Welcome!
Thanks for visiting my portfolio website! This site provides a comprehensive overview of my development as a technical communicator during my time in the Technical and Professional Communication graduate program at ASU.
Metacognitive Statement
Statement Transcript:
Hello! My name is Luke, and I am a technical writer working in IT. In my current position, I have gained experience creating, updating, and optimizing software support documentation. I am also responsible for drafting and distributing internal communications within IT. Aside from work, I am a technical communications graduate student at ASU. Throughout my time in this program, I have created a wide variety of articles (or documentation) covering many genres. On this website, you will find samples of these articles, and descriptions for how they contributed to my growth as a technical communicator.
Over the course of the program, my perspective and approach to technical communication has evolved considerably. This can be described in terms of threshold concepts, which are concepts that, once understood, change the way a person thinks about a topic. The threshold concepts that has influenced me the most is information anxiety, which is the tendency to feel overwhelmed or distressed by an overload of new information.
Before entering the program, I would react to complex or foreign information with a sense of anxiety. I doubted whether I would be able to absorb and understand all of the material I was having to deal with. Over time and repeated exposure to unfamiliar information, I began to recognize that my reaction is problematic; technical communication inherently involves grappling with complex and specific subject matter. I am still coming to understand that the technical communicator is not necessarily an expert in the subject in which they are writing about. To remedy this unfamiliarity, they must be willing and able to familiarize themselves with the subject matter at hand. Although I still sometimes feel overwhelmed by unknown information, I am now in the habit of challenging this feeling and embracing the unknown - it is an inevitable part of the learning process. My shift in perspective is the result of being frequently exposed to new concepts and ideas. With practice, I have arrived at a greater sense of self-efficacy. Each time I successfully complete an assignment that involves troublesome information, I feel a bit more confident in my ability to handle it. Although I have not completely overcome my information anxiety, I have made considerable strides in developing a healthier and more productive perspective. This is a skill that I will carry with me in my future professional and educational endeavors, and that I will continue to make progress on moving forward.