At the beginning of this semester, I had little experience with conducting surveys and writing formal reports. Luckily, I had recently done both tasks in CPSC 344 Introduction to Human Computer Interaction, so I was not completely unprepared. Yet, I felt a little intimidated when preparing and posting my survey to social networks, especially when my requests for participants went unanswered. I have written a few formal reports before, but they still feel a little unfamiliar to me. With some hard work and the help of my peer reviewer and Dr. Erika Paterson, I think it has come together alright.
I also had little experience writing for the web. I had written a blog post only once before. I am happy that my reflections for units one through three have been well received.
Writing peer reviews presented me with some challenges. As a former college professor and writing consultant, I have considerable experience with providing constructive criticism. However, I had little experience providing such detailed criticism in writing. Phrasing criticism delicately and couching it in compliments requires practice. I believe that I have improved in this area over the course of the semester.
When I lost marks on assignments, failing to edit out pronouns was most often the reason. I am now more aware of when and how I use pronouns in my writing.
Overall, I am very confident in my writing, as I feel I should be, given my professional experience and education. I believe that strong communication skills are invaluable. My ability to write persuasively and to convey my intended meaning accurately has helped me countless times in the past and will assuredly help me countless times in the future.
Communication skills are particularly valuable in software development, my chosen industry, because software is most often developed in teams. When working in a team, to communicate effectively, one must consider the various personalities and perspectives of one’s teammates. I believe that this is especially true when working remotely, as I have been doing since March. When working remotely, more communication is written than would be otherwise. Moreover, developing software involves writing technical documentation, which presents a unique set of challenges. By its nature, technical documentation must be detailed and precise. To incorporate an appropriate level of detail, technical documentation must consider its readers, who may vary greatly in their subject knowledge. Thankfully, ENGL 301 has provided me with some practice in these areas.
ENGL 301 has kept me busy this summer. With my writing team, The Ramblers, I have produced a sizable stack of documents in a short period of time. I would like to offer my thanks to Dr. Erika Paterson and to each of The Ramblers for the critical feedback that they have provided me.