Always Something More to Learn

Originally published in edublogs, Writing for Learner Engagement. Part of the Class Home Room Blog from a course at the U of T. Posted under Always Something More to Learn, URL

1. How did you find the last assignment to create a job aid, reference guide or infographic? What this a useful challenge, and something you see yourself leveraging in future?
   • Writer’s block, well perhaps more like topic block. I wanted to create something that I could repurpose for work, but I have too many projects on the go and had trouble determining what would be a good topic for this purpose. I finally landed on a handout on active learning strategies. I wanted to update the handout with different strategies, so I thought it made a good candidate for a complete redesign.
   • In my work, we do create a lot of handouts, or SharePoint pages with instructions on how to complete a task. Brevity is key, so this assignment was very useful because it forces you to concentrate on the most important points. No one wants to look at an infographics that is just text.
2. Reflect back on your prior assignments and blog posts in this course. What have been some highlights? What would you say are the key techniques or ‘aha moments’ you experienced that have influenced how you will approach writing for your audiences going forward?   
   • I was surprised to see so many connections between developing curriculum and writing. So many elements are similar, like writing engaging titles and powerful introductions, chunking materials into manageable pieces, the importance of organization and placement of materials, and creating meaningful content that people want to read.
   • Some important takeaways for me are writing concisely, alternating paragraph length, breaking up text through the use of other elements (bulleted lists, images, text boxes, etc.), and engaging your audience. So many things that apply not only to my writing, but also my teaching. Again, I was surprised to see so many connections.
3. How do you feel about writing now vs. when you started this course seven weeks ago?
   • Writing was a chore, but now it is fun again. I enjoyed exploring topics that were outside of my purview, hoping to engage my audience and provide a compelling reason why we should care about these issues. So maybe that is it – learning to write persuasively.
4. Action Plan – What are 1-3 ideas or actions you would like to commit to in order to continue the development of your writing skills?
   • Concentrate on art and design elements while ‘presenting’ my written works.
   • Practice, practice, practice. That is the only way to improve.
   • Focus on writing for online curriculum.