Content Reflection:
The CD 315 course was packed with assignments, required readings and writings. My brain has been overloaded with information I have learned from this class. I thought I knew a lot about email, when in fact I only knew the basics. I was able to discover the “in’s and out’s” of email. Including how to make cute smileys and how to recognize an email hoax. I became a member of an email community by subscribing to a mailing list. This is something I would have probably never done on my own but I will do again in the future. I developed search strategies and by doing so created a new path for how I will do research in the future. I began evaluating web sites, which was a new concept. Learning how to decipher a sites credibility and validity, distinguishing between a reliable site and a convincing site. Building my own web site was a fun part of the class. I never thought in a million years that one day I would have a site on the World Wide Web. Developing a topic for my Mulitgenre Research Project was quite simple, deciding where I wanted to go with it proved to be much more confusing and difficult. I was guided to “step out of the box” and create my own masterpieces. I produced seven genres with an array of voices and developed them for a broad audience base. In discovering the wonderful world of PowerPoint I realized that it is not the difficult phenomenon that I imagined it to be. I tried my hand at being a peer reviewer. Peeking into classmates blogs and striving to discern between being helpful to their projects and being hurtful to their feelings. And finally creating journals each week, this being my most unsuccessful endeavor of the entire semester. Struggling to fill up the space with my content, process, and reflections encountered each week.

Process Reflection:
I used many processes in fulfilling my requirements for the course work. When beginning each week I would print off my assignments and check them off each time one was completed. I used the “cut and paste” option on Microsoft Word quite frequently. I further developed my “speed reading” techniques while researching information for my project. I used my critiquing abilities to decide if the information was valuable to my project. I had to train my eye to find typos in my own work. I had to work up enough courage to change the focus of my research after many weeks of hard work when the project began to go astray. I looked to others for support when I felt like pulling my hair out. I looked to Mrs. McComas when I needed direction. I also had to learn to trust in people that I have never met for information and in the end developed new friendships. Finally, I was forced to use self-discipline. Once I decided that I was not a quitter and I would finish out the course I had to buckle down and depend solely upon myself. No one was standing over me telling me to put the remote down and get to work. Although, I did have several people designated to remind me that I had class Wednesday evenings.

Premise Reflection:
Two of the things I believe I will take from this class contradict themselves. The first being not to trust everything I find on the internet even if it may seem credible more digging is necessary to validate its reliability. The second thing is that email communities are not made up solely of weirdos out to get me. After all, I am a member of one now and I am certainly not a weirdo…no matter what my brother says. (Hee Hee) I have also learned that revision is key. I used to complete a project and once I done the initial reread I was finished. I never looked at it again. This semester I have revised my genres over and over again. I was glad to get the opportunity to do so. The further I got into the project, the more I learned and the more I was able to understand how things should fit together. I was also very thankful for the chance to completely change the focus of my project from the environmental issues of cleft palate to the emotional issues related to it. This allowed me to take my project to a more personal level. The things I learned from parents of cleft children and what they and their children endure on a daily basis touched me. I would never want my child to be born with a birth defect but I feel as though knowing these people (mailing list members) has opened my eyes to what unconditional love means. I think that such a diagnosis would not be as scary for me now that I have developed my MRP. Being twenty-seven years old and not planning to start a family anytime soon the risks of me having a child with a birth defect are only getting higher. This is something I am faced with everyday as I try to decide which direction I want my life to go in. I think that this is what will stick with me the most from this project.

Plans:
I think that the things I have learned in this class with help me in the future. In deciding to become an SLP I had to make a conscious decision to never stop learning. This field is ever changing and knowing how to stay up on all the modifications that will happen in my lifetime will be a must. Computer literacy has continued to become a must have in today’s society. Having the knowledge to be able to decipher between credible sites and not so credible sites will be extremely important. I certainly would not want to use a technique or tell another SLP about a technique I read about on the internet without knowing first that it came from a source that could be trusted completely. Augmentative devices are also becoming more and more advanced and I am sure that some of the skills I have used during this class will help me to learn more about them. I will also be able to become part of an online community with confidence and hopefully be able to share valuable information with other people in my field. I think I will remain a member of my mailing list just so that I never loose my compassion for others. Sometimes it is easy to forget how to put yourself in others shoes. I believe that is the most important thing for an SLP to be able to do- not only to fit into the child’s shoes but into the shoes of his/her parents also. I know that I am coming away from this course proud. Proud of what I have been able to accomplish and proud that I stuck it out even though it was extremely rough to do at times.