ENGL 2210 Reflection

Engl 2210, or Professional and Technological Communication is a class available through UNM. I have taken it as a part of my Management minor, and these are the resulting projects of the class. This class was focused on presenting and understanding information in professional settings. For example, Project 2 included a professional letter that would be written to a large company, and a letter I wrote from the perspective of the large company. Project 3 covers how to write proposals, including the research behind them and how to form them into a productive argument.

This class has helped me by putting me in the shoes of the very professionals I often communicate with. I was able to understand formalities before the class, but now I am able to use them as well. The most rewarding project for me however, was the first project.

Project 1 was about creating a tutorial video for others, aka communicating information in a professional and understandable manner. I hope in the future to continue making videos as an artist trying to help others create art, and the practice that came from making the video was highly rewarding. Not only did I have to learn how to explain my own process, which is something I struggle with, I had to understand the steps I was trying to teach, as well as any issues that my viewers may have. Being able to put myself in the shoes of my viewers was beneficial, as I was able to identify issues they may have and give solutions while the camera was rolling. This leads to the biggest lesson I have learned from the class;

Understanding the other point of view is critical to professional success.

In project 1, I was understanding the viewers, or my target audience and what questions they may have. This is necessary to know while scripting and making the video because if they do have questions, I may not be able to address them until long after I posted the video. I have to understand my viewer in order to create content that will resonate with them, and solve problems they may potentially have.

For project 2, a large focus was put on understanding what a large company is able to say and not say in order to provide satisfying solutions while keeping their reputation. In my case, I was looking at Sony BMG and an incident that happened with CDs in the 2000s. At the time, most people may not understand technology, so Sony BMG has to have compassion and patience when answering questions. However, if they reveal too much they may expose themselves and people may lose trust with them. This project for me was about learning what that balance was, how to shorten responses without them lacking necessary information, and how to address questions in an honest but professional manner.

Lastly, project 3 was not only understanding the audience whom I was writing to, but it was also understanding those who the problem was affecting. I chose stop light traffic, which involves Albuquerque's Traffic Engineering Division (NMDOT), as well as every person poorly timed lights may affect. Not only did I have to appeal to NMDOT with realistic evidence and arguments, I had to provide them with a solution that they were satisfied with, and drivers wouldn't be severely affected by.

There wasn't much I found I needed to change about the first two projects. Considering the time constraints of Project 1, all info I covered was important and concise, answering any questions I thought would be asked before publishing. For project 2, I went back and revised a few of the social media posts in attempt to make them shorter, however I felt that if I pushed it too much then too much information would be missing. For project 3 however, after a peer review discussion board I had a lot to change. For one, I went back and fleshed out an actual plan with steps, as well as the costs and benefits of the proposal. Throughout I tried to elaborate more on the impacts bad traffic light timing was having, since some peer feedback I received is that I didn't talk about it enough. While I agree that I could have focused solely on traffic light timings causing bad traffic, I feel that that is among several smaller issues that stem from it as a whole. I went back to try and elaborate more on my points about gas usage and emergency vehicles, as well as giving an example of a street that actually has good timing.

Overall, the course has taught me so much about taking into account every perspective a problem may be affecting. Being able to look at a problem from a consumer, producer, company, or something higher like NMDOT and their effects on Albuquerque traffic. All are important views to take into account when addressing a problem, otherwise the solution I come up with would be unrealistic by ignoring an entire audience it may affect. In a world where there is constantly information invading everyone's senses, it is important to have compassion, patience, and understanding for the other party even if you aren't satisfied with their performance or simply disagree with their position. Through that understanding, ideas and solutions can be communicated more clearly, and problems that everyone shares can suddenly become a problem anyone can fix.