Within this site, you will find artifacts I use to demonstrate what I've learned throughout my M.A. journey followed by my reflection. Each artifact highlights learning outcomes from the MA program including:
For this portfolio, I have focused on providing works related to technical writing, higher education, and professional training. If you need a summarized view of my work, education, and project experience, please review my Resume.
If you have any questions or the need to reach out, feel free to find me on LinkedIn or share your contact information with me.
During my last semester in the PTW undergraduate program, there were a lot of moving parts. I worked as a Technical Writing Intern with a local IT company where I anticipated becoming full-time at the beginning of 2018 - the same year I started the MA. Already putting an almost-completed degree to work, I still felt the need to further my education to improve my confidence as a writer. Looking back, was this the right decision for me?
Although joining the program while meeting my professional development goals meant a lot on my plate, it was still to my advantage because I could intertwine assignment subjects with my professional development. The situations I chose to address often would benefit me in the workplace (e.g., learning to write a policy or researching technical communication theory with a workplace scenario in mind).
For example, I was lucky enough to teach Composition 1 because of Composition theory and Online Writing Instruction theory as an adjunct. This provided unique experiences that improved my information design and software documentation skills. Teaching students about writing in the classroom isn't the same as training users to use new software solutions. Still, both share similar needs such as good support materials, presentations or demonstrations over processes, a plan or curriculum, and the need to have learners demonstrate "proof of learning."
Even as an intern, my undergraduate work enabled me to create templates and documentation beneficial to support the company and its customers. Being promoted from an intern to a full-time technical writer, I took on new responsibilities such as traveling to customer facilities and training users on software tools vital to their position. The starting place still began with technical reference materials. I needed to create presentations and in-depth training material addressing specific processes defined in US regulation and customer protocols.
Tackling these new experiences in parallel improved my ability to contextualize learning outcomes in the classroom as value drivers for my work. I am grateful for my education that gave me an edge in training and working with groups of people all over the world. It was this extra mile in my development that gave me an edge when collaborating with Project Managers across multiple corporations or SMEs to create a wide varity of documents such as Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), user manuals (webHelp docs), and wikis.
Had it not been for the MA program, I am not sure how successful I would be in many situations where leaders relied on me to create professional materials under tight constraints (time, customer or regulatory requirements, etc.). It is because of these experiences, I am motivated to keep up with changes in the industry and still follow my passion for teaching or training learners.