Writing final

Final
Reflection
English 2311:
Intro to Technical
Writing
By Austin Laughlin

2© Duarte, Inc. 2014
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Throughout the course of English 2311 …...
Ethics
Applied
Technology
Rhetoric
Design
Writing Cultural
Considerations
Learning Objectives

WRITING
The Writing learning objective concerns
effective speech, which in the contest of this
class meant writing that is both persuasive and
concise. I felt that I gained the most experience
in this objective the Resume and the Proposal.
What initially surprised me during the Resume
(Unit 1) was that employers generally wanted
things to be simple and likely in “plain text”
format. While working on my resume, I learned
that I needed to make my message clear with
fewer words that I previously would have. Using
persuasive speech in an employment setting
was also a new skill I acquired.
For the Proposal (Unit 5) I had to use very
organized writing and had to use MLA citations
to support my work. On to of that, our paper
needed to be written at a professional level so
that it could ideally be sent to Honda Motors.
This learning outcome…
The skills I gained from the Writing learning
objective are fairly general and will be necessary
for my future as I graduate and begin applying
for an internship in Computer Science. My new
rhetoric skills will have a big impact on that
process, and the ability to write resumes is a
life-long skill.
My new persuasive writing skills will help as I
advance through the education process, as
essays are an essential part of the education
process. Writing and communication skills are
also necessary in all contexts, ranging from
home to the workplace.

DESIGN
• Elements of the Design learning outcome were met through various projects.
Unit Projects
*Visual Resume
The Visual Resume was an interesting
experience that allowed me to practice
design skills while also using Rhetoric
and Writing to describe and paint a
picture of a desirable employee.
*Video Presentation
Using what I had learned in pervious
units, in the video editing process, I
used effective visual modes of
communication as my groups mock-up
app was presented to supposed future
users. This project helped me apply
new skills to video and other forms of
media.
*Instructional Mobile App
This most challenging part of this project was
the layout of the app and how we could design it
to be more intuitive to users. Through the
process of making our mock-up and then testing
in in the next unit, I learned how to look at
design principles from an outside perspective.

DESIGN
• Visual examples
Unit Projects
*Visual Resume *Video Presentation

RHETORIC
Rhetoric is an interesting learning objective,
because it requires the use of proper modes of
communication. The rhetorical situation needs
to be met with the proper means.
Through the Unit 1 Visual Resume, I came to
understand that using multimodal
communication is an effective way to persuade
your audience. “Multimodal describes how we
combine multiple different ways of
communication in everyday life” (Ball, 1)*.
Slidedocs and visual resumes are effective
because the combine visual, spatial, and
linguistic modes of communication.
Convincing your audience is an essential part of
the projects conducted in this class, and each
rhetorical situation can call for different
documents and data in order to be effective.
This learning outcome…
The skills I gained from the Rhetoric learning
objective are primarily composed of using
multimodality, as combining forms of
communication is a good way to convey a clear
message.
*Citation:
Arola, Kristin L., Jennifer Sheppard, and Cheryl E. Ball.
Writer/designer: A Guide to Making Multimodal Projects. Boston:
Bedford/St. Martins, 2014. Print.

APPLIED TECHNOLOGY
• Different software skills were acquired through this objective.
Unit Projects
This project introduced software that I
had never used before, which was
surprising considering it’s numerous
uses. In this project we used storyboards
and then applied them to a mock-up
mobile app that could actually be used
on Androids and iPhones. The ability to
create mock-up apps will be a huge
asset as I move forward in computer
science. *Usability Testing
In Unit 3 we did usability testing on our mock-up
app, which involved recording users using the
app and critiquing our mobile app. This gave me
a greater understanding of how to use the
Marvel App more effectively. Our group also
learned how to analyze video and survey data
acquired from our user sample.
*Video Presentation
Video editing was a new experience for
me, thus getting used to iMovie in this
project was an invaluable experience.
The editing skills I learned will benefit
me in future projects and likely in my
future as a possible Software Designer.

COLLABORATION
This learning objective:
 Stresses the importance of
teamwork
 Requires effective communication
 Should teach detailed planning and
project management
 Gives students workplace skills
From Unit 2 and onward, collaboration
was extremely important in this course.
Learning how to effectively use time
and plan how to complete a project
were two important skills that were
expanded upon greatly.
Unit 2 required the greatest amount of
effort to communicate and complete
the project, since there were many
tasks to complete and our group was
not used to handling projects together.
We first had to make our storyboard,
and then divide up work for the mobile
app. We each did sections for our
troubleshooting scenario that would be
used in Unit 3: Usability Testing.
Slidedocs™ is a trademark of Duarte Press LLC. All rights reserved.

CULTURAL CONSIDERATIONS AND ETHICS
Text…
How and Why Cultural
Considerations Matter
Ethical Responsibilities
Culture has a determining impact on both how we
interpret and explain a situation. It’s important that
professional writing is considerate of possible offensive
or problematic situations.
Proper citation and authentic data were important through
all Units of the class, but the Proposal required both of
these skills to be used properly in professional writing.
For example, in our Unit 5 Project, our Proposal was
aimed towards the American branch of Honda Motors
co., but the Japan headquarters would likely require
more research and a different approach.
Unit 5 gave me the skills to use MLA citations and to use
outside sources to support my writing. This learning
objective also covers proper audience analysis, which
includes both ethics and cultural consideration.
Our mock-up was aimed towards young to middle aged
car owners, which impacted our audience analysis. We
made our mock-up and video presentation in order to
appeal to that specific audience.

Unit 5 was very
centered around
collaboration and
organized writing. It
was important that
the right tone and
rhetoric were used.
Unit 3 helped my
group better
understand new
technologies and
analyze our
audience in an
ethical way.
Unit 4 used all
modes of
communication, as it
also included
gestures and
auditory modes.
This was a good
comprehensive unit.
Unit 2 offered
experience with
new technologies
and required many
design elements.
Unit 1 fulfilled
multiple learning
objectives because
of his heavy use of
linguistic and
visual modes.
Conclusion

Writing final

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