Japn 404: Advanced Presentational Communication
This course aims to develop advanced proficiency in communication through oral presentations and developing research papers to present in Japanese using appropriate media. Taught in Japanese.
Course Reflective Narrative
This Advanced Presentational Communication course that I completed in Spring of 2014 fulfills the Research and Technology Major Learning Outcome for my B.A. in Japanese Language and Culture.
In this course I learned the appropriate methods for researching academic, scholarly articles for the background research section of my capstone project. I used online databases such as Ebsco Host and Jstor to find articles relevant to my research of male attractiveness. I then sifted through this information to create a review a literature which was the basis for my survey questions. Another important part of my research included learning the difference between presentational Japanese and written thesis style Japanese. Our presentations and thesis were written in very different styles of Japanese, so we had to be careful when interpreting background results and survey results into Japanese. Finally, we used Google forms to create and send out surveys and then interpret the results. This technology was extremely helpful in acquiring large amounts of data without taking too much time. I was able to send forms to people in Japan and other parts of the USA, which I couldn't have done with a hand-written version. I was then able to see the results in simple summarized graph form, which greatly helped me interpret the data. I also learned how to create accurate and informative graphs with the resulting data through Microsoft Excel.
I used the sources I found to create a review of literature section for both my presentation and final paper in Japanese and English. I also created a Japanese and English Survey with Google Forms. I took the resulting data and created clear and concise graphs to show how I interpreted the data, again in my presentations and final papers. For this class I completed English and Japanese versions of my Capstone surveys, papers, and presentations. I finally made a Japanese script for my presentation using the appropriate Japanese presentational speech style.
I've always been somewhat hesitant in using technology in creative ways like creating graphs through Microsoft Excel or websites like this, but after taking this course I feel much more confident and even excited to use technology professionally. I understand that in this day and age, one has to be able to use technology effectively to make it in the workforce. One also should be able to do research not only in a professional context, but for one's personal life as well.
I still need to develop my basic Microsoft Office skills further, but I feel like I developed a solid foundation for using technology in this class. I plan on creating a separate website for my resume and professional self. I would like to better get to know web tools like Weebly and Wordpress. I intend to learn a little more about new technology in regard to whatever I do professionally ever day from now on.
In this course I learned the appropriate methods for researching academic, scholarly articles for the background research section of my capstone project. I used online databases such as Ebsco Host and Jstor to find articles relevant to my research of male attractiveness. I then sifted through this information to create a review a literature which was the basis for my survey questions. Another important part of my research included learning the difference between presentational Japanese and written thesis style Japanese. Our presentations and thesis were written in very different styles of Japanese, so we had to be careful when interpreting background results and survey results into Japanese. Finally, we used Google forms to create and send out surveys and then interpret the results. This technology was extremely helpful in acquiring large amounts of data without taking too much time. I was able to send forms to people in Japan and other parts of the USA, which I couldn't have done with a hand-written version. I was then able to see the results in simple summarized graph form, which greatly helped me interpret the data. I also learned how to create accurate and informative graphs with the resulting data through Microsoft Excel.
I used the sources I found to create a review of literature section for both my presentation and final paper in Japanese and English. I also created a Japanese and English Survey with Google Forms. I took the resulting data and created clear and concise graphs to show how I interpreted the data, again in my presentations and final papers. For this class I completed English and Japanese versions of my Capstone surveys, papers, and presentations. I finally made a Japanese script for my presentation using the appropriate Japanese presentational speech style.
I've always been somewhat hesitant in using technology in creative ways like creating graphs through Microsoft Excel or websites like this, but after taking this course I feel much more confident and even excited to use technology professionally. I understand that in this day and age, one has to be able to use technology effectively to make it in the workforce. One also should be able to do research not only in a professional context, but for one's personal life as well.
I still need to develop my basic Microsoft Office skills further, but I feel like I developed a solid foundation for using technology in this class. I plan on creating a separate website for my resume and professional self. I would like to better get to know web tools like Weebly and Wordpress. I intend to learn a little more about new technology in regard to whatever I do professionally ever day from now on.
For links to evidence, please see the Capstone Project page.