CWC Reflection

Sammi Branch

12/12/11

Now that my CWC project is complete I can look back and be happy with what I made, the process was long and pretty hard but the end product was successful. The most challenging part of the whole project was the communication aspect. Coordinating with the different members of the EnviroClub was difficult, but worked out for the most part.

This project was successful because my time management was really good compared to a lot of other big projects I have done. I seemed to have learned a little from past mistakes and got a start on this when it was assigned so that I didn’t have to cram as much at the end. I think that my interest in the subject also added to the overall success because I was motivated to do it not only to pass a class but for my own personal gain. The main challenge was communication. To overcome that challenge I got all of the members’ email addresses and contacted them frequently. Some replied a lot more than others but overall it was good. I also was in contact with Joe Lohr by phone, email, and in person quite a bit so that was helpful too. In the end I wasn’t able to do blurbs about each member of the EnviroClub because not all of them got back to me and I didn’t want to put any information about people without them knowing about it or approving it.

Adapting my documents to the audience was fairly easy because I was writing to my peer group for the most part. Sometimes I had to remember to reign in the humor and sarcasm because although most people would probably understand some might not and I didn’t want to isolate anyone. For example in one of my documents I used the phrase “and all of your wildest dreams will come true” which was a catch phrase from the movie Napoleon Dynamite. When I sent you a draft you commented on it without realizing where the phrase was from and one of my test subjects did as well so I knew that I couldn’t keep that line even though I thought it was funny. I also had to be extra conscious about giving context in my documents since the EnviroClub is new at Westminster this year and doesn’t have a recognized name around here yet.

If I could do it again I think I would push to have another meeting with all of the officers and the advisor of the EnviroClub because this time around I had one meeting like that. Joe was very helpful and enthusiastic which was great, but I would have liked to get the rest of the group’s ideas too just because brainstorming with more people is usually more productive. I would also work on my time management a little more. Although I think I did a really good job this time I know I could improve. Time management is always something I am working on.

I think I deserve an A on this project because I completed all of the assignments fully and on time. I also put a lot of time and effort into this project and thought about all aspects of it. I really tried to make professional and good looking documents that will be effective for their purpose and I think I achieved that goal. There are definitely aspects that I would improve if I were to do this again, but I wouldn’t change too much. I would definitely tweak a few of the documents to perfect them more, like the recycling guide, but when I look at all of my documents together I’m really proud of them, especially since I don’t consider electronic design one of my strong points.