Reflective Letter

This semester I have learned a lot about writing, research, and technology.  Below I will explain the different techniques I used in each field and my feelings on those techniques.  Overall, this course had really allowed me to grow in each aspect of writing, research, and technology.

Writing

I personally enjoyed doing collaborative writing.  It allowed me to see other people's ideas and it improved my writing skills as well.  When we were first asked to write a blog I was a little nervous.  The first time I was introduced to blogging was last semester and it was for only a short period of time.  The nerves increased because I had to write a blog for two other classes and wasn't sure if I was going to be able to keep up.  I found myself enjoying the blogging process.  I believe I liked it so much because I was given a structured assignment.  Toward the end of the semester I found it to be a hassle, because I couldn't think of topics to discuss.  Overall, I believe this course has allowed be to venture outside my comfort zone of writing style and I came to enjoy it.

Research

When I entered this class I never would have thought that my research would be on food.  I loved how it was incorporated into the course though, and really liked the outcome of my collaborative research project.  I have done interviews before, but none of them were ever taped.  I usually e-mail interview questions to participants and wait for responses.  Trying to develop a research question was difficult for my group.  We all had an idea for a research question, but it fell apart when finding people to interview was too time consuming.  We decided to go in a completely different direction and the outcome was better then we expected.  The three of us have different working habits.  Two of us work better doing things the last minute, while the other person likes to do things way in advance.  Eventually, we worked it out and were able to deliver a well organized project.   We developed questions to ask our participants, but I found myself asking additional questions as the interview process went forward.  The annotated bibliography was difficult for me because I wasn't quite sure what one was.  After figuring it out, I found it to be a useful tool in the research process.  Overall, my research styles have changed because of this course and I look forward to using it more in the future.

Technology

This was my favorite part of the course, believe it or not.  Ask any one in my house and they will tell you that I absolutely hated technology, and now I'm doing things on a computer that they haven't even heard of.  Last semester I got my first taste of using "big boy" technology.  I had to make a website, use a twitter account, write a blog, and more.  I was introduced to these things in small doses, so I didn't appreciate them for all that they are worth.  Last semester I used Google to make my website.  I found that Weebly is so much easier to use and navigate.  After last semester I deleted my Twitter account because I absolutely hated it.  It didn't make sense to me and I didn't know how to use it to its full advantage.  This semester I have a new Twitter account and plan on keeping it, in fact I deleted my Facebook account.  I have learned to use lists, follow different companies and associations, and use TwitPics.  For our oral history project we used a Flip camera to record our interview.  I wasn't really involved in the process of downloading our video so I didn't mind using that piece of technology, Aubrie might say differently.  We used YouTube and Viddler to download our videos.  YouTube was annoying, just because of the length restrictions they have.  The last piece of technology that I used this semester was my favorite.  I put our collaborative research project onto a Prezi.  I really enjoyed working with it, it was so easy to understand and manuver.  I am thinking of replacing powerpoints with this technology.  Overall, my technology experience was the best.  I was able to re-introduce myself to technologies I've used in the past and I have grown to love them instead of hating them.