Wrapping Up

Well, we’ve finished Verified, we’ve wrapped up our Verification Quests, and now we’re well underway with our Interactive Nonfictions. The semester is coming to a close, much sooner than my internal clock tells me it should be. What can we take away from this past week’s classes?

First, we discussed what we all learned from revising our VQ’s. Honestly, there was so much ground to cover that I couldn’t get to it all in my reflection post. We talked about different methods of information-gathering and fact-checking, and how each of us had been able to hone some skills in that regard. One thing I really cemented into my tool belt is leaving the site first thing to check the credibility/motives of the authors or sources from an outside resource. Along with checking up on academic journals’ credibility, that’s been a game-changer in my source-finding forays.

A skill from doing the VQ project that I personally am going to carry over into the Interactive Nonfiction project is the consideration of audience. Who am I trying to write to? What would interest them, and what would they expect from a piece like this? What could have the potential to turn them away from this writing? Questions like these are things I now feel more comfortable juggling while I write. Before, I had only really done writing for assignments, so the audience was sort of just my teacher or professor. Now though, with digital writing opening the door to the entire internet, keeping our audience in mind is critical.

Along with general debriefs about our projects and growth, we also had some discussions about the new group assignment. Making progress on them in class was also something we tackled. Our group specifically feels like we’re in a great spot so far. Not to brag, but we’ve got a solid first draft and working prototype of each part of our project, and we’re looking forward to presenting what we’ve got at the PWR showcase on Friday.

It’s been interesting combining each lesson from this class into one piece of work; like one of my classmates said, this course does a great job building on itself. We started with an understanding of digital writing as a concept, then moved to some basic ways to construct it from the ground up. Alongside that, we learned about the essential components to effective digital writing, like rhetoric, accessibility, and audience. We talked about how to navigate what’s already out there, and how to make sure we’re not spreading harmful misinformation. Now, we get to take a shot at combining literally all of those components into one final project, and that’s incredibly satisfying.

This class has been informative, fun, and engaging all semester, and I’m a little sad that it’s coming to a close. I’m sure I’ll remember the lessons we were taught well into the future, and I can look back on this time fondly. Thank you all for the smiles and laughter!