odizleechizlee-blog

[odizleechizlee-blog]

I agree with you it was sort of hard. we had to change our topic twice because our audience wasn't narrow at all and at first we were sort of annoyed because of that but regardless we kept up and changed it but once we changed it it was honestly easy to find the information because the information was narrow so we didn't have to explain it ounce by piece it was already narrowed down. 

projects

I wonder how hard it is to be a project manager at any firm or business, because keeping track of everything we have to do for the project is a bit harder than I expected. That being said, the task that we, as a group, have to follow is surprisingly straight forward. 1. find a problem 2. define the audience 3. propose a solution Those are the three basic steps. That is as “technical” as it can get. The problem is finding a problem that is really specific. Parking sucks, there’s that. Where are the cats that students used to feed next to the social behavior science building? Why is tuition so high? These are the questions that keep me up at night. Also what has really helped me understand the scope of where the project has go is the pitch deck things. We have to make the problem known to the audience, but also throw in the most important details that will make the audience understand without placing unnecessary information. my team is bad ass though

[odizleechizlee-blog]

YESS!! its that time of the year where we all run like the apocalypse is coming (literally is except its called finals). Remember theres always time to chat but one must prioritize first and make sure to know and understand what those priorities are. I hope you and everyone else does good on their learning evaluations but mostly good luck in all your courses. Keep it up and remember its only temporary because sooner than you expect it will be graduation day!

Final blog

The term is finally coming to a close and everywhere you look its like the world is on fire, with everyone running in all directions.  Nobody seems to have the time for idle chit chat, only time to focus on what needs to be done. The last fews weeks have been spent in a similar manner with the group project dealing with the things we learned and did such as the proposal, peer review and usability testing. The next week or two will be focus on the term learning record which will need to be revised many times over by our peers and our selfs. If we used activity theory we can easily observers the masses of college students during finals and conclude that most or all students become frantic during this time.  

[odizleechizlee-blog]

HASTA LA VISTA BAYBAY!

Guys the semester is done and we have made it through the class!!! This class was something else, i went from thinking this was your average english boring class to actually enjoying and looking forward to this class. Hope it was like this for everyone else and if it wasn't then you probably didn't go to class as much as i. 😂😂 I hope everyone does good in this and all their other courses. As to for me i believe i have pushed myself beyond the line of what I'm usually used to which was quite challenging but isn't that the point of college? to challenge oneself and prosper from it? So if you ask me i believe I've improved not only as a writer but as a college student as well. I will more than likely apply a lot of the group project parts to any group work that i have in other classes because holy moly did it make it easy and fun to have a group project. Anyways GOOD LUCK to all and thank you tekla for the awesome class.

keep techcomm rad!👍🏻

[odizleechizlee-blog]

i love this video its just so cute!!! i honestly really really like how they used comedy to advertise their project. Maybe its a way we could use in our projects by making maybe a funny video for the project. Like my group we are choosing middle schoolers as our targeted audience so maybe through a funny video we could get their attention. Great example!!

thankssss

Post 10

This is the last blog post, or is it? I found this video on YouTube and I couldn’t get the “awwws” coming out of my mouth. It is just adorable! Aside from all the cuteness it can also be related towards the project that we are doing. It shows audience for all the cat lovers, or maybe just for cats. Getting people to love their cats and maybe find a cat that will later replace their previous cat, which can also be a little sad. Teaching the audience what real cat food is and how it can change the cat’s life by promoting Friskies as the product. Adding a set of instructions that is teaching the little kitten to be familiar with his new surroundings.

I liked this video in many ways and how it’s a good example we can use to communicate our proposals for the project. Videos are always fun to watch, so why not. I loved the way the cat was always referring to the little kitten as “Dear kitten.” How the older cat was teaching the little kitten what to do around the house when he is gone. What to expect and how he should be aware with “vacuum.” How he shouldn’t eat the hard food but the wet food, Friskies. How Friskies are made and kept save especially for them. What got a little irritating was the voice, but maybe it was because I replayed the video.

I never thought I would ever dissect a video like I did today. Before I would just watch and look at the main topic, or product in the video. Now I can break the video apart and see the purpose of its making. By the way theirs more “Dear kitten” videos, you should check them out.

[odizleechizlee-blog]

Summer Summer where you at?

It's almost the end of the semester and I feel like I'm way over my head, everything crams and it feels like I won't get anything done this really really sucks! However I know I will get through it and soon enough it'll be summer so I'll be outta here!!!! Lolol who am I kidding I got summer school 😂😂😂😭 anyways this semester although it's been challenging I've found it to be a great semester, one of which I have learned a lot from, and for that I am super happy cause sometimes there's those semesters where you don't learn jack and you just know you passed but don't know how. This semester was been awesomely good to me despite all the work 😂 I hope everyone's semester is as good as mine and if not I hope you keep your head up. But anyways guy they should really do these usability tests on some professors I think it would help a lot. Like if they got usability tests for their lessons and how they teach because if they actually did that I believe a lot of our other professors would change their way of teaching and this would be of great benefice to us the students. Haha but I know this probably won't happen

[odizleechizlee-blog]

I agree with jenny, always have a backup plan and always expect for the unexpected, be ready for the future and don't let it take you by surprise. Its good to be prepared and know what it is that you want in your future and be sure of it. Because if you change your mind its not going to be impossible but it will be challenging. Not anything you can't get through just a lil advice though.Hope all the classes are going well and keep it up, you're almost done!

#9

The past two weeks have felt rough. Exceptionally rough. Like this semester is some sort of test. To see if I really want to stay in school. Tomorrow I have 2 essays and an exam due. I’m not super confident about any of them. The one silver lining to all of this is that I know all of my fellow classmates are experiencing the EXACT same thing. And it really does help. For some reason I feel comfort in the collective suffering. Like its a bond that we all share together. If someone is having a good time at this point in the semester then I think they’re being selfish. I get it though. We all signed up for this. It’s extremely cheesy but we go through the grind to get to the dream.

It turns out this class has already been huge for me in my writing development. Pretty much a whole new world of writing has been opened up to me. One of my essays due tomorrow is something that doesn’t even resemble an essay. It’s more of a how to manual. And that’s exactly the way I wanted it to be. It fit the subject perfectly. A year ago if I’d have had the same assignment I would’ve turned it into your boring conventional blocked essay that Tekla complains about lol. Anyways, even though I feel like I’ve accomplished nothing this semester, it’s nice to see that it’s only in my head.

[odizleechizlee-blog]

Yeah i agree also we get to learn from others mistakes like in that presentation we were able to see that their transition in the topics was just not smooth and made no sense. So based on this we are able to make deductions and be able to make it a learning experience so that when we are making these transitions in our own projects we know how to properly make them and be able to introduce these transitions before making them and explaining why this is relevant to our main problem, by doing this it will explain to the audience why everything that is being said and explained is relevant to them

Project. Post 9

Last class we went over the pitch envy website. We saw two different kinds of pitch decks where one was done correctly and where the other one was not so good. The first one that we saw was a little bit confusing for me because I wasn’t familiar with all the images and some wording that it had. It didn’t catch my attention. The second pitch desk was easier for me to read because I was able to relate with it. I love pets, dogs and cats, especially when we’re dealing with their safety, you can sign me up for that. What was quite funny was the way they changed the topic. They went from tracking your pet to their health, which was irrelevant to the first slides.

These examples helped me get techniques that I can use in my group project. It is common sense to not lose focus on the subject when introducing your topic, but when we start creating something we sometimes lose focus if we don’t have our argument or issue constructed well. I think this can also happen if our audience is not identified. For example the first pitch deck we saw of buffer. If I was chosen to be the audience, they would have lost my attention in the first to second slides because I am not interested in that. Same goes when creating a multimodal platform for the project. If the topic were for students then it’s best likely to grab their attention in a YouTube video than on an essay.

[odizleechizlee-blog]

Psssst piece of cake!!

Guys our first meeting was a bit rough why lie. We had a lot of opinions all over the room and everyone wanted different topics. It was a mess. However we all came up with a topic we all agreed on. Guess its not as hard as it seemed. Once we chose our topic we felt super confident, Yeah Right!! that was just until tekla told us our audience was way to broad so we freaked out and we had to change our topic once again!!! this was just so frustrating, you know when you think you can finally move on and can get started and then you realize you can't. We all came up with a new topic and a new audience this wasn't easy but we accomplished it. Overall though i believe my group kicked a** lolol we pulled it together and picked a topic to which we could ALL relate to and this to me was awesome literally felt like Chapman in the picture lol We all came together like a group should and overcame our little topic obstacle. This really taught me that group work isn't as bad as one thinks,not once you have certain rules in place and when you actually follow those rules it make the decision making way way easier than when the group has no structure or rules to rely on.

[odizleechizlee-blog]

aweee matt lol its okay to be lost we all get lost at times and its perfectly fine. Like you said we are ALL that person at times and its okay because we all have problems and things to deal with so its understandable. Maybe a way to keep you from being lost or in the dark when something like this happens is you could maybe call or text one of your group members before the meeting just so they could enlighten you on what it is that they are gonna discuss so you're not as lost. 😁

#8

I never know how to approach these posts. This would be why I’m only at #8. Anyways, I’ve reflected a little bit one of the article we were assigned to read on the subject of meetings. In this article the author ran down a list of the different types of people you get in meetings. They all were the typical characters you would expect. As I was reading the section about the person who, “has no idea what’s going on”. I found myself assuming that this person wasn’t me, as I’m sure everyone else did (I still am fairly confident it’s not me.) Its natural To have this thought and I think most of us are not this person. But I think it’s important to realize how easy it is for any of us to be this person at any given time.

What I mean by this is– that person in the meeting who doesn’t know what’s going on probably has a reason for not knowing what’s going on. The reason doesn’t matter in this context. What matters is that any one of us can be this person at any point in our lives. That clueless person probably isn’t clueless in everything that they do.

The only requirement to being that person is laziness. I learned this the other day when I went to one of our group meetings. I hadn’t gone over our project plan and was sort of in the dark about what we were doing for that particular meeting. As a result, my questions were mostly irrelevant. This is because most of the questions were answered in the project plan. This didn’t make me feel good.

All I had to do was read some stuff before the meeting and I didn’t. The reason doesn’t matter. What matters to the group is that I didn’t. I know that others have found themselves as this person before too. I guess my point here is that nobody is just one type of person. People are dynamic. You and I are just as capable of being the clueless one as anybody else. It’s completely up to us every day to make sure we aren’t that person.

[odizleechizlee-blog]

Group whaaaaa??

So we went over group norms during this course and it was something that i have never EVER done in other courses but why lie i really liked them. Group norms was our way of telling one another what we expected from each other but mostly, i think it teaches us responsibility. Once that is signed you are giving your word that you will follow those norms and if you don't then you face the consequences. Before this i never had these norms with any other groups which is good cause it keeps me from being the control freak that i am when it comes to being in group projects. My group didn't have too much problem setting these up, did yalls group have problems or was it smooth as well? I thought we would have more problems being that not everyone wants the same things or find the same things a problem as others. I will definitely apply these norms more often lol maybe even at home lol. 

Anyway guess its almost the end of the semester !!!!! whoooppp whoop hang in there were almost done!

[odizleechizlee-blog]

Yes i agree with lucy as well, most times we are assigned our partners which is one of the main reasons as to why we aren't successful. However this time around we were able to choose our partners which is good because we were able to pick and chose the people we wanted to work with. I loved the fact that we had to do the group norms cause well sometimes i tend to be a control freak and by having these norms it limits me to trying to control everything and it allows everyone to be able to get their opinions out and gives us all equal responsibility.

Teamwork. Blog post 8

Working in groups is very helpful, yet difficult. As a group we can get things done quicker because we can divide the work. If the group is larger, things can get done faster compared to a small group. The bad thing about a group is that some group members may leave one or two persons doing all the work. I am saying this because I have already dealt with these kinds of people. The thing is that I am fine with it as long as I get an A letter grade. I will have to learn to let others take part on the project and just wish for the best, but I don’t think this will be a problem this semester because my team seems like they know the stuff. And seem enthusiasm for an A letter grade.

During the weekend my group and I focused on coming up with behavior norms. As a matter of fact, I didn’t know that the group’s behavior expectations was called behavior norms. I know what kind of teachers/professors did I have? I think that setting behavior norms is important because we can see what is expected from each team member. It helps us become aware of the issues that our team members don’t want to deal with. It’s like setting goals that as a team we must follow for the sake of our group project.

The only thing to do is come up with an issue that we can work on for our group project. This should be easy because there are so many problems out there that should be looked at, so let’s see how it goes!

[odizleechizlee-blog]

Yeah i agree with you because now that we have set these norms and punishments in our norms, which will identify whats the step to take if someone doesn't comply to the norms. Also i think that these are steps that have never been taken before by any of the other courses that I've taken. The past courses would just put you in a group and give you an assignment, never was part of the assignment an evaluation sheet to a sheet of group norms. This was a great way of teaching us how to do effective group work.

Blog #7

Today we discussed what had happend to our midterm papers. Some of us went a little off topic and just wrote about what we learned in class rather than to argue about our grade. Im not going to lie, but I can see how that happen. I feel like on some parts of my paper I did that.

The group work we discussed today for our final project was interesting. We are really breaking down how everything is going to work for everyone. Where we meet, and what responsibilities we have in the group. I have never done group work this way. It was always the lets get into groups pick a peace you want to work on and see you whenever it is due. To be honest, I hate doing group work. So with this going on, it is going to be interesting to see how everything works out when we plan it all out. Theres so much to do in a group work other than doing the assigment. Theres alot of work and time put into it so it can come out perfect.

#techcomm

[odizleechizlee-blog]

Yes i really liked the midterm as well, it was super different from anything that were used to. It was pretty awesome how we were able to argue for our grade and prove how we have earned that grade. As to other courses when they give standard test, you don't get to actually show them and prove how you have earned the grade that one believes they deserve.

Blog #7

So, what I found interesting was the way the midterm assignment was designed. The fact that I could argue my grade was pretty awesome because I could actually evaluate my work the way I intended it to be. Like I said in my midterm assignment, I know I haven’t learned everything in this class but I feel like I am really on my way to understanding the concept of the course. I honestly feel confident enough to say that I will be able to understand what tech writing is all about when the semester is over. I know I will not be an expert on it by the time the course is over, but it is a good feeling to know I will be expanding my knowledge on the subject when I knew nothing about it in the beginning. Another thing I really enjoy in this class right now is the group projects we are working on. I think its great that we are going to learn more about each other in the process. At this point in the semester we should all have a better understanding of what this course requires and I think its a good thing that we all have a different outlook on what tech writing is all about. With all the opinions, we should be able to create something that is going to make us to think outside the box. This group project is going to be very interesting and fun to work on! I can’t wait to see what we can produce as we move forward in the semester.

[odizleechizlee-blog]

SPRANNGGG BREAKKK is OVERRR!! 😭

So spring break is over and were back at school. This sucks! lol honestly i wish it was still spring break but we gotta do what we gotta do. SO this week we went over our final and what it was going to consist of, to our surprise it was group work YAAAY (I'm being sarcastic) i hate group work, but oh well we have to do it and get through it. I usually don't enjoy group work because it means depending on others for a good grade. I however found the group norms to be very useful since it sends the standards of the group activities and how the work should and could be distributed among the members of the group. Also i think this sets the expectations of how this group is going to work or not work. I hope we all do good in this group work that we have to do. Good luck guys!! 

[odizleechizlee-blog]

honestly close reading is something that we don't think we are doing but in all reality we do close reading without even thinking about it. For example if someone is mad at us we do some close reading to see how they are acting and we analyze those actions to take into consideration what might be wrong with them. That is doing close reading, we are analyzing into depth so although one thinks that we don't really do close reading i believe we do close reading at all times without even thinking about, so its something to think about!

BLOG POST #2

Close reading is something that I am familiar with. I have never really done it myself but I have seen other people do it. Being always on twitter on tumblr I always see people analyzing songs and even episodes of TV shows, I always get amaze about how much information they get out of one simple chorus or a 2 minutes scene. When I read what people get out of close reading I’m like “woah, I would never ever imagined that” or “They are reading too much into it”.

On our last class we close read some songs, and what I got out from it is that you really need to know the story of the song and the person as well, the context and background.

But if you don’t know much about it, don’t worry, there is always a search machine near to you. Google for example, you can always use the advance search tool to get more precise results.

I think with what we learned the past classes, like if we start close reading a lot, we will start seeing things with a different point of view. I am excited to see how much I improve and start close reading and just learning new things every class.

[odizleechizlee-blog]

That cool how you made a direct connection with how you apply activity theory in your life, i honestly hadn't really put together how i used it in my life. I just knew that it was useful and that it was a type of technical writing. Also i found the article a little challenging to read, i don't know if it was because of the length or the words that i didn't understand but after reading your post i have a more clear sense of what activity theory is, so thank you!!!😬

Blog Post #5

This week in techcomm we read information on activity theory and sound theory and discussed in class on what we understood and what we question from the articles. In the process I discovered that when I don’t understand something such as activity theory, I tend to question the definitions of words I never heard of. Sound theory on the other hand was a familiar subject since music has been a big factor in my life and how I express myself. Sound theory is the connection between a rhythm/beat/sound that brings vibes to someone else. For example if I hear a sad poetic song I’ll have that close eyes one tear drop slowly nodding towards the instrumental face while if I’m to bass drops I’ll jumping up with a smile on my face like if I just had won the lottery. It’s true that Sound theory can be used for technical communication, in fact every song that is out there is a form of technical communication since each form of music is meant to expose and persuade us to enjoy, listen, and understand the song’s point of view. Now for AT.

Activity theory is the bridge between the individual and their society. Meaning that people are complex and can do potentially weird things at times. This depends on their social past, culture, environment, and personal conscience on how we consider what is different. AT helps us understand sets of social systems and define a group of people. And if us future technical communicators find a commonplace with multiple social systems, we can kill multiple birds with one stone. We can persuade the masses and get them to listen to us which can be beneficial to the goal of technical communicators.

If we can convince people by finding commonplaces through activity theory, and if we can use music as a gateway for these commonplaces, then I’m sure we can predicate people to listen to us. Once we can grab someone’s attention then we can go forward with the main objective.

[odizleechizlee-blog]

honestly i hadn't really thought on how different our papers are from our peers papers but now that you mention it, thats another perk of peer reviewing. Its cool to compare the papers because we get to see how similar our claims are or how far off they are, so if you're like ranting off about the same thing over and over you can be like “OMG i was so wrong the topic i was talking about isn'tisntjust about that” lol so you can fix it. 

Blog Post #6

In today’s class we were able to revise two classmate’s Midterm Learning Records. I find it very helpful for others other than me to check how I was doing in this assignment. I also could compare how different it was my work from my classmate’s, by doing this I got better ideas on how I needed to add more evidence and my classmates provided very helpful comments to improve my argument. The guideline that the teacher gave it was very specific, this was very useful for the authors to look in what part their work is boring, what others will change and add, also if they are doing well, and to point out what part others like the most in the author’s argument. For me my classmates told me to provide more evidence and to change some part because it was still unfinished.

Revising other’s work is very helpful because as writers we get to see what we are doing wrong and how we can improve it. It is essential to work with others sometimes because we need the opinions of others, like professional writers also need someone to check their work and if something is not clear enough or to broad the one who is revising this work will tell and give advice to the writer. This activity made me feel more confident in how to finish my work.