Being part of this class was not easy. I struggled a lot, especially at the beginning of the semester. But all that struggle through writing the papers was worth it. I learnt a lot during this semester, and I was able to see my growth in writing. I had no idea how to write as an engineer, but now I can see how much I learned from this class. All assignments helped me to grow in a way or another, but at the end I can see that all of them contributed to my growth. In every assignment I was pushing myself off my limits and to get out of my comfort zone. Seeing how good and prepared my peers were, pushed me to put more effort in my work, so I could be in the same level as them. I don’t know if I was able to achieve a high level as them, but I know I was able to grow and to see my own growth. Some of the assignments in this class that helped me to grow were: The Formal Letter of Introduction, Leadership Presentation of a Blackboard Discussion, Lab Report Analysis, Technical Description, Proposal Pitch and Presentation.
The Formal Letter of Introduction was the first written assignment for this class. I didn’t put a lot of effort in this assignment for two reasons. First, I thought this was an easy class, and I could get a good grade even by putting the bare minimum in the writing assignments. The second reason is related to my past. I had leaned in my home country, many years ago, how to write formal letters. For this reason, I thought I was better than others and I didn’t have to put a lot of effort. This was not true. This was my first formal letter written in English, and the truth is that the format for this letter was very different form the one that I learned in my home country. In this assignment I learnt how to go back to my writing after some hours/ day and look at my mistakes and add or remove things.
Leadership Presentation of a Blackboard Discussion was helpful to me to improve my writing and reading skills. I had to read two articles and other peers’ opinions about these two articles. There were a lot of submissions, replies and comments. Every student had their unique opinion about these two articles, and at the beginning it was very difficult to put everything together. The good thing about this assignment was that I had to share this with other students from my class. This was very helpful because we could divide in half the number of students that we would cover, so it was less work. After reading everyone’s opinion, I was able to come in one conclusion about most of the opinions related to this topic, and I was able to put them together and write a page explaining what was going on.
Lab Report Analysis was the assignment that made me regret taking this class, but also helped me the most with my reading, drafting, and revising skills. I had to choose three lab reports and analyze all three of them. So much reading! When I had to submit my best draft, I really though I did something. It came to not even be what I had to do. I had to restart everything from the beginning. But the thing that helped me the most was my peers’ reviews. Because of their feedback and looking to some lab report analysis, I was able to realize what I had to do. Because I was able to read different lab report analysis, I saw different examples and I created an idea of what I’d do in my lab report analysis. When I had to submit the final draft for this assignment, I was very nervous. “What if I didn’t do the right thing now either?”- I was thinking, but I came out to be a very good lab report analysis, and I saw this because of the grade that I received from my professor.
Technical Description was the first assignment that I really knew what to do. I put a lot of effort writing it and it was worth it. I submitted my best draft like it was submit my final one. Because of the effort I put just for the best draft, I got positive feedback, and I only had to change some small things about the final one. This assignment helped me to improve my research skills and to put them together. A lot of research was part of this assignment, and I didn’t have to use all of them. I collected information from a lot of websites, and I found what was really helpful for me to write my technical description. The item that I choose was an item that I own, and I had information about, and maybe that’s why I enjoyed writing this assignment.
The last assignment was the Proposal. I had no idea where to start with this assignment, but after thinking for a long time I was able to find something that would work for me. I used the information from my technical description item to write my proposal. Even for this assignment a lot of research was part of it. What I liked the most about this assignment was the creation of the table about the cost of the innovation of the item. I was able to come up with a good idea for innovation with a little cost. This came out to be a little profit but very reasonable. Everyone would win something from this innovation. I am happy with the profit I can get from this innovation, and the costumer will be happy with the product. This assignment also tough me how to create a professional presentation. I hope I have achieved this. My peers liked my presentation and I had positive feedback. They were not unclear about anything in the presentation. Their questions were things that I would talk more if I could present it. Using the discussion board in the blackboard, they were able to ask their questions and I was able to answer their questions and provide more information.
To sum up, I learned a lot from this class. Now, I am able to see my growth. After every assignment I couldn’t see how much I learned, but now that I go back at them, I can see how much each assignment helped to be where I am now, and which skill did each assignment improved. At the beginning I regrated taking this class, but now I am glad that I took this class and that I was able to be part of it. Every day in this class taught me something. Even when there was no assignment to complete, what the professor said in class and other peers’ comments and opinions helped me learn something new.
