Last semester in the Professional Writing Class, I was involved in a Client Project. Our client was the Digication e-portfolio website and the task was to create help materials for college students new to this platform. Our group thus inspected the e-portfolio system and proposed a workable solution to this problem - embedding an enhanced video with instructions on the e-portfolio page, which will allow students to more efficiently create and update their personal profiles. We started with familiarizing ourselves with the Digication platform. After figuring out how the website worked, we wrote an effective script for the video that would make the instructions easier to follow. Then we watched some instructional videos provided by websites like LinkedIn, and by comparing different video products, we chose a most suitable template for our instructional video. Afterwards, we learned to create a video by using Camtasia (a video-editing software). To make it look and sound professional, we practiced again and again until a final successful video with a verbal instruction came out.
In the professional writing class, Dr. Ashe informed us that we had an opportunity to work with a local client, that is, to create help documents for the Digication e-portfolio website. I was very excited about the project since it was my first time to solve a real-world problem with writing and design. I hoped to gain some knowledge of the business world that I had never entered and skills of business writing, and to learn to cooperate with others in a group.
This client project that lasted for about a semester was challenging yet meaningful. It was my first time to work on a project like this. Though it was really confusing at the beginning, I gradually figured out what we could do on Digication and what our group was supposed to produce for the client. During the process when working with my group members, not only have I learned to cooperate with others, I have also gained some technical knowledge like making videos and make clear recordings.
I enjoy this project as it provides me with an opportunity to explore the real business world and I have learned a lot when cooperating with others. As an international student from China, English is not my native language. By working on this project, I have gained knowledge about writing professionally in English. My goal is to work for a cross-cultural company in China. I believe the skills that I gained from this experience will make me stand out because not all people have the opportunity to study abroad and experience the business (writing) culture in another country as I did.
