Written Communication
The learner will exchange ideas and information with others using written text in a manner effective and appropriate for the intended audience.
Written Communication is important when trying to convey thoughts and ideas through writing. The artifact I have selected to show my use of written communication is a research paper about the artist Frida Kahlo, which I wrote for my Painting I class (ART-240). I was supposed to choose a famous painter, research, and write mainly about their works, but was also supposed to write about their life briefly as well. I did extensive research to find credible sources to make sure I could give accurate information about each of the pieces I chose to talk about, as well as accurately talk about the events in her life that led up to her becoming the famous artist she was.
My first goal was to keep the paper focused on the objective of the paper. The main objective of the paper was to discuss the art the artist created and what the art meant, while avoiding talking about the artist’s life more than the art itself. This was very difficult for me to do, seeing as Frida Kahlo’s life heavily influenced the subjects and imagery in her art. To keep my paper from turning into a biography, I used information about her life as a way to show how it influenced her art, as well as transitioning between paragraphs. The bulk of the biographical information was used in the opening paragraph to transition into talking about her art, the information in that paragraph being about the events in her life that occurred that eventually led to her career as an artist. From there, the rest of the biographical information about Frida Kahlo was focused on how her life and the events that occurred in her life influenced the art she created. By doing this, I successfully talked about her art, while also talking about her life in a way that kept the paper’s topic from straying from the objective of the assignment.
My second goal was to avoid relying too heavily on in-text citations. In past papers, I have relied very heavily on citing sources in-text to convey what it was I was trying to say. In this assignment, since the main objective was to discuss the art and what meaning each piece had within it, I focused on discussing the way the art appeared and what symbolism I could see was scattered throughout each piece based on knowledge I already had, rather than relying too heavily on what online sources said. Through doing this and using information that had already been previously discussed earlier in the paper, I was able to avoid using more than at maximum three in-text citations per paragraph, making my paper flow much smoother as I discussed each piece of art.
Through my success in meeting each goal, I feel that I have become better at communicating through writing and have acquired valuable skills that I can continue to improve upon in the future. Through using biographical information as a transition point between my topics and paragraphs as well as the influence that her life had on her art, I was able to keep the paper focused on the main objective, preventing my paper topic from straying away from the art and accidentally turning into a biography, but not completely leaving any biographical information out that I thought the paper would benefit from.
Along with avoiding turning my paper into a biography, I also avoided relying too heavily on in-text citations when discussing each piece, only using in-text citations when I felt it was absolutely necessary. Through doing this, I was able to keep my paper from being mostly made up of in-text citations, keeping the paper even more focused on the objective of the paper. By meeting these goals, I feel that I will better be able to keep my work more focused on the main objective of the assignment, as well as be better able to convey exactly what it is I am attempting to say through writing without needing to add unnecessary text to do so, and further improve upon these skills in the future.
Oral Communication
The learner will exchange ideas and information with others using the spoken word in a manner effective and appropriate for the intended audience.
Oral Communication is an important skill to have as it allows you to communicate your thoughts with an audience in a clear manner in which the intended audience can understand. The artifact that I have chosen for Oral Communication is a virtual presentation I gave in Art History Survey II (ART-115) in the spring of 2020, in which I had to create a presentation based on one of the papers I wrote earlier in the semester. In my presentation, I was trying to show my audience how I believed that the Pop art movement was influenced by the earlier art movement of Dadaism.
My first goal was to give my presentation with confidence and clarity. One thing I struggle with, when it comes to presenting, is speaking loud and clearly enough to be heard and understood by my audience, as well as struggling to hold my audience’s attention. To do this, I made sure I fully understood the topic I was going to be talking about, what I had written on my slides, as well as adding in my own thoughts and information not shown on the slides to add more interest to the presentation so that I could present it without any fear of forgetting any of the information I needed. I also included images of art from each movement placed next to each other to show the similarities between art made during the two movements to add visual interest for my audience and further illustrate my topic. Through taking these steps, I noticed that I was able to present with much more confidence and clarity than in previous presentations throughout my college career and was able to hold my audience’s attention better through creating interest in the topic through my own interest in it and use of visuals to illustrate what I was talking about.
My second goal was to meet the set time limit for the presentation. The time limit for giving this presentation was a minimum of five minutes, something I have always struggled with meeting due to being a fast talker, this making it hard to organize and keep the information I need in order when presenting. Before giving my presentation, I practiced giving it with a timer set so I could see exactly how long I took each time, changing my wording as well as talking speed until I managed to make it to the five-minute minimum. Through doing this, I was able to make what would have usually been a two or three-minute presentation into a five-minute presentation, not only helping me slow down enough to keep my information for the presentation in order, but also made it so that I spoke clearer for my audience.
Through meeting my goals, I can say that I have become a better oral communicator and have learned skills to further strengthen these skills in the future. Through finding ways to speak more clearly and confidently by working to slow down the rate at which I talk, I was better able to communicate my thoughts, ideas, and research much easier and clearer to my intended audience. This not only helped me meet the time limit requirement for the assignment, but also helped hold the attention of my audience through creating interest in the topic I was talking about and giving me the tools to present at a much slower and more understandable pace in the future.
Technology
The learner will select and use technology to access, process, and exchange information in a manner effective and appropriate for the intended audience.
The artifact that I have chosen to show my technological literacy is this website, my ePortfolio, itself. When I first started creating this website back in the spring of 2018 in my College Transfer Success (ACA-122) course, I had no idea of how to use Wix. Everything was new and confusing, but also posed itself as a fun challenge for me to overcome. Through learning how to use the tools given to me by Wix, I have been able to create a website that is pleasing to the eye and easy to navigate. Learning how to use Wix has been very useful as it shows my ability to learn how to work with new and unfamiliar technology and use it successfully.
My first goal while creating this website was to make it aesthetically appealing and easily navigable to any viewers. A viewer’s first five seconds on a website determines whether they will continue to browse it or not, the navigation and aesthetics of the website playing a huge role in this. To ensure I met this goal, I kept my website’s design as minimalistic as possible by selecting a neutral-toned background, lowering the opacity of it so as to not distract from my writing and displayed work. I also took the font and font size of my writing into account as well, making sure it was easy to read and did not cause any eye strain. I also arranged all of my page links in a way that they could be easily read and seen, as well as any text on my pages, keeping all of them centered so each page would flow easier when viewed, creating a sense of unity throughout each page.
My second goal was to select and display my best work. I wanted to choose work that would complement my website’s design, as well as show my wide range of skills. To do this, I selected my best papers, going through a careful selection process to ensure I was truly showing my best writing, making sure to read through each paper I was considering displaying and checking to be sure that there were not any other papers that would be a better fit. I then had to put these files on my website so that there was proof of the work I have done throughout my college career, as well as to back up my reflections. To do this, I converted some files to PDFs, and then uploaded either the PDF or the Word document to Wix through the add media button, and then added the file to my pages and changed the icon to better match the theme of my website. As for my art, I chose works that I felt showed what I am capable of as an artist. To do this, I laid all of my most recent work out in front of me, and through process of elimination, chose pieces that I felt best reflected my skills, getting a second opinion from one of my peers. From there, I took photos of my art and edited them slightly, just so that the photos better reflected the actual pieces. I accomplished this by adjusting the color levels, brightness, contrast levels, and even cropped and adjusted the perspective of the photos as well. By doing this, not only am I creating interest in myself as an artist through professionally displaying my work, but I am adding to the unity of my website by making sure that my work fits in well with the aesthetics of my website.
Through creating this website, I have shown my ability to adapt to and use new technology. By using the tools given to me, I have successfully created this ePortfolio through Wix in a way that I feel is aesthetically pleasing along with being easy to navigate. Along with being aesthetically pleasing, I have also chosen my best works to display to show what I have accomplished throughout my college career. By editing photos of my artwork to be more professional looking as well as more accurately represent the work itself, as well as converting files to PDFs and uploading PDF and Word document files to Wix and changing the icons of the documents on Wix, I made sure all of my documents and photos go along with my website's theme, adding to the overall unity throughout. By adapting to a new and unfamiliar technology and accomplishing the goals I had when creating this website, I feel that I have successfully shown my ability to learn to work with new technology.
Critical Thinking
The learner will identify, interpret, analyze, or synthesize problems before developing and implementing solutions in a manner effective and appropriate for the intended audience.
Critical thinking is not only important for solving problems in school, but in life in general, it being very important to be able to assess and find solutions to problems on your own, rather than relying solely on the solutions and thinking of others. The artifact that I have chosen to demonstrate my critical thinking skills is the twenty-first lab sheet from my Principles of Biology (BIO-110) course. This lab demonstrates my ability to be presented with information, answer questions, and draw conclusions based on the information given. In this worksheet, I was given fictional creatures that existed thousands of years ago, and through the use of a fossil record, I had to state what time periods these creatures would have existed in, as well as show how they would have evolved over time.
My first goal was to identify during what time period the creatures existed. To do this, I compared the creature I was identifying to the creature in the fossil record chart, determining which creature belonged to which species. From there, I determined what time period each creature belonged to, as well as how the creature would evolve as time passed and which species was more successful based on how many evolutions there was of it. Through organizing the species carefully on my own chart, I was able to answer all of these questions based off of the limited information given to me, showing my ability to problem solve and think critically.
My second goal was to answer all of the lab questions and organize the fossil record in an easily understandable way. To do this, I read each question before beginning the assignment so that I knew what information I was looking for while completing to, checking each question again as I worked to make sure I had not missed any details the first read-through. I then laid out each of the cut-out organisms on my paper before gluing them down, double-checking to make sure I had placed each one in the correct spot before moving on so that I would avoid making mistakes. This was so I could make sure I had enough room left for the other pieces as well as the drawing I would have to do later on. By doing these things, I was able to answer each question as fully as possible, making sure to not leave any needed details out of my answer. I was also able to prevent the fossil record chart we had to make ourselves from being cramped and unreadable due to poor planning and rushing, showing that I was able to gather all of the necessary information for the assignment and show that I knew the material and was able to draw conclusions from the information given to me and convey my thoughts to my audience.
Through the successful completion of my goals, I feel that I accurately demonstrated my critical thinking abilities. Through identifying what time period the creatures existed in, I was able to show my ability to take information I had learned in class and apply it to a limited amount of information, and come up with a plausible answer. Along with this, I was also able to show my ability to organize my thoughts so I could convey them to my audience. Through answering all of the lab questions to the fullest and through organizing my own fossil record, I was able to show how I could take the answers I had come up with during my observations and write and organize them in a way that was easily readable. Along with being easily readable, I was also able to have my thoughts and conclusions be understandable. By successfully meeting my goals, I feel that I was able to demonstrate my use of critical thinking and show that I am capable of coming up with solutions to a given problem, forming my own opinions and conclusions, and then conveying them to others in a way that is understood.
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 contexts” (Bennett, M., 2008).
Cultural literacy is important as it shows that you are able to keep an open mind and come to understand a culture that is different from your own. The artifact I chose to demonstrate this skill is a PowerPoint I made for my World Civilizations I (HIS-111) course. The goal of this assignment was to choose an ancient calendar, research it, and then explain it. The calendar I chose was the Egyptian calendar, having never learned about it before, and went to NC Live to start conducting my research as soon as possible.
My first goal when working on this assignment was to learn and come to understand about the topic I had chosen. I had never done any kind of research on any calendars that predate our modern one before, so I knew I would be able to research the topic effectively through my own curiosity. Through my research, I learned about the origins of the Egyptian calendar, as well as how it changed over time and how it influenced Egyptian society. I learned about how the calendar was originally known as being a Lunar calendar, fitting into their agriculturally based society at the time of its creation, and about how due to inaccuracies, five extra days were eventually added, bringing the calendar to the three-hundred and sixty-five days of our current calendar today. I also learned about the names of the seasons within the Egyptian calendar, as well as what events would take place during each season, learning the name for each. Through this, I came to understand the Egyptian calendar and how it changed over time, and even drew connections between it and our current modern-day calendar.
My second goal when working on this assignment was to explain what I had learned about the calendar in a way that showed my understanding of what I had researched. To do this, in my PowerPoint, I created a slide dedicated to reflecting on what I had learned. In this slide, I re-explained what I had previously stated about the calendar, condensing all of my research into a single slide and keeping my explanations brief, focusing on the most important information. By doing this, I showed that through my research, I had gained an understanding of a new topic from a cultural that was not my own and had tried to convey my research with the same respect that I would want from someone explaining my own culture. As this assignment was made in 2018, there are aspects of it that I feel could use some improvement, such as wording and grammar, so I feel that this goal is only partially met, and I will definitely continue to work on it in the future.
Through the completion of this assignment, I feel that I came to better be able to learn about new cultures and come to understand and respect them more. Through researching the calendar, I came to learn more about Egyptian culture than I had previously known, better understanding the way their society worked and evolved as time went on, as well as how their beliefs influenced their lives, such as how their calendar was created. Along with this, I also learned how show my understanding of what I had learned during my research, taking what I had learned and condensing it down into a single slide, all while giving the culture behind the calendar the same respect that I would want someone talking about my own culture. Even though there is room for improvement in some areas, I feel that I have demonstrated my cultural literacy and will continue to work to improve it into the future.