- How did you find the last assignment to create a job aid, reference guide or infographic? What this a useful challenge, and something you see yourself leveraging in future?
- Writer’s block, well perhaps more like topic block. I wanted to create something that I could repurpose for work, but I have too many projects on the go and had trouble determining what would be a good topic for this purpose. I finally landed on a handout from our new instructor orientation on active learning strategies. I wanted to update the handout with different strategies, so I thought it made a good candidate for a complete redesign.
- In my work, we do create a lot of handouts, or SharePoint pages with instructions on how to complete a task. Brevity is key, so this assignment was very useful because it forces you to concentrate on the most important points. No one wants to look at an infographics that is just text.
- Reflect back on your prior assignments and blog posts in this course. What have been some highlights? What would you say are the key techniques or ‘aha moments’ you experienced that have influenced how you will approach writing for your audiences going forward?
- I was surprised to see so many connections between developing curriculum and writing. So many elements are similar, like writing engaging titles and powerful introductions, chunking materials into manageable pieces, the importance of organization and placement of materials, and creating meaningful content that people want to read.
- Some important takeaways for me are writing concisely, alternating paragraph length, breaking up text through the use of other elements (bulleted lists, images, text boxes, etc.), and engaging your audience. So many things that apply not only to my writing, but also my teaching. Again, I was surprised to see so many connections.
- How do you feel about writing now vs. when you started this course seven weeks ago?
- Writing was a chore, but now it is fun again. I enjoyed exploring topics that were outside of my purview, hoping to engage my audience and provide a compelling reason why we should care about these issues. So maybe that is it – learning to write persuasively.
- Action Plan – What are 1-3 ideas or actions you would like to commit to in order to continue the development of your writing skills?
- Concentrate on art and design elements while ‘presenting’ my written works.
- Practice, practice, practice. That is the only way to improve.
- Focus on writing for online curriculum.
It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me
Quoting the incomparable Taylor Swift, Antihero Sometimes it seems like I am the only one who worries about things. I have been excused of being antiquated and out of touch with technology. Am I the problem? If we circle back to my earlier post about Writing Being Under Attack, I wonder if we all really…
What’s the point?
I tend to write longer, block paragraphs of text. My style includes a wall of text. I struggle between being direct, getting straight to the point, vs. being verbose, but perhaps with a friendlier tone. Because of this, one of my strategies for writing email is to capture the key point first, and then go…
Really? You expect me to read all of this?
Faced with a wall of text are you: a) thrilled, b) overwhelmed, c) anxious, or d) already tired. 40 minute Mr. Beast video – sure, no problem. Sequel to a long awaited series, yes please, who needs sleep. Favourite fan fic, I got the time, bring it on. All of these are definitively A. Capital…
Redo or Start Over
What is easier? To redo someone’s existing work, or to start over. Sure it is nice to have something to start with. Someone else has done all of the work. All you have to do is tweak it and make it better. But that can also be painful. Sometimes I get stuck in their language.…
Peer Reviewer 2 is the Worst
Rejection is a huge part of academic writing. But let’s step back a bit and review how one would even get to this point. It starts with an idea. Perhaps it is a gap that your institution is trying to address. Perhaps you are investigating a solution for a problem that you can no longer…
Writing is Under Attack
What is it about human nature, that we immediately go to doom and gloom when faced with change. ChatGPT was introduced, and suddenly social media is flooded with posts about the end of the university essay; posts heralding that research papers are now obsolete; some even suggesting that education is antiquated. Writing is dead is…