When I initially enrolled in this technical communications course, I was skeptical of whether it would prove to be applicable in real life settings especially considering the entirety of the course takes place online. Now that I am nearing the completion of this course, I can gladly say that I gained valuable insight, developed many critical skills and discovered important tools that will help me achieve my professional goals as I move forward with pursuing cooperative education.

For instance, a practical application of this course is developing key written communication skills that are important for a professional career. This course focused on writing letters of reference, email memorandums, resumes, cover letters, and periodically proof-reading and revising these written documents. Writing assignments and peer reviews of these literary mediums cemented the importance of professional technical communication.

The most eyeopening assignment personally throughout this process was creating the LinkedIn post regarding best practises. As an individual who did not previously utilize LinkedIn for all it’s professional benefits, this assignment allowed me to research and learn all about the important ways in which this platform can help you grow your professional career, and make connections with industry leaders through the simple click of a button. Since then, I have been regularly been using this networking application as I prepare for my upcoming co-op terms.

The Web Folio assignment was a great way to bring all the technical skills learnt throughout this course into one final showcase. As a mature student will be entering into co-op soon, this was an extremely important assignment that can be used to present myself as a professional student to potential employers.  In total, the Web Folio is composed of an about me section, a blog page consisting of reflections I’ve made throughout this course, an application page, a page displaying my resume and a section dedicated for my best work.  All of these assignments helped me ground myself in the business world, and they help create a foundation for all of my important documents that potential employers may be interested in.

While putting together the web folio, an important outcome was that I was able to reflect on my progress throughout this course. As I went back to edit and revise my previous posts, I noticed the errors in concepts and formatting and was able to improve the quality of these works immensely. Within just four months, I see that my technical communication skills have improved. Having all the best works, reflections, and pertinent job application resources in one location really showcases the effort put into the course over the semester.

When designing the web folio, I put a special emphasis on ease of navigation. For this reason I included detailed breakdowns of each page, easily accessible pages located at the top of each page, and plenty of descriptions of each element on each page. It has an intuitive user interface displaying the most important documents that a potential employer would find useful . A webpage that is informative and easy to use shows that I am detail-oriented, patient, and empathetic because I understand the importance of other people’s time.

Lastly, my favourite aspect of the web folio is how it is personalized. Depending on the industry fields, students can add additional pages that showcase their work. As an aspiring software developer, I will return to my web folio and update it to showcase a few of my personal software projects once I have completed them before applying for co-op. A pictorial breakdown of my projects would offer an alternative and simpler way for an interviewer to review my accomplishments.