My reflection about the writing course

 

Photo by me

Since January 17, I am studying the course called ‘Writing in the Workplace’ at my university, and the course is on the edge of ending in the next week. In my opinion, reflection is the most important part of learning, since it will help to analyze ourselves, past mistakes, our actions and patterns. As Richard Carlson (1997) said: “Reflection is one of the most underused yet powerful tools for success.”. As I sit down to reflect on my experience with the course, I am impressed by how much it has influenced my understanding of successful communication in professional settings.

If I am being honest, this course was added to my schedule by my advisers, I did not choose it by myself. However, after several lectures, I understood that the course was helpful for me. From crafting memos to composing blog posts, the course aimed to hone our writing abilities to meet the demands of the workplace. In addition, except developing our writing skills, we worked in groups so many times during lessons, and also we learned making interactive presentations. As a result, we developed not only our writing skills, but also visually and orally communicating skills.

At the beginning of the semester, I was little bit confused about my abilities of writing and choosing formats and other things correctly. However, as the weeks went by, I found myself becoming more confident and comfortable with the material. The learning materials were a mix of online resources and printed handouts, which made the course content accessible, more interesting and easy to follow. Furthermore, our group work helped us to listen and be friendlier with each other. Because of these activities, we started to feel more connected. However, sometimes I felt stressed and a little exhausted because of the deadline, as sometimes we had them right after the class. The reason for this is I have another class right before the writing class (the duration of lectures at our university is about 3 hours), so that is why I felt stressed about catching the deadline, since I was already tired, and was not capable of thinking or writing properly.  

The assignments in this course were both challenging and rewarding. They provided practical applications of theoretical knowledge, challenging us to master email communication, work in teams, conduct research and present information to the audience. One of the things that worked well was our group activities during the class, as it helped us to open up and be closer. Honestly, it is the only group which is friendly and harmonious that I had in the spring semester, and in my opinion, group activities contributed a lot to it. Another one is the completion of the tasks during the class time. It helped us to be in a real workplace atmosphere and feel the pressure of it. The next thing that I liked the most, is creating blogs. I always wondered how people create them, and now I learned it. Moreover, feedback for drafts was really helpful to correct our mistakes and work on our writing skills. When it comes to the things that did not work well, for me personally, deadlines right after the class. As I mentioned above, I had 2 classes one after another on the days of the writing course, so I was tired when I came home and did not want to do anything...

“Every experience in your life is being orchestrated to teach you something you need to know to move forward.”

— Brian Tracy

I believe that everything happens for a reason, and there is always something new we can learn in every situation that we face. So, I can say that the course gave us not only academic knowledge, but also a life lesson that taught us new skills. I remember that, before the Spring semester I did not have that level of stress resistance. But now, I realise that I have become more stress-resistant, and the course contributed a lot to it. For example, recently I participated in a fair and could handle preparing for the fair and exams simultaneously. I could manage my time properly and felt myself good. Furthermore, since we learned how to create blogs, now in the era of media technologies, I can create a blog or site whenever it is needed. In the future, I am confident that all of the skills, from writing to stress resistance, that I have learned during the class, will help a lot in my career and daily life.

In conclusion. I can say that the Writing in the Workplace course was really helpful, since it gave me both academic and life lessons. I worked on my crucial skills such as writing, stress and time management, which I will need in my life path. 

References:

Brian Tracy Quote: “Every experience in your life is...” (n.d.).
https://quotefancy.com/quote/778217/Brian-Tracy-Every-experience-in-your-life-is-being-orchestrated-to-teach-you-something

Richard Carlson Quote - Reflection is one of the most underused. . . | Quote Catalog. (n.d.). https://quotecatalog.com/quote/richard-carlson-reflection-is-o-8p6LzZ1