Going into the Fall 2020 semester I was a scared. I started the semester with a full course load of six classes; I did not know what to expect. The reason why I decided to take ENGL 21007 this semester was because I actually enjoy writing and reading, thus I tend to find English courses fun. I was looking forward to this class, and it did not disappoint.

The class was asynchronous every Tuesday and Thursday, we had discussion posts in which we had to discuss the different assignments and topics. During the course time we had five major assignments: technical description, memo, lab report, engineering proposal, and digital portfolio. Each assignment had a different objective, but all had the same purpose of strengthening our writing composition skills within the Engineering professions.

We kicked off the semester with our vey first big assignment which was composing a technical description. In this technical description, I had to choose a technological device that I wanted to describe. I chose the LCD panels; I had recently been looking at panel and I thought it was a perfect topic to discuss. When writing my first draft, I struggled as one of the restrictions of this assignments was to not give my opinion, rather I had to describe it using facts. I had to limit myself on this device and learn to describe the object without giving my opinion. In addition, I found that putting up my work in the discussion board helped me tremendously not only because I was getting direct feedback from my classmates, but I was also looking at other drafts which helped me get ideas for my own work. In previous English courses I had done peer reviews, however this was different. This was the first time I had done online peer review on my writing. I found this helpful because I was seeing different drafts which helped me brainstorm for better outlines and ideas on my writing. I also felt that in person peer review some people may hold back on what they want to say, but online you’re not seeing the person face to face, so people tend to be more honest in expressing their thoughts and opinions.

The memo project was the second assignment. I found this assignment, particularly, to be one of the hardest. This was not due to its difficulty rather it was a team project. This was my first online team project! As a team we had to identify a problem or issue within NYC’s infrastructure and explain how it could be improved. As a commuter my brain went directly to the MTA Subways. I quickly found out that working online in teams in much harder. Online team members can simply avoid their responsibilities by ignoring a text message, in this case by ignoring a Black Board announcement. When my team members did not contribute to the project I had to step up. As I mentioned, this assignment was one of the hardest, but also the one where I learnt the most. Not only in my writing and researching skills, but interpersonally. I learnt that in the real work force this can also happen and as an engineer I may have to step in without falling behind. Overall, this was one of my favorite projects.

During my memo project I learnt so much about the MTA I decided that I wanted to keep bringing attention to the issues it has. Thus, for my Lab Report I decided to focus on the reason behind the NYC Subway delays. For this project I used the researching skills I had learnt during the previous assignment. During drafting, I stumbled upon a few problems. I have never been good at writing abstracts. This is attributed to the fact that I did not know how to concise my writing. When reading Chapter 9, I learnt that what matter is how you present the information, not how lengthy the paragraphs are. When writing my draft, I tried to put in practice what I had learnt in the reading and I got positive feedback on my draft, so I think I did effectively use what I had learnt.

Fast approaching came the end of the semester. With the semester coming to and end we had to start thinking about the engineering proposal and the digital portfolio. For some time, I had an idea of the topic I wanted to discuss for this assignment. For this assignment, I used all the skills I had learnt throughout the semester. I first started by doing my research and narrowing down the resources based on what I wanted to present to my audience. For this project I decided to link my last two projects, the lab report and the memo. I wanted to bring up the problems the NYC Subways are currently facing and proposed a solution based on information from other subway systems around the world. For this project, I had to do thorough research on other subway systems, I had to learn how to use proper citation, as well as pursuing the audience of my plan while informing them on the ongoing problems.

Lastly, the digital portfolio where everything came together. I found this assignment to be fun. I had previously worked on building websites thus I was familiar with the process. I enjoyed this project because to an extend I could personalize it and add my own touches. In my digital portfolio, I added all my major assignments. In addition, I learnt what I had previously learnt when making the abstracts for each of the projects.

I truly enjoyed this class. Professor Otte made this course fun and easy to follow. Every Tuesday and Thursday I looked forward to the class discussions to bounce off ideas with my peers. As a writer, I have bettered my writing skills, research skills, and drafting skills. As a future engineer I learnt to address my audiences, I learnt to work in teams, and I learnt to keep learning. I will tale the knowledge from this class throughout my life and career.