach had to change.  I had to make the effort early in order to finish assignments on time; which was not always possible.  There was certainly more than one late night!

These time management skills that I am working on in this course, and I’m sure many others, are critical to my career as a veterinary technician.  Being able to juggle multiple patients and treatments is certainly a challenge where exceptional time management can certainly be useful.

I am certainly grateful for the time the professor put in to designing this course.  The assignments were well through out and relevant to the material discussed in the textbook.  All of this practice certainly has me feeling confident for any technical writing I will need to do in my career!

Putting together a web folio was a very insightful process.  During the semester, I put a tremendous amount of work into the various assignments in this English course.  At the time, I had no idea how my skills were progressing.  Even though I would refer back to my assignments after receiving the incredibly valuable peer reviews, the degree of progression of my skills was not realized until I looked at all of my work at once.

It was also a chance to get creative with how I presented my professional and academic experiences.  With cheerful images and personal touches I feel I was able portray all of my professional skills with a hint of personal flair.

This process has also taught me a great deal about putting together web pages.  More is not necessarily better!  This also provided me ample practice with how to insert hyper links and word documents.

I am looking forward to adding to  this website as I gain more experiences in my academic and professional careers.

The topic I chose for my formal report I am very invested in, so the research process has been enjoyable.  The hardest part has been organizing the information.  It is harder than I thought to compile survey responses and organize them into trends.  I hope to have this part of the report finished by Friday.  I have found the Microsoft Word navigation pane tool incredibly useful for organizing my headings.  I only came across this tool when looking up formatting my report.

I really enjoyed reading my group members report.  It gave me ideas of things I am missing and what can be made better for my own report.  For the peer review that I put together for Jonah, I tried my best to use YOU attitude when providing feedback.  This was much harder than I thought but I learned a great deal about delivering feedback through the unit 3 exercises.  I feel like writing the YOU attitude skills will help me in writing the formal report and putting together other documents in for my job.

LinkedIn Profile Reflection

I had totally forgotten that I had put together a LinkedIn profile years ago until this assignment.  Looking over how many new things I was able to add gave me a big confidence boost.  I am still skeptical about the true applications of this social media tool; as I have been able to secure employment in my desired field without using this previously.  I have come across fellow colleagues on LinkedIn and can see they have built a large network around themselves.  I am hoping that by working through this assignment I will be able to grow my network and see the full value of this application.

Formal Report

I am enjoying writing the formal report so far!  It is certainly a topic that I am familiar with and have an appreciate for its relevance.  My colleagues are also interested in what will come out of this report.

Coming up with the outline was a bit challenging at first but I feel this was crucial first step.  I feel much more prepared for what tasks are ahead of me now.

The feedback I received on my proposal was very insightful.  I hope I was able to provide as insightful feedback for my partner.  Through these multiple peer reviews and having fellow team members work available for viewing, I have been able to appreciate other writing styles.  I have been told before that my writing style is very “unique” without much more clarification than that.  Reading other student’s work has allowed to me have a better understanding of what that means – or at least I think so.

Link to peer review of my research proposal

Research Proposal Revised

The first unit was initially overwhelming. Trying to figure out the blog software coupled with completing all the reading and assignments was a lot to keep organized in the first couple weeks of class.  However, completing all the tasks in this unit has set up important foundations for the upcoming formal report.

I feel that this unit has helped me get a better grasp of the importance of writing for a specific audience.  Thinking about the audience before I started writing actually made the writing process faster and smoother.

The peer review of my work was very insightful and made me realize that even though I feel that I did sufficient editing, I was still skimming over simple mistakes.  Another thing I need to remember, is to hit publish on my posts!  For the next assignments, I will be sure to view the page right after I have completed to ensure it is actually posted.

Reviewing another students work is something I have not done much of.  I did enjoy it as it was insightful reading other style of writing.  I ended up reading definitions from several groups to attempt to identify common strengths and weaknesses.  When I would notice an area that could be improved on another students’ work, it allowed me to reflect on what I had written to see if similar thinking could be applied.

For the upcoming assignments, I will have to pay attention to time management.  This month is exceptionally busy for me and this style of writing requires thoughtfulness and I need to put more care in editing.  I am looking forward to starting work on my formal report.

Attachment of revised definitions assignment.

Students were instructed to arrange groups of four to form a writing team for the duration of the semester.  I was invited by one of the team members and here is my response.

To:               Janine Scheffler <schefflerj@hotmail.com>
From:          Samantha Langley <samlangley556@gmail.com>
Date:           September 17, 2016
Subject:       Re: ENGL 301 Writing Team

Hi Janine,

Thank you for taking the time to read over my application letter.  I would love to be apart of this writing team. It seems like you three will be a great group to work with.

Would you like me to send the information to Erika and Jasmine?

Thank you
Samantha

Here are two other invitation emails.  

To:               Jonah Hamilton <Jonah.hamilton@gmail.com>
From:          Samantha Langley <samlangley556@gmail.com>
Date:           September 20, 2016
Subject:       Invite to be in my professional writing team

Hello Jonah,

I have looked at your application letter and think you would make a great team member for our ENGL 301 course work this term.  I believe our combined experience in scientific writing and seeking of employment will complement a writing team well.

To get a sense of what attributes I bring to this team please look at my application letter.  I have also attached my application letter if the link does not work.  If I seem like the type of person you would like to work with, please respond and we can continue to seek out more team members.

Thank you for your consideration,

Samantha Langley

Attachment Application Letter

To:               Irene Lau <l.irenehc@gmail.com>
From:          Samantha Langley <samlangley556@gmail.com>
Date:           September 20, 2016
Subject:       Invite to be in my professional writing team

Hello Irene,

I have looked at your application letter and think you would make a great team member for our ENGL 301 course work this term.  Like you, I also feel there is always room for improvement allowing learning to be an adaptive on-going process.  I also feel your background in applications for research positions will be a huge asset to the team.

To get a sense of what attributes I bring to this team please look at my application letter.  I have also attached a copy of this letter in the event the link does not work.  If I seem like the type of person you would like to work with, please respond and we can continue to seek out more team members.

Thank you for your consideration,

Samantha Langley

Attachment Application Letter

MEMORANDUM

To:                         Dr. Erika Paterson, Instructor

From:                    Samantha Langley, Student, S.L.

Date:                     September 18, 2016

Subject:               Application Letter Summary

As requested in lesson 1:2, I have posted my application letter to a prospective writing team on my blog.

Some of the highlights of this application include

• Examples of course work that lead to the development of critical thinking and teamwork skills
• Previous professional experience and its relevance to future coursework
• Personal attributes that I bring to the team
• My commitment and expectations for the writing team
• My learning philosophy

Any feedback regarding my application letter is appreciated and can be directed to my email.

Thank you

Enclosure: Application Letter Link to application letter

CC: Jasmine Spencer, TA

Abbotsford, B.C. V4X 2B7
s.langley@alumni.ubc.ca
September 14, 2016

Section 99A of ENGL 301
University of British Columbia
397 – 1873 East Mall
Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z1

ATTENTION: Members of ENGL 301 Section 99A

Please consider my application as a professional writing team member as requested in assignment 1:2 on the course webpage.  With many years of experience with writing at a university level coupled with experience acquiring and maintaining employment, I will make a great asset to your writing team.

My career as a student has allowed me to develop critical thinking skills and the ability to express these ideas through writing.  In the course LFS 250, I was able to work with team members to produce a report detailing a community based project directed towards various stakeholders in the community.  As a group we were praised for our ability to work together and produce a well written document.

As a Registered Veterinary Technician, I am constantly required to communicate with colleagues through written means.  This includes maintaining professional tone and writing clear concise details regarding case specifics.  Through this line of work, I have also developed exceptional skills in maintaining formatting standards in medical records.

I am a diligent and well organized student.  I prefer to create a strategy and plan for assignments before jumping directly into them.  This allows me to take time for essential revisions and editing to produce a quality final product.  However, my work does not always have the finesse I am seeking.  I often feel limited in my word choices or can’t quite grasp those eloquent phrases to create smooth flow in my writing.

For those looking for a purposeful and thoughtful writing team member I can promise my full commitment to the team and this course.  I am seeking members who are able to help me develop more finesse and elegance in my writing through constructive critique.  As students, we often limit ourselves to learning strictly from a book or a professor but I believe there is so much we can learn from each other.  To discuss my ideas and experiences further, I can be reached by email at: s.langley@alumni.ubc.ca

Thank you for your consideration,

 
Samantha Langley

Link to application letter