Reflection on Learning Outcomes

To: Dr. Xu
From: Alix Rule

Before taking this class, I had knowledge of how to write papers and some basic research
presentations, but I did not know how professional communication differed from what I had
been doing. Developing projects with multimodal elements and different types of language and
layouts has helped me understand what I will be asked to do in the rest of my time in college
and in my career, specifically, how to approach different genres of writing and be persuasive.
Project Planning
Project planning was one of the steps in the development of my projects that I enjoyed the
most. I liked mapping out the sections that I needed and what to put in them because it made it
easier to work on the details once I had an overview for each section. One part of project
planning that I could have done better is research. For my analytical report I should have tried a
wider variety of source types to find data on my problem specific to UNM.
Project Analysis
These projects made me better at project analysis because in the past I have not paid much
attention to who my audience is. Particularly in project 1, I had to change my style because
instead of talking to people with a similar level of knowledge on a subject, the goal was to teach
the audience something new. To accommodate my audience, I started thinking more about my
word choice so that it would not be too complex. In my analytical report and proposal, I
thought more about cultural context because I had to think about the needs and limitations of
the community I was proposing a change for. The issue of money and the sensitivity of the topic
of bike theft, due to the control that transportation has over people’s lives, were both things I
thought about.
Content Development
Content Development was new to me at the beginning of the semester because I had never
used the genres we focused on this semester. Their conventions are different than in writing
that is less professionally oriented. For example, analytical reports may seem like essays but,
they are more persuasive and visual. I enjoyed learning how to add those images and change
my language to make my case for the issue of bike theft.
Organizational Design
I worked on organizational design the most for project 2. Going into it I knew what kind of
information I was looking for and needed to illustrate my community issue. Unfortunately, I had
to search more to find what I needed than I expected but one thing that helped was my primary
source. I interviewed a UNMPD officer and he helped me get a better idea of the issue and
some solutions I had not thought of. I used that as the base for the rest of my research as it was
the most reliable source and answered many of my questions.
Written Communication
In projects 2 and 3 I used written communication to be persuasive. Some methods I used in
project 3 were using strong language, speaking with feeling, and writing in short bullet points
on slides. These appealed to the audience’s emotions and kept their attention.
Visual Communication
I learned more about visual communication from projects 1 to 3 which is evident in the quality
of my PowerPoint videos and my PSA. My volume and tone of voice are much improved in my
proposal from my instructions. I tried to make it seem more like a live presentation which made
it more engaging and persuasive. Also, my PSA graphic is better in design, color scheme and
information than any of the similar information focused graphics I used earlier.
Reviewing and Editing
Editing my own work is not my strong suit so the feedback from my peers and the OLA helped
greatly. Particularly on the second project, I chose a template for my report and did not realize
that it’s font color was grey, not black, that is not a big deal for me because I have good
eyesight but one of my peers noted that it was hard to read so I changed it. Without outside
perspective things can slip through the cracks which can be problematic when an important
project is then not accessible to all its audience.
Content Management
The biggest content management task this semester was in project 3. Since the proposal is a
combination of written information, images, and speech, there are options for how to present a
piece of information and deciding how to do that determines how effective a presentation will
be. I chose to put the most important information on my slides with relevant graphics any time
I had access to one. Most of my information was relayed through my speech to make sure the
audience was paying attention to me.
Production and Delivery
Every project we did helped my production and delivery skills because I was mostly unfamiliar
with all the genres we used. Each project built off the knowledge I already had more and by
project 3 I felt like I could create any kind of media I might need to for my career. Before this
class, a project like the PSA would have been daunting for me because it s so different than any
other project, using more design and visual elements that can be difficult to lay out on the
computer, but now I am confident that I could do it again. It is less relevant to being a chemical
engineer than what I learned from the analytical report but still good to know. Overall, the
biggest take away I got from our projects is that just because it s professional it doesn’t have to
be boring so I am no longer worried about the future writing I will have to do since I can
incorporate design.