Program Artifacts
The materials presented here are for my Associate in Arts program outcomes at South Piedmont Community College. These are the abilities that any student passing through the AA should be able to demonstrate upon graduation. As you can see, they are a bit broader than the core skill outcomes. These skills should invoke higher thought processes and are not specific to any particular educational pathway. The program outcomes for the AA include a communication competency, a cultural competency, creative problem solving, information and media literacy, understanding arts and the human experience, and social scientific literacy.
Because I want to be a journalist, I already knew written and oral communication were important to my personal, academic, and professional life. In looking over the artifacts I chose for program outcomes, I now see that visual literacy also will play a major role in my life. That’s something I didn’t completely anticipate when I started taking classes at South Piedmont. I also discovered new ways of thinking about some of these areas. For example, where I once thought information and media literacy would be specific to communication, I now understand that math and science also benefit from a strong foundation in this area. Some of these program outcomes took me outside my comfort zone, and that’s OK.
In my mind, all of these program outcomes seem to boil down to three A’s: absorption, acceptance, and application. Absorption in that many of these outcomes ask students to understand or comprehend at both a basic and a complex level. Acceptance because once we understand, we must find ways to deal with this knowledge in a way that’s productive. Application comes when we take that knowledge and acceptance and turn it into action. Following the three A’s will help me become a better journalist and a better citizen of the world.
It’s clear to me now that I really didn’t know my strengths and weaknesses in these areas as well as I thought. Going back through the work I completed at South Piedmont and seeing some of these assignment with fresh eyes has been truly exciting! I hope these assignments and my reflection of them show how I have come to see the interconnectedness of my life and the lives of others.
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Communication Competence
Learners will become effective communicators in their discipline.
You’ll notice that under the core skill artifacts, writing and oral communication are separate categories. For program outcomes, they are lumped with visual communication. HUM 130 Myth in Human Culture provided me with an opportunity to show my skills in two of these three areas with a mythological art analysis essay. The idea was to study a piece of art based on a myth in our textbook, analyzing how the art “tells” the myth or could be seen as a different version of the myth.
One of my program SMART goals is to clearly and coherently explain a subject to my readers. It’s a skill I’ll need as a journalist. Another is to be able to read visual communication better, such as advertising. Again, something tells me I’ll need this skill as a journalist; after all, much of the information we receive today is visual in nature. With these goals in mind, and with written and visual analysis skills I learned in ENG 111 and ART 111, I took to this assignment with much excitement. Having read several myths in HUM 130, I knew they could be complex and confusing. Explaining the myth alone would be a challenge, but explaining it for a work of art would be even harder. I knew I couldn’t just say, “Here’s what happened in the myth, now look at the pretty colors.” I had to delve into the symbolic meanings of color, texture, space, and other artistic elements and tie them back to the myth in a way that made sense.
What can I say? I chose the myth of Cupid and Psyche because I’m a young woman and I’m romantic. There was something sweet about the painting I chose; little did I know that I’d find such powerful symbols of oppression. The more I learned about the painting, its history, the myth it’s based on, the Greek and Roman cultures that created the myth, the less I saw this as a “sweet” painting. This led to my thesis that the painting is a metaphor for Rome’s dominance over Greece in late antiquity. I think my essay displays clear competence in the written and visual areas. If you’re interested in my speech abilities, feel free to check out my speech on the core skill artifacts page!
Cultural Competence
Learners will recognize and adapt to various cultures, ideas, and practices within their discipline.
South Piedmont does a lot of things to help introduce students to people and cultures around the world. I know because I am a SP Global Scholar of Distinction, which means I took many classes that had international contexts and I participated in various international-themed activities, including the SPCC Multicultural Festival. In fact, I gave a brief lecture at the festival about eye contact in Irish culture. I originally wrote the speech for COM 140 Introduction to Interpersonal Communication. The assignment was to create a brief presentation on body language in a particular culture. It was so well received that my instructor suggested I do it for the public. Good thing I had taken COM 231 and was able to get over my nerves!
Unfortunately, there was no one to record the presentation. Instead, I’ve attached the outline of the speech. It should give you an idea of what I discussed. When it came time to choose SMART goals for cultural competence, I felt I had an advantage because I had been on several mission trips. Still, one can always learn something. So my first goal was to learn about cultures I had never studied. I don’t know much about the Irish, other than leprechauns and pots of gold, so I when this assignment came around, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to learn more about them. I have to say that I was surprised by what I found, especially when it comes to Irish weddings. I’d like to think that I showed a little cultural competence in this report!
My second goal was to visit a foreign country. I have already been to a couple on mission trips, but the more the merrier I say! While I wasn’t able to get out of the U.S., I did join the COM140 and ART 111 trip to Washington, D.C., where we visited many embassies and participated in a virtual discussion with students in Moscow. In these ways, I guess you could say that I still saw other parts of the world with my own eyes! Traveling is so important to me; who knows, perhaps when I become a journalist, I can be a world-roaming reporter!
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Creative Problem Solving
Learners will apply appropriate techniques to solving problems within their discipline.
When deciding my SMART goals for creative problem solving, I faced a dilemma: I wanted to be able to think outside the box with my solutions, but I didn’t know what that meant. As I mentioned in my “problem solving” core skill reflection, even though I knew deep down you had to start small to solve even the biggest problems, if I talked about ways to feed the hungry or stop bullying, it was mostly wishful thinking. One of my goals had been to “find good solutions,” but now I know how I need to focus that. The proposal assignment in ENG 112 taught me to make a solution realistic and feasible. I used this understanding for a web-based project in HUM 220.
This particular assignment asked us to complete thorough, scientific research on a cultural issue, developing research questions, collecting data, and providing a conclusion that offered a proposal. Being a Christian, I’ve never had much interest in alcohol, but being young, I know many of my peers who do. As with smoking, they see drinking as “cool.” Also like smoking, they often develop this attitude because of advertising. So, I figured I would study the influence of ads on our search for identity. As you will see, I decided that ads do have a negative affect on people.
My second goal for creative problem solving was to learn the most effective way to present my solution. I find that ironic considering I chose advertising for this project. Maybe unconsciously I knew what I was doing! I have to say that I’m now a big believer in the power of visual communication. TV and print ads can lead us to take action. I just find it unfortunate that these days most of our “messages” are negative and lead people to take harmful actions. Personally, I still think writing will be the best way for me to get my points across in the future, but who knows? Maybe someday I’ll take out a billboard!
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Information and Media Literacy
Learners will demonstrate the ability to know when there is a need for information, to be able to identify, locate, evaluate, and effectively and responsibly use and share that information for the problem at hand.
I have to admit that I’m bad at math—I want to be a journalist, after all—but I understand the importance of math in our everyday world. I also understand the importance of knowing how to decide which set of tools I need to complete a math problem. By tools, I don’t necessarily mean calculators, either, though I have no doubt I will use the calculator a lot once I graduate. I mean knowing the correct formulas depending on a given situation. When coming up with my two SMART goals for information and media literacy, I have to admit that I focused on understanding how to use computers for journalism and “reading” the news. Now I understand that information and media literacy means so much more. What SP is asking us to show is the capacity to digest and “compute” information, no matter what the subject or how it’s presented. So, since I’ve already shown I know how to use a computer, I thought I’d use this artifact to show I know how to compute.
This assignment for MAT 140 asked us to explain various mathematical concepts. Looking back at it now, I still can’t believe all of this came out of me! Someone who probably needs a picture menu to work a McDonald’s cash register! All I can say is that I must have had a great math teacher! (Thanks, Mr. Young!) I’ll let you take a look for yourself, but don’t feel too bad if it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. I wrote it and I still get cross-eyed.
I’m glad I came to see information and media literacy for what it is: choosing the right tools at the right time for the right purpose. That goes for writing, speaking, math, science, or whatever. I can also see how this correlates with my “creative problem solving” artifact. My ability to “read” media, to know how to collect data, and then interpret that data, is all part of this important outcome.
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Understanding the Arts and the Human Experience
Learners will demonstrate an understanding of arts and humanities in historical and cultural contexts.
My SMART goals for this program outcome were simple: to understand a particular experience in history and to understand the importance of the arts in the human experience. That last one was particularly important to me, since I see journalism as an art form. I believe there are several artifacts presented here and on the core skills page that demonstrate my success achieving this understanding. Therefore, I thought I would show my understanding of a historical event here. To me, there is no greater historical event than World War II and the Holocaust.
This assignment comes from HIS 112. Mr. Dick gave us a series of questions about the Nuremberg Trials and War Crimes and we had to provide detailed answers. What I liked about these questions was that they didn’t just ask for names and dates. They asked us why we chose certain people for our answers or why thought a certain way about an outcome. I don’t know about anyone else, but this was hard because it made me examine the situation from all sides, which can be a hard thing to do when one side is filled with Nazis. I could find no way to defend what they had done, and don’t want to, but at least this class and this assignment made me realize that even the evilest actions are not always black and white. They are often shades of gray.
That being said, I find this outcome important to me as I begin my journey to become a journalist. I have to remember that no matter how disgusted I am by someone’s actions, I have to report the news fairly. I also have to keep in mind how my words and actions may affect someone, be they innocent or the guilty. In a lot of ways, journalists are the chroniclers of the human experience, and that’s a mighty burden. I don’t know if I could cover a war trial like the one in Nuremberg. But, who knows? I’ve talked to many reporters and they all tell me that after a while you get numb to such things. I hope I never do.
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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.
One of my friends used to call me a “schizo,” which, of course, is short for a “schizophrenic.” I knew he was just joking--I admit that I can be a bit of an airhead--but after completing this report on schizophrenia for PSY 150, I asked him to kindly stop. I had no idea the horrors this condition caused not only to the patient, but also to the patient’s family and friends. I guess I started to see the word “schizo” the way some now see the word “retard.” It’s just not cool.
My first goal in the social scientific literacy program outcome was to better understand certain psychological conditions that I had heard of but didn’t know anything about, like schizophrenia. In some of my mission trips, I had seen “crazy” people in some of the poorer neighborhoods and had always wondered what made them that way. But, like most people, I never took the time to find out. When I decided to take psychology, I did so figuring now was the time. I’m so glad I dived into this field! I have no doubt it will help me understand why people do what they do, which in turn will help me be a better journalist, both as an interviewer and as a writer. I’d like to think the assignment artifact I’ve posted here is a start to that.
The assignment asked us to research a particular psychological condition. We also had to use APA, which I found harder than MLA. I guess that’s the English major in me. This did help me accomplish my second goal, however, which was to learn APA. In high school, our science teachers had asked us to use APA, but they weren’t strict about it. I thought I knew what I was doing, but boy was I wrong! I took PSY 150, which required APA, at the same time I took HUM 130, which required MLA. Talk about confusing! They seemed so close that I accidentally submitted a paper to my HUM 130 class in APA format and lost points! This forced me to pay closer attention to the details, and I soon figured out that while APA and MLA may look alike from a distance, they are different. I’m glad I discovered this now instead of later. If I mixed the two up in a journal article, I’d be laughed out of the building. But, hey, I can say I gained true social scientific literacy because of my time at South Piedmont!