A reflection of the work completed throughout the course of English 2311: Introduction to Technical Writing

1. Final
Reflection
English 2311:
Intro to Technical
Writing
By Nicole Keller

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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Throughout the course of English 2311 we focused on six learning objectives that increased our
communication skills and taught us about our strengths and weaknesses.
Ethics
Applied
Technology
Rhetoric
Design
Writing Cultural
Considerations
Learning Objectives

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RHETORIC
Rhetoric was introduced as a learning objective
that would teach us how to use rhetorical
situation to solve problems by assessing the
situation and making decisions based on that
situation and its audience.
Within this course I learned how to
use “rhetorical situation” to
determine how different assignments
should be written based on the
audience they were being presented
to.
We applied rhetoric in every individual
assignment: the technical editing project, the
proposal, our own repair guide, the poster
presentation and the job letter/resume.
This learning outcome allowed me to
strengthen my writing skills in that it
taught me how to make my writing
applicable and understandable by a
variety of audiences.
This skill will help me throughout the rest of my
years as a student as well as my future career in
the health field. I will constantly have to adapt
my writing to different audiences both personal
and professional.

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WRITING
More specifically within my writing I was
able to improve my grammar, spelling and
style techniques throughout the variety of
assignments.
We focused on grammar, spelling and
writing within the Editing Project and the
Online Repair Guide that we made
ourselves, although it was an important
factor in every assignment that we
completed.
I was able to work on my
own ability to search for and
improve grammar, spelling
and style issues mostly
within the Editing Project.
We then took what we
learned in editing others’
guides and applied those
skills to creating our own
repair guide.

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DESIGN
I learned a lot about aesthetic appeal and the various design choices that are appropriate or
inappropriate in different situations. This is a skill that will be helpful throughout my time as a
student and in my future career in the health industry.
Slidedoc
Online Repair Guide
When creating our online repair guide, it
was very important to consider visual
appeal in both the pictures that we took
as well as the written material. This class
allowed me to learn a lot about design
principles and the contrast between
visual appeal and professionalism.
Job Letter/Visual Resume
Lastly, in creating a job letter and
visual resume I practiced a much more
professional visual appeal and created
a job letter and resume that could
greatly help me in applying for future
positions.
Poster Presentation
Design was a very important aspect within our
poster presentation because the visual appeal
was one of the most important aspects of the
presentation. I learned a lot about the specifics
that make a virtual poster appeal to its audience
e.g. font style, header style/size, bullets, etc.

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COLLABORATION
This class involved a lot of
group work, which I
generally choose to stray
from, but I learned so much
about effective group work
and the importance of
communication. It actually
taught me to enjoy the
collaboration involved in
such projects.
Every assignment that was completed
in this class was considered a group
assignment except for the last, the job
letter and resume assignment were
individual for obvious reasons.
I enjoyed working in a group
specifically when creating our repair
guide. I learned a lot about the
appropriate way to delegate tasks and
I also learned about the benefits of
putting two heads together instead of
just one.
My partner and I learned to split the
work in half and put our heads together
to come up with much better ideas
than I could have come up with on my
own.
We also practiced professional
communication when working on the
editing project and the online repair
guide because we had to communicate
with the professionals within the “iFixit
team”.
I improved my knowledge and skills in
terms of communication and working
with others.
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CULTURAL CONSIDERATIONS AND ETHICS
We learned the importance of writing in a way that is easily adaptable, relatable and culturally
sound among any group of people that might be reading it.
Cultural Considerations Ethics
Within our writing we made sure that it could identify
with all ages, genders, cultures, social status, etc.
We practiced ethics in our writing by making sure that all
our work was properly documented and cited.
It was important to address applied technology in that
we adapted our technical writing to all users in all
cultural contexts.
We practiced ethical responsibility within our assignments
by considering our audience in specific situations.
We also used rhetorical situation to address the various
situations and audiences.
We made sure to avoid plagiarizing because it is
considered unethical.

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Rhetoric
I learned how to use
rhetorical situation to
resolve problems and
relate to the given
audience
Writing
I used and improved
my grammar and style
skills in the editing
project and online
repair guide
Design
I learned a lot about
visual appeal and the
appropriateness and
professional importance
of design
Collaboration
I learned about the
most efficient ways to
work in groups and
communicate efficiently
and professionally
Cultural
Considerations and
Ethics
I learned about how to
ensure that my writing
applies to all different
users in all different
cultural contexts.
Conclusion