About

me

Home

Professional Writing Portfolio

Andrea Heeps

Home

Let's Fest! Strategy Report

TWC 544 User Experience

Program Outcome Highlighted; Technology, Rhetorical Knowledge, Practice and Process

Throughout this portfolio, I reflect on growing my understanding of design and how that affects my audience. This project exemplifies the culmination of those experiences; I have difficulty separating one of the outcomes from the others for this project. This project showed me how to move through creating a tool for a user by understanding the concepts of Strategy, Scope, Structure, and Skeleton and how our deliberate decisions regarding those things help me in my role as a user advocate. By clearly mapping the items a user who is new to Fest would need, I feel I was able to represent the user's experience.

We had to identify a need, research solutions for that need, conceive an app that could express that solution, and create frameworks for the visual aspect of that expression. The frameworks shown in this strategy report exemplify the work that went into making sure the user experience is seamless.

This project pushed and expanded my understanding of the concepts we learned throughout this program. It was also the project that made me see myself as a creator who understands how those concepts (and their application) influence successful outcomes for all stakeholders.

Home

French Consulting Employee Handbook

TWC 531 Technical Editing

Program Outcomes Highlighted: Technology

The task for this project was to find a comprehensive editing project for a real client. This is my comprehensive edit of an employee handbook. After reading the handbook and listening to some of the issues of the client, I decided to completely change the platform of the handbook. This solution flattened obstacles such as time zones and logistics..

Since this was the solution I came up with, I had to grow my understanding of technology. I could not create exactly the type of website needed for such a large application. Yet, this was enough to give the client an idea of my proposed possibilities. I had to stretch my understanding of my audience, who was not the client but the client's new hires. These new hires could access this onboarding document from all over the world. Therefore, I had to focus on how best to use technology to communicate the client's values and processes to the new employee.

This project forced me to understand the design aspect of technology as well. Something as simple as font size and proportions took on new levels of importance as I refined the project for my audience. This example exemplifies my initial growth in that realm. The integration of design elements is apparent in this piece. There are many opportunities for improvement here. This piece shows me playing with elements as they were not part of the assignment.

I have an appreciation for design, but the work of using technology and design to communicate information is another level that grew my understanding of my role as advocate for the end user's understanding and success.

Home

Project Management TeamPresentation

TWC 536 Project Management in Technical Communication

Program Outcomes Highlighted: Practices and Processes

Project Management was a class I enjoyed, and I learned many practical applications. I found that my background as a teacher gave me a firm footing in this world, and it was work that inspired and motivated me. I look over the documents I created for this class, and I find myself reflecting on how the process of it all. moving systematically through a construction project from inception to completion, gave me an opportunity to grow my practices and processes utility. In fact, People and process are foundation concepts in Project management. The products we created could be compiled into one Project management portfolio, and it would illustrate how rigorously we followed process to completion.

For our graduate project, we had to give a presentation to a group of experts who had to work together on a project. We had to adopt the persona of a project manager and provide motivation for keeping the team working positively while respecting roles. Again, I had to appreciate my audience and their perspective. These would all be experts in their field, and my understanding of their need to be communicated to on a level that was informative and enriching while being highly considerate of their background had to expand.

Home

This project needed to be made with "new to me" technology that would access the audience in a way I never had before. It also forced me to think critically about technical communication at a point in world history when a profound shift in communication was taking place. This was the project that created the opportunity for the most profound shift in my learning. It really allowed me to see clearly the impact and synergy of the various aspects of this program and how they work together.

The integration of voice-over is the highlight of this project. Integrating voice with presentation elevated what I accomplished in my Project Management presentation. As a threshold experience, it pushed me to grow my understanding of technology and how it can be used to aid in my user's experience.

Virtual Care White paper

TWC 553 Info Tech and American History

Program Outcomes Highlighted:Rhetorical Knowledge and Practice and Process

Home

Writing this white paper for an imaginary company to represent their product and their voice was a fun experience for me. It was one of the last projects I did in the program, and I felt the routine of what I had learned throughout the program becoming second nature. I truly adopted the perspective of the client. I conceived this company, which was supposed to be targeted at baby boomers, with a total understanding of what needed to be done and what voice needed to be utilized.

This project exemplifies a streamlined design with straightforward information. This is a design that the target audience would appreciate. The language is straightforward with a clear message.

Home

Breteau Foundation Grant

TWC 543 Grant and Proposal Writing

Program Outcomes Highlighted: Practice and Process

This was the most challenging project I created. We were asked to find a real organization that would need a grant written for them. Then, we had to find a grant to write and create it. This unique and humbling experience forced me to grow outside the creative space and into the technical aspect.

Creating personas and utilizing the tools taught in the program such as journey mapping and proposal writing helped me understand the needs and perspectives of the audience. These processes helped me to analyze what the needs of my client were, and how best to fulfill those through the details of the grant.

The focus for this project is practice and process. I have a tendency to rely on the creative side of writing, and this project did not utilize that strength. I do have a background as a paralegal, so I can take on that voice. This needs a great deal of cleanup, but I relied heavily on formatting in a direct and easy-to-read fashion which highlights the process of this grant. It involved a great deal of research and organization to satisfy the requirements of the client and the grant.

Home

For my final reflection, I want to consider this portfolio itself as my final project. By that, I mean, curating and reflecting on how to present each item is a culmination of all the outcomes and shifts I experienced as a student and graduate of this program.

In my metacognitive reflection, I made reference to the fact that learning is not a linear experience. This portfolio exemplifies that understanding. It is a collection of threshold points of understanding and growth which inform and grow each other. As I reflected on these artifacts, it was apparent that each informed and grew the other. Therefore, their placement in relation to each other as being a collective rather than individual representations seemed natural.

The portfolio exemplifies one pivotal change for me as a writer; The threshold concept which had the greatest impact and growth for me was that of user advocacy and experience. All the concepts coalesce into the reality of what is ultimately good for the end user.

I hope that my experience in this program and the growth that I experienced is fully expressed through this portfolio. When I consider it a sum of so many parts, I am overwhelmed by all the opportunities for learning that I took full advantage of through this program. The growth of my understanding of the audience and my appreciation for feedback are two growth points that I feel have impacted all that I have accomplished. They will continue to inform all that I do as I grow as a writer and communicator.