Written Communication
The learner will exchange ideas and information with others using written text in a manner effective and appropriate for the intended audience.
HUM-115 Critical Thinking
https://eweb1165/wixsite.com/ewebb
The artifact chosen is the e-Portfolio created for HUM-115 Critical Thinking. This is a sixteen-week online course. This is a website that I have created about myself. This artifact is made up of seven different pages, each of which includes a written component. It includes a quote from Helen Keller that gives a little insight into why I am attending college in my late forties. There are several sections to the e-portfolio that highlight me as a student and potential employee. The sections include a Welcome page which highlights a picture of me taken while on a mission trip in Honduras. In my personal introduction I included my favorite quote from Maya Angelou that sums me up as an individual. I strive to live my life to treat others in such a way that they remember me as a person that made them feel loved and valued. A lot of thought went into the selection of each of the pictures and the words chosen as each one gives you a small glimpse of me; my love of people, a happy and joyful person, and resident band enthusiast. My hope would be that when reading each section, you can see me as I am. My values, my love of people, and my desire to bring joy to others.
My first SMART goal for this core skill is to express myself through writing and have the ability to present myself to others. I have to say that I thought before starting my college career in my forties, I did pretty well with expressing my thoughts, but as I began to enroll in classes, study and write, I fell really short. I began noticing how I needed to improve in this aspect. Critical Thinking has really pushed me to excel in this trait. I have found that there are ways to express myself through words that can be impactful. Building the e-Portfolio has shown me how to express myself so that others can know me better. I created a personal introduction, which introduces me to my audience. Although the thought of writing about me seemed daunting, as I began to write, the words began to flow. I have come a long way! I was able to use my personal introduction to let others know who I am as an employee, as a student and as a person in general. The ability to show different sides to me through written word will help me to further myself either through career or as I continue to obtain my bachelor’s degree.
My second SMART goal was to learn to organize my thoughts in paragraph form. The creation of my e-Portfolio has helped me to grow in this goal. As I began to reflect on the artifacts that I would select, through the electronic portfolio, I was able to put my thoughts to words. The artifact, for example, that I used for Oral Communication is a speech that I did on the Benefits of Therapy Dogs with Veterans. By writing the reflection, it allowed me organize my thoughts as I describe the speech and why it was selected. I have learned to organize my thoughts in a way that is easy to follow, interesting and clear. This is a goal that can be used in many of my college curriculum. The artifact selection had me searching through my work as a college student, reflecting on my work and writing about them. The time spent in each curriculum (most of them anyway) began to flood back. The struggles, the obstacles that I overcame, the good and the bad. I am so proud of where I have arrived.
Written communication is significant to not only my career but also to my further education. In my current career in Healthcare, written communication is key. If it is not documented, it did not happen. Written communication helps to build trust between the writer and the person that is reading. I believe that written communication is a skill that you never truly master. I believe that you have the opportunity to continually grow and become better. I feel that I am a good communicator and I attribute a lot of that to my dad. He was the master of human interaction! He taught me to communicate through my facial expressions, my eyes and my smile. Learning to communicate through written words adds additional layers to me as a good communicator.
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.
COM 231 – The Benefits of Therapy Dogs with Veterans
This artifact was created in Public Speaking during an eight-week online summer course. This was the first speech that I completed in this course. It was an important topic for me because my brother is a Veteran after serving thirty years in the military. He served multiple tours in Iraq during war and once in Kosovo. When he returned from duty, he suffered from PTSD – Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He still suffers from this today. I also have a niece that is in her final semester at Auburn University where she will graduate and take her boards to become a Veterinarian. What makes her important to this presentation, is that she has trained multiple dogs to be therapy dogs for soldiers with PTSD. I did research online and through NC Wise as most libraries were closed during this time due to the COVID 19 pandemic. I remember seeing the scheduled time for the presentation. I set aside the time and practiced my speech over and over. I would read it out loud and time myself. My family would graciously listen to me and give me feedback. When the time came, I felt fine. I felt at ease, but as I listened to my classmates, and they were doing so well, I felt the nerves creep up. I watched each person tick off the list as it became closer and closer to my turn. My nerves felt as they were getting ahead of me. The professor was so kind and encouraging that was my saving grace.
My first SMART goal for this core skills was to learn to express myself clearly and not rushed in front of others. This goal was something that I struggled with. To be honest, my first thought was I am going to have to memorize this entire speech perfectly timed in order to ensure that I speak slowly, however, I learned in Public Speaking, that memorization is never the key. I always felt as if I rushed my speaking when in front of others. How and what could I do to slow myself down? I learned to practice in front of my family, read my speech, and practice by timing myself in the mirror. These were tips given during the semester that really worked for me. While delivering the speech, even though I was nervous, I controlled my tempo and expressed myself in a way that was informative and engaging. The only thing that I could do to ensure that I kept a good tempo, was practice, practice, practice, and make a effective outline to follow to keep myself on track. This has helped me not only in my college career, but in my professional career as well.
My second SMART goal was to develop confidence needed to stand in front of a group. When the course began, I had limited confidence in my ability to stand in front of a group of people. I learned to study, get my sources together and by being prepared, my confidence skyrocketed! My classmates played a huge role in my confidence as they were so supportive with kindness and encouraging words. Once I realized that my classmates were worried too, and that they wanted me to succeed as much as I wanted them to succeed, the pressure lifted, and I soared!
Oral communication is extremely important in every aspect of our lives. Although we live in a society that wants everything to be written, by text message or blog, you can never replace the ability to communicate orally with those around you. This is a skill that I am going to have to work on continually, or else become complacent and forget the skills I have learned. I plan to make an effort to practice these skills at my current career, future educational endeavors and on personal levels.
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).
SPA 112 Access to Healthcare in Honduras
This artifact came from a paper written in Spanish II. This was a 16-week course taken online. I chose this topic because after spending a lot of time in Honduras, I immediately fell in love with the people of this beautiful country. While traveling through the small villages, our interpreter fell ill. She got sick, and one of my friends was a diabetic. He noticed the symptoms right away of high blood sugar. He pulled out his meter, checked her blood sugar and it was extremely high. He knew exactly what to do to help her. Afterwards, she began to tell us about the healthcare, or lack of, in Honduras. She was concerned because she had three children to take care of as a single mother, and if she didn’t take care of herself, they would be left alone. People in the small villages, if they had to go to the hospital, their family members would have to make sure that they provided food for them because the hospital would not. The beds had no sheets. Not to mention, if by chance you needed a blood transfusion, the family would have to provide the blood. They would have to travel by bus to the armory, pick up blood, then travel by bus, carrying the blood, and take to the hospital. This paper allowed me to research healthcare in Honduras. We have so much more availability to quality healthcare in the United States. If I have a cold, a sprained ankle or something much more serious, I can jump in my car and drive to any of numerous facilities that are ready and willing to provide some of the best healthcare in the world. I can name multiple hospitals alone within a thirty minute drive of my house. I cannot say the same for the people of Honduras. In the small town of Choluteca, it would be more than an hour drive for mediocre healthcare at best. And what if it is for one of those more serious illnesses or injuries? They would not have the same health outcome that we would have in the United States. That would be a pressing concern for a Honduran citizen.
My first SMART goal is to learn to see the world through different perspectives. The research done for this artifact helped me to see another part of the world, Honduras, through the perspective of finding or getting access to healthcare. This is a difficult task in Honduras. As I walked door to door in this small village, I remember mostly the smiles. They were so happy to see someone from a different culture. The people of the village were welcoming. One of the things that impacted me the most, was the lack of available running water. With this artifact, I learned that the lack of water does play a part in the health of the community by leading to high infant mortality and malnutrition. This research helped open my eyes to the benefits that we have access to in the United States as opposed to what others deal with daily.
My second SMART goal is to embrace the similarities and differences of different cultures and beliefs. The research done on this artifact helped me to embrace the similarities and differences between the United States and Honduras with economic status, availability of physicians, and the struggle with affordable healthcare. While in the United States there are differences there are similarities as well. Even though we live in the land of opportunity, there are many here than struggle with affording the healthcare available.
Cultural literacy is very important to me. I love people, all people. I strive to be a agent of change. It is so important to be able to see the world through different perspectives. To step outside of our small world to realize there are beautiful people and cultures all around us. I feel that by furthering my education, I am opening myself up to learn more.
Technology
The learner will select and use technology to access, process, and exchange information in a manner effective and appropriate for the intended audience.
ACA 122 College Transfer Success e-Portfolio
https://eweb1165.wixsite.com/website-1
I took this class as an online class in the spring. I really did not know what to expect with this course, but I was pleasantly surprised. I learned so much during this course as I began to navigate through learning to develop a website. I had no idea of the importance of this endeavor. As I maneuvered my way through this course, I learned so much about strategies that I needed that are necessary to develop my professional goals. This course itself was much broader than the use of technology, as it help me to gather information about four year colleges and helped me to plan strategically for my future. It was the beginning of my ability to create an electronic portfolio that focuses on the core skills and program outcomes that I have learned through South Piedmont Community College.
My first SMART goal was to become knowledgeable in basic computer operations. This College Transfer Success Course helped me to learn how to create a website using many different computer operations. I learned to create a link to my website that I can provide to future employers or educators. With the creation of this website, I have designed seven pages with working links that will navigate the user to different locations within the website. I have also learned to attach documents including Word documents, links to websites, PDFs and video files.
My second SMART goal was to create a website about myself to use for further education or career opportunities. This website is one that I can share with others as I continue either for a career or future educational endeavors. This website includes a Welcome Page, and a Personal Introduction that shows my reader more about me as a person. In a world of computers and electronic communications, the creation of this website, is a one stop shop to find out who I am as a person, an employee and a student. This is invaluable information. It is extremely difficult to understand how a potential employee will function with a team through an interview alone.
Technology is advancing at such a pace that it is imperative to keep up. I am planning on furthering my education in Business. I feel that a business degree will help me in my current career field. I don't have an interest in changing fields. In healthcare, I feel that I am helping others and a contributing member of society. While many careers will need technology and find it significant to that specific field, Business is an area that thrives on technology. Learning the basics can never be enough. We must continually grow and expand our minds to 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.
MAT 171 Pre-calculus Lab
I took pre-calculus as my very first class back to college. After graduating high school, I attended the University of NC at Charlotte, but quit after my sophomore year to get married. Thirty years had passed since I graduated high school, so, my first day of online Pre-Calculus threw me for a tailspin. Not only had I not had a math class in thirty years, I didn’t even know how to use the TI 84 calculator that was required. When I realized that I would be teaching myself, I sat at the table and began to cry. I reached out to my professor and shared with her my concerns. She was so empathetic and easy to work with. She encouraged me to change to a blended course where I could sit in a class one day per week for instruction and the rest would be online. The artifact chosen is a lab completed during my blended course which shows my ability to think critically while solving equations and inequalities, intercepts and average rate of change, linear functions and graphing.
My first SMART goal was to learn to interpret and analyze information in order to solve a problem. Pre-Calculus taught me a lot about myself. The artifact chosen is a lab done with graphing, and solving problems using equations or inequalities and functions. I had to take the problem given, interpret the best way to solve the problem and solve it. Through this course I learned many topics such as the quadratic formula, functions and graphs, polynomial and rational functions as well as probability and statistics. One of the main things I learned through critical thinking through mathematics, if you have a formula and you can think through the process, there is no problem that cannot be solved.
My second SMART goal was to have a better understanding of problem solving and to be able come up with a solution. People always told me that you are either geared towards Math or English. All my life I would classify myself as an “English” person. With the immersion into Pre-Calculus, what I realized is that I am more of a “Math” person than I thought. With the help of my professor and many hours of practice, not to mention learning how to use a calculator, I grew to love math. I learned how to evaluate and solve mathematical problems.
What I learned through pre-calculus is to continue to identify problems, interpret them and then come up with a solution and solve the problem. Shouldn't this be a life lesson as well? That is what I am going to do with the lessons learned. I have heard many times, "why do I need to learn math? You don't really use it in life." While there are not many times since my pre-calculus class that I have had to whip out my TI 84 calculator, or answer a question from a co-worker using the quadratic formula, I have learned that critical thinking is more than a math problem. It is identifying and analyzing a problem before I come up with a solution and then implementing.