Communication Competence

​"Learners will become effective communicators in their discipline."

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Summary: I will develop and evolve my communication to become more clear and appropriate for the intended audience. My communication will become very flexible and easily adaptable as I change to different situations.

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Goals:

1.) I will learn how to effectively analyze different audiences in order to determine the best way to produce and deliver a project.

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2.) Be able to properly distinguish differences in writing style, in order to determine what kind of approach is the most reasonable in certain situations.

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       For my Communication Competence artifact I have chosen to display my second research paper completed in my ENG-111 class. This paper was unique in that it allowed for me to take a different approach to my writing style and instead of simply completing a paper on a topic and then informing my audience about the issue; this time I was able to take a stance on a topic of choice that was very important to me and argue my position to my audience which were my classmates. At the start of the project, I wanted to ensure that I came up with a topic that was going to make it easier for me to write and put my full writing ability into the assignment. Eventually I had the idea to argue the case for an intelligent creator. Looking back, after seeing how I executed this topic, I have a lot of pride in this specific assignment and I believe it is one of my best pieces of work ever completed in an English class.

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       When first coming up with the ideas and overall topic for this assignment I had two goals that I wanted to accomplish in regards to my communication competence. The first of these goals was to "learn how to effectively analyze different audiences in order to determine the best way to produce and deliver a project." Something that I wanted to make sure I figured out how to do on the college level was analyze my audience, which were my classmates, and figure out how I could best mold a topic to fit the concerns of my audience while also being something that I firmly believed in. This goal, like I just mentioned, had a lot to do with my topic of choice, which I wanted to be about the proof for the existence of Jesus. This topic was, and is, near and dear to me because of my Christian faith; so naturally, I wanted to use this topic because it was something that I could easily connect to and find easy to talk about. One problem I found with the topic however was that not all people believe in Jesus and some believe in different creators or no creator at all. In order to combat this problem, I decided to change my topic to the argument for an intelligent creator. This broader version of my initial topic helped to fit in more of my audience and made me seem less like someone who was trying to push religion or ideology on my classmates; which is something I wanted to avoid the appearance of. With this change of topic successful in my paper, I would say I definitely succeeded in analyzing my audience and adapting to both their needs and mine when it came to this particular project.

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       The second goal that I set out to accomplish with this assignment was to "be able to properly distinguish differences in writing style, in order to determine what kind of approach is the most reasonable in certain situations." When it came to the communication for my argumentative paper, I naturally had to take a different approach than my informative paper about videogames and modern society written previously. The projects were not only different topics entirely, but the first one had to do with just informing the audience, and the second had to do with persuading the audience. As a result, I had to make sure that my writing approach and tone changed accordingly in order to get my point across with my argumentative paper. My language and thought process for my second paper had to be heavily considered, because if it was not in good shape, then my audience would not understand what I was trying to persuade them of. So, I ended up making sure I included many forms of evidence for each point that I made while also explaining each topic and point multiple times in different ways so that each piece of evidence was able to be understood. This allowed time for the information to be processed and thought about internally before the next idea was discussed on paper. With this technique implemented, I can safely say I was able to distinguish the difference in writing style and find the best approach for this specific project.

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       Even though ENG-111 was one of my first classes at SPCC, I feel like it provided some of the most beneficial skills that I have acquired during my time in college. This class was very much a comfort zone class in order to transfer students more comfortably to a college setting, and for that, I am very grateful, because it allowed me to learn the requirements for college-level writing while also practicing these requirements on familiar topics and projects that I had completed before. Mrs. Kirby was also one of the best teachers I ever had, she always taught with a smile, engaged with each student, and made sure to make every day as fun and engaging as it could be!
 

 

 

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Creative Problem Solving

"Learners will apply appropriate techniques to solving problems within their discipline."

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Summary: Through the use of research and other methods, I will become effective at being able to solve problems and certain situations that pertain to my own disciplines of interest. These solutions will be tailored to certain audiences and outcomes to bring forth as much benefit as possible.

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Goals:

1.) To be able to effectively show my knowledge of the specific material learned through proper reflection of skills.

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2.) Show my learned skills and problem-solving competency in a variety of ways; such as note writing, shown work, and diagrams/pictures.

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       For my Creative Problem Solving artifact, I have chosen to display a variety of problems from a homework assignment in MAT-171. The homework assignment I completed was online, but I used the extra paper to show my work and make some extra notes. This class holds a special place in my journey at SPCC because it was the very first college class that I took on campus. The class involved pre-calculus algebra math, which is something that I did have experience with during my time in high school so I wasn't too worried about getting a good grade in the class. I took the class every Monday and Wednesday from 8:00 am - 10:20 am! This large amount of time did seem like a drag on some days but most of the time the class went by incredibly fast. We covered multiple lessons in one day since we only met two days out of the week, were assigned online homework in MyLab Math, and then were tested on our knowledge whenever we came to the end of a lesson. The setup of the class was fairly familiar, and I came to enjoy the schedule and how the class operated. I strived to do my best on the problems presented in this class in order to make sure I was properly prepared for the examination. This led to me being able to also show my skills on exams just as well as I could on homework. 

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       When doing all types of homework assignments in MAT-171, I usually had two goals in mind that I wanted to accomplish with each piece of work. The first of these goals was to "be able to effectively show my knowledge of the specific material learned through the proper reflection of skills." In order to be successful in the showing of my knowledge, I had to make sure that I took extra care in the notes that I produced for the class. When lessons were being given, I made sure to write down as many examples, diagrams, and visual aids as I could so that when the time came to complete homework I had a multitudinous amount of resources to succeed with the said assignment. Getting good grades on homework shows some indication of a good creative problem-solving skill, but I also wanted to ensure that I provided my reasoning for how I arrived at my solution to show that I had gained the knowledge necessary to complete my assignments. With this in mind, I would say I succeeded a majority of the time with homework assignments because of my ability to properly reflect my skills learned in the classroom. This has taught me the importance of taking everything an instructor says into account, to make sure that one succeeds in the class with the sorts of assignments, tasks, and projects that will be given. If one is able to properly explain what they learned and how they learned it, it then becomes easier to put what was learned into practice on an assignment or in the real world.

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       The second goal that I wanted to achieve with these kinds of assignments was to "show my learned skills and problem-solving competency in a variety of ways; such as note writing, shown work, and diagrams/pictures." With having succeeded in showing a proper reflection of skills on homework; I also wanted to apply that same level of creative problem solving to a variety of different methods to show fluency in all kinds of situations. This is shown in the problems given in the example by the multiple topics that are covered as well as the examples given with some of the math problems. It can be seen on the artifacts that I introduce the formula for midpoint and distance; making sure to include the formulas in a written form as to remember them easier. However, lower on the page is a section on the Pythagorean Theorem; this section not only includes written notes but a picture of a triangle that is properly labeled to show items that could be solved in a problem. Lastly, there is a section on the second provided artifact that demonstrates increasing, decreasing, domain, range, and constant sections on two x and y planes. Different topics covered in MAT-171 required different types of note-taking and problem-solving; which allowed for me to become more fluent in all types of math learning, thus increasing my problem-solving competency. Applying these different techniques over the course of the class really aided me in my note-taking skills, which led to more productive completion of homework, which of course then led to high performances on exams.

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       If one is looking for a class that will increase things like critical thinking and creative problem solving; I would look no further than the math classes offered at SPCC. I only had experience with pre-calculus algebra at SPCC but I am confident that the other options offer the same amount of benefits to a student. My instructor in particular didn't really tell us everything that we needed to write down, it was mostly up to us. In hindsight, this was a great thing to implement to make sure that we were taking control of our own learning and actually showing genuine interest in the material. Having this sort of control over one's success can be stressful, but it shows the instructor and the student alike the kind of drive that the student actually has if they are not being constantly told to take control of their learning and work.

 

 

 

 

Understanding the Arts and the Human Experience

"Learners will demonstrate an understanding of arts and humanities in historical and cultural settings."

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Summary: I will be able to effectively communicate the history and significance of the arts to anyone that would ask me. I will also develop the necessary insight and skills to be able to appreciate art in a way that I never have before, as well as connect it to different eras of history.

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Goals:

1.) I will strive to properly convey a personal experience with arts and the human experience and show how it affected me as an individual.

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2.) Develop a stronger understanding of the deeper meaning of real-world experience in order to realize its importance in learning.

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       For my Understanding the Arts and the Human Experience artifact, I have chosen to display my Khalid concert report from my Music Appreciation class (MUS-110) that I took during the spring of 2020. This class was actually the last one that I was in person for before we had to go fully online due to the onset of COVID-19 that March. We would meet for this class every Friday and discuss important musical figures as well as have conversations about how music had impacted our lives in general. I remember going to class that one Friday and our instructor telling us that this was going to be the last time that we would be meeting in person. At this point, I didn't know much about the virus and thought that it must be something pretty serious if we were going to have to learn from home for a while. What was supposed to be two weeks of no in-person schooling turned into a lot longer as we all know, and it was at this point that I knew I would have to become very familiar with the online way of schooling at SPCC. Anyways, the assignment that I have chosen to talk about in this reflection was one of the last ones that I completed at school, and it was also a very interesting assignment for me because I got to write a paper about a concert experience that I was apart of. That past August, my Aunt Sarah surprised me for my birthday by telling me that she got tickets to the Khalid concert. I was beyond excited because at the time I was listening to Khalid almost every day, and he just produced this feeling in his music that I was particularly drawn to and felt was unique from anything else I had heard before. His music had and still does have deeper dives into the life and different aspects of living as a young person in America. I am someone who really enjoys music with a strong meaning and purpose in it, and Khalid fits this description perfectly in every song that he performs. So, when I was told that I could either produce a research paper about a famous musician or write about a personal experience at a concert; I immediately knew that I was going to write about the concert because I wanted to really bring out what I felt on paper.
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       When beginning the creation of this assignment, I had two goals that I wanted to accomplish within this specific program outcome through the assignment itself. The first of these goals was to "properly convey a personal experience with arts and the human experience and show how it affected me as an individual." Since the program outcome specifically talks about the arts and the human experience, I realized that this assignment provided me with the perfect opportunity to talk both about the art of music as well as how it affected me as an individual in this instance. Another thing that made this experience even more impactful was the fact that it was a live performance. So, not only was the music itself taken in, but also the entire crowd and atmosphere that was present during the concert. I made sure to mention all kinds of aspects that I witnessed during the concert, including the nature of the crowd, the energy that Khalid brought to the concert, as well as my favorite and least favorite songs that were performed. At the end of the paper, I made sure to bring everything together by explaining how the songs impacted me as an individual. This can be seen in parts where I said "The mood is everything when it comes to Khalid’s music and it is really the most defining musical aspect of his pieces", and "The one song that triggered the most emotional response was the song called “Hundred” which talks about how the world keeps spinning and there is no reason to worry about it because we all have our own things we need to be doing every day of our lives." I took a deep dive into almost every song that felt significant to me, while also making sure to discuss the feel of each one and how I specifically connected to it, if at all. These kinds of quotes and information included in my paper show how I was able to portray my human experience with the specific art of music.
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       The second goal that I wanted to achieve when it came to this assignment was to "develop a stronger understanding of the deeper meaning of real-world experience in order to realize its importance in learning." Listening to music on devices like my phone and through speakers was already impactful to me by itself; but being able to experience the same music in person makes for an entirely different feel and vibe that most times, can't be matched by anything else. There was one thing I will say that hindered my experience; the crowd was sometimes way too loud, and it kept me from clearly hearing what was being sung. Sometimes I didn't even hear the transition from one song to another and it got to the point where this was getting to be an annoyance. At the times I could hear though, it was something truly special because I was able to not only listen to the music I had heard before but also see how Khalid felt when he performed his music. His movements and body language reflected how I felt about music most times, and it was interesting to see someone else portray their love for the art in a physical way. It always amazes me how music can trigger this unexplainable feeling within oneself that you just can't explain, but I do know that it's one of the best feelings in the world. The best way to describe it is like you feel a rush of all this passion and sincerity at the same time; all the while truly appreciating the amazing gift that music is to all of mankind. I mention my take on this real-world experience at the end of my paper when I mention, "...we were able to really enjoy the message that was being sent through the music while also being able to see the feel and vibe of the music in a live setting." The ending of the paper was critical in delivering the aspects of my actual real-world experience and how it affected me overall.
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       Music appreciation was something that I already had an innate interest in, so being able to talk about a real-world experience through the lens of music was a perfect combination. Every time I come across the opportunity to write about music and its impact I take it because I am always able to find great research and facts behind its importance. It just so happened in this circumstance that I was able to not only discuss music but more specifically my personal experience with the music at a live concert; which ultimately changed my perspective on the arts and understanding the human experience. Plus, now I have a personal account of my experience at the concert that I can use to really look back and remember the event as I get older.
 

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Social Scientific Literacy

"Learners will demonstrate an understanding of social science methodologies in order to explain the consequences of human actions."

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Summary: Through becoming acquainted with social scientific literacy, I will become more effective at seeing the consequences of people's actions and be able to determine why people do certain things. My understanding of human behavior will also develop even further as I explore this outcome.

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Goals:

1.) Be able to understand why certain social constructs and ideas are created over others.

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2.) Properly show how a social science methodology is directly involved with the consequences of human actions.

 

       For my Social Scientific Literacy artifact, I have chosen to show my research paper on the Electoral College created in my American Government (POL-120) class during the spring of 2021. I chose to take this class as an elective because I had already taken both American Histories I and II, so I wanted to take another history class pertaining to America. I thought that this class would be a good pick because it delved deeper into the workings of the American government and how it operates. This eventually led to the final in the class, which involved writing a research paper on some suggested topics by the instructor or a topic of our choice as long as it was approved by the instructor. I happened across a suggested topic that pertained to the Electoral College and if it was obsolete or not. I decided right away to go with this topic because I already had prior experience with the topic of the Electoral College with my persuasive speech created in my public speaking class. This made it easier for me to get started on this particular project, and I also revisited some of the same sources that I used for my persuasive speech with a few added new ones for extra support.
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       Just like previous assignments before it, I had two goals in mind when coming up with the strategy for completing this assignment. The first goal that I wanted to achieve was to "be able to understand why certain social constructs and ideas are created over others." This goal pertained to social scientific literacy and was also very much oriented around the assignment itself. I had done research on the Electoral College before, but this time I wanted to really understand why the Electoral College itself was implemented instead of some other idea that could have been used instead. I eventually found the answer during my research and reflected it in my paper through a section I completed about the Founding Father's inclusion of the Electoral College as being very intentional because it was essentially a compromise between the large state and small states, who both wanted very different things when it came to voting in elections. From this example, I learned exactly why the Electoral College needed to be the construct that was included in our election process because it provided a fair compromise between two different wants. Changing the name of the Electoral College would have still worked of course, but any other foundational idea most likely would have not lasted as long as the Electoral College has. Its longevity also shows how this particular social construct existed over any other ideas that were proposed. This analysis successfully showed me why certain social constructs and ideas are accepted over others.
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       The second goal that I wanted to accomplish pertaining to this program outcome was to also "properly show how a social science methodology is directly involved with the consequences of human actions." In order to accomplish this goal, I had to delve a little deeper into the topic to find out the kinds of studies that were completed on the general populous as a result of the Electoral College being a part of the American government for quite a long time. Social science methodology involves surveying and looking at both quantitative and qualitative data on a certain subject. In my paper, I included a statistic that showed the growing distaste for the Electoral College since about 65% of Americans support choosing the president by popular vote; while only 32% want the Electoral College to remain a part of our election system. This particular study shows how the consequences of the decision to include the Electoral College have affected the general public today. Even though said consequences are good in my opinion, it seems most people in America think that we need to move on from the Electoral College. I ended up bringing some subjective thought into my paper and explained why the Electoral College needs to be maintained despite the continuous rise in negative feelings towards the policy. This experience helped me to really grasp and understand how social scientific methods can be used to determine the attitudes of people today towards certain human actions taken sometimes way in the past.
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       This class not only provided me with great insight into our American government, it also showed me how the choices made in the past regarding the formation of our country still stand strong today even though the entire country does not agree on certain policies. Human actions taken by our Founding Fathers and previous presidents can be examined today and the impacts of those said actions can be examined by the means of social scientific methodologies. This in turn can help us to understand the feelings towards these actions and determine then if a change needs to occur.