General Education- Core Skills
This page will highlight my learning in the General Education Core Skills. The General Education Core skills are the written and oral communications, technology, critical thinking, and cultural literacy. For each skill I have provided an artifact as evidence of my learning. I took time to reflect on the assignment and what I learned from it. In many cases, I learned so much more than just what the assignment was focused on.
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Through each of these assignments my critical thinking skills of analysis and logical reasoning were further developed. It is difficult to look at your own work with a critical eye. We tend to see things as they are and not apply deeper thought to the why's and how's of concepts. By reflecting on my learning I have learned that I am better suited for writing than I am for math or science. It is not difficult for me to craft a paper or explain things using words creatively but solving a complex math problem can cause my head to spin.
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The core skill that intimidated me the most was the oral communications. I had purposely put off the public speaking class as long as I could. This past summer I decided it was time to take on the challenge and be finished with it. I was surprised to find I was more confident in presenting a speech before my peers than I thought I would be. I learned it is best to address fears as early as possible and not let them guide or hinder my journey.
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The cultural literacy skill was one I found very interesting. I had not considered a career in counseling or advising until I took my first psychology and sociology classes. The study of people and their cultural norms, the way their minds work and their behavior all intrigued me. I began to explore ways I could use that new knowledge to help people. Becoming a college adviser or counselor emerged as a possible path to use these skills.
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As your explore my core skill artifacts you will see I have emerged as a new critical thinker. I no longer view things on the surface but look further into a topic for deeper meaning. Even though I am still not where I want to be yet I know with time and practice I will become the experienced critical thinker I long to be.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
The learner will organize and express ideas clearly through written communication in a manner appropriate for the intended audience.
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In my own words, the outcome of written communication states that I, the learner, am capable of exploring ideas and conveying those ideas and findings to my audience in a way that is easy for them to comprehend and understand by using appropriate language and techniques.
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For the Written Communication artifact I chose my analysis paper on A Streetcar Named Desire. It was written for my American Literature II (ENG 232) class in the Spring of 2018. The assignment was a final and required us to look at one of the stories we studied during the course through a different lens. We were to choose one of the lenses that we had learned about in the course, some options were the Marxist lens, the feminist lens and the queer lens.
This assignment involved thinking outside of the traditional understanding of the author’s motive and message.
My first goal for the written communication skill was to use techniques of analysis to understand a piece of literature on a deeper level. I used symbolism and underlying repeating themes to base my analysis on. There was additional research that looked into the life of the author to reveal what his motive might have been in looking at the piece through this new viewpoint. Tennessee Williams was linked to a homosexual lifestyle and the possibility of this underlying theme is plausible. It was my job to prove to my audience that the new viewpoint is possible.
My second goal was to present a new way to look at a piece of literature that was convincing. My aim was to prove to my audience that there are many different viewpoints that can result from an author's approach to his writing.
This analysis paper proves that I am able to analyze information and use it to create a whole picture even if the picture differs from the traditionally expected thinking. It is evidence that I can use critical thinking skills to identify that there may be new thinking required for all information. Only by keeping an open-mind can we be critical thinkers. This paper meets my goals in that it shows I can use the information that I have analyzed to create a new picture of something that appears at first to be one thing but, can have many different meanings.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
The learner will organize and express ideas clearly through oral communication in a manner appropriate for the intended audience
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In my own words, Oral Communication is verbally relaying information to an audience using words and language that they can understand.
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The speech I chose for my oral communication artifact is the one I presented on student debt. This informative speech was delivered in my Public Speaking (COM 231) class during the Summer of 2018. The assignment was to research, plan and deliver an informative speech on a topic that is relevant to our audience. The speech is titled, Reducing College Debt.
In this speech, I addressed the expenses of attending both a community college and a four- year university. I discussed the differing costs involved and then offer solutions to avoiding student debt. During my speech, we explored scholarships, work study, and traditional student loans. I also informed my audience on alternative means to pay for school such as employee-based tuition assistance plans and the military. In addition to talking about extra sources of income to pay for school, I also discussed the ways to reduce college expenses including renting books, buying used books and living at-home or off-campus.
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My first goal for the oral communication skill was to organize information in a manner that is informative and interesting to my audience. Through this presentation I learned to format a full-sentence outline and craft a speech that flowed freely and held meaning for my audience. Most of the students in my class were young adults just beginning their college careers. Many were not aware of the different options open to them to save money on their educational path.
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My second goal was to effectively incorporate a power point presentation into my speech. At first, I was quite intimidated. I struggled to pull the power point up and have it projected on the smart board in the room. This was the first time that I needed to coordinate my slides with the progress of my speech. I did forget to change my slides once or twice and learned that in the future it would be a good idea to write the slide transition on my note cards.
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The public speaking communications class was a challenge for me because I have never enjoyed speaking in front of a group of people. It was an experience that taught me to be well-informed with my material and speak with authority. I learned that I need to project my voice so that everyone in the room can hear me, otherwise my efforts are lost. The skills I learned in this class will help me in my professional career as there will be many opportunities to address groups of students through the college advising office.
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TECHNOLOGY
The learner will choose and utilize appropriate technologies to access, organize, analyze and communicate information.
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In my own words, I will learn to find and use appropriate means of technology to understand, organize and share information.
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My ePortfolio will serve as my technology artifact. It is an assignment and main-focus of the Critical Thinking class (HUM 115) I am taking during my last semester. The assignment is designed to showcase my work and learning throughout my college career at SPCC. It requires reflection which deepens my critical thinking skills. All core skills and program outcomes must be included and be accompanied with reflection on the learning that took place through the assignment. It is a valuable way to really understand and appreciate the amount of learning that has taken place over the course of the Associate of Arts program.
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My first goal for the technology skill was to create a professional looking website that my audience could easily navigate. I chose to create my ePortfolio on a Wix site because it is user friendly and allows flexibility for what is included in the site. I created easy to use tabs that my audience can click on to visit the different areas of my site. The format of my pages are clean and non-cluttered to allow for an appealing aesthetic to my pages.
My second goal was to include information that is organized to showcase my learning and includes a theme. Each page explains my learning path at SPCC through artifacts and reflections. My theme throughout the site is my educational journey that has helped me realize my passion for advising students. Each page and artifact is evidence that my learning path has helped me become who I am today.
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The ePortfolio assignment has been extremely challenging for me. I approached it with apprehension because I had never created a website on my own and was not certain I could add all the details and still make it pleasing to my viewers. I learned that it is possible for me to create an appealing site that is easy to navigate. I also learned that creating a website is very time-consuming and requires a great deal of editing to insure that information is shared correctly. The skills I learned from this assignment will be beneficial as I enter the next phase of my educational journey and need to share information in a creative, professional format.
CRITICAL THINKING
The learner will apply the basic principles of interpretation and analysis to synthesize information.
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In my own words, Analysis and Interpretation is using all aspects of information to achieve a full understanding of the material.
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For the critical thinking artifact, I chose a problem from my MAT 171 class. Pre-Calculus Algebra is a difficult subject for me and this problem required that I understand the formula and use it to solve the problem. I chose this math problem because it proves that I am able to analyze information and use it to solve a complicated problem.
My first goal for the critical thinking skill was to learn how to identify a quadratic function. A function is when each element in a domain corresponds to one element in the range. A quadratic function is a polynomial that includes more than one variable and results in the formation of a parabola when graphed.
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My second goal was to correctly graph a quadratic function. The graphing process included finding the vertex and the y and x intercepts. By graphing the function, I was able to then determine the domain and range and further determine the increasing range and the decreasing range of the parabola.
This math problem challenged me to apply a multi-step process to solve the problem. The class was extremely challenging to me. I had trouble remembering how to work with the different functions and solve the problems. At times, I even made the problems more difficult than they truly were. Critical thinking is not only being able to apply multiple steps to solve a problem but also the skill to look at a problem and determine that the answer is not a complex process.
I did not do as well in this class as I would have liked. Through my educational journey I have realized that math and science are not my strong points. Completing this pre-calculus class will satisfy the math requirement for my degree and I do not plan to take another one. I have learned that I enjoy English and Sociology based analysis more than mathematical and scientific analysis.
CULTURAL LITERACY
The learner will demonstrate a "set of cognitive, affective, and behavioral skills and characteristics that support effective and appropriate interaction in a variety of cultural co
This outcome states that I understand individuals and groups from different cultures who have various beliefs and social structures. I am able to explain that society and cultures affect behavior and the opportunities or lack of opportunities that are present for differing groups of people.
I have chosen the paper titled, The Sociology of Youth: The effects of Socialization Agents on the Development of Youth, as my artifact for cultural literacy. This paper was written for the Introduction to Sociology (SOC 210) class that I took in the Spring of 2017. The assignment was to discuss what we had learned about social norms and apply it to a people group.
This paper discusses the socialization agents that affect the development of adolescents through their formative years. It explains that an adolescent develops their values and belief systems through their family, peers and community. The differing family dynamics have a direct impact on the healthy development of the adolescent as do their friends and their community involvement. Overall, teens who are raised in broken homes and disadvantaged neighborhoods do not fare as well as their counterparts who are raised in traditional families with unlimited resources. There are cases that go against the norm though.
I chose this paper because it provides evidence that I understand the norms of different societies and how these norms affect the behaviors of individuals. It is well-written, deeply researched and presents a paper that is informative as well as concise. I have many scholarly sources and the length of the paper is one of my longest. The paper discusses the interactions of adolescents with differing age groups and discusses how their world-view develops. It meets my goals of focusing on a cultural issue that applies to all cultures and is written in a professional manner.
