D#10.0, HW#4 – Project #3 Reflection
To complete Project #3 I took a lot of steps in planning my actual document. I tried to lay it out in a way that would make sense and flow naturally. I also tried to include as much detail as possible so that the report would be thorough and make sense to someone who may not have known what was happening at Geek Tech University in regards to the usability test. I brainstormed and worked off of an outline to complete my assignment. If I could change one of thing about the process it would be to get started earlier! Lately, I have had a ton of work – both academic and personal – so I have been leaving everything until the last minute. I know that this is not very wise to do, nor will it help me reach my goals academically, so I feel that I should try to rearrange my schedule. Other than that, I would try to come up with a better outlining process. I pretty much went off of the given outline, but I think it may have been a better project had a been more creative with my outline.
For the next project I will:
1. Plan ahead
2. Schedule specific times to do certain tasks for my project
3. Schedule specific times to revise my work
4. Complete my project and turn it in on time
In Project 3, I am fairly proud of my usability test plan. I think that I covered all the required areas as well as being quite detailed with information such as the location, user profiles, and issues/goals. I think that, as I stated before, someone that had no idea what the assignment was about were to read my report, they could easily understand both the purpose of my test and all the components of the test itself. I am most concerned about the language of my project. I don’t know if I necessarily write in a very “scholarly” or university-level way. I never know if what I am saying sounds appropriate. When it came to writing something like a usability report, I was a little uneasy about my voice. I did try to sound more like a IT department worker, though. If I had more time, I would of course work to improve not only my voice, but also my layout. I worked to improve my voice and pacing in this project, so hopefully that came across. I think that it did. I’ll try to improve even more for the next project.
I worked towards several outcomes for this assignment. First, I tried to work on both my organizational style and my flexibility. There were times when I had to balance both my work for this class with other school work, employment, and some family issues. I had to definitely try to organize my time and be as flexible as possible because of the fact that it takes several drafts to come up with a worthwhile and good version. I tried to be as efficient as possible in tackling different tasks to achieve a report that made sense. Actually getting people to test my documents took some time and effort. Unfortunately, I wasn’t as organized as I should have and wanted to be. In addition, I attempted to work on how I addressed the audience and identifying the purpose of the project. Lastly, another thing I am still working on is my voice. As I stated earlier, I don’t really believe my tone/voice fits in an academic setting. I prefer a more relaxed voice. The type of writing I prefer doesn’t really fit in anywhere, I suppose, aside from reflective writing such as this. All of these traits are aspects of my organization and writing that I will work on for the next project, too.
