​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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The artifact that I chose for this core skill is my English 112 Report Paper. It was written during an eight week online course and describes how diet effects children with ADHD. Within the paper, you will discover an overview of ADHD in children and treatments, concerns with medication, and case studies that relate to a particular diet called the elimination diet. This essay was quite a challenge for me because I struggled with putting ideas in my own words and focusing my words around the main idea.  In this challenge, I set two smart goals for myself. My first smart goal was to take information, synthesize and summarize it through my own words.

 

Before began my paper, I had to research the topic of the effects of diet on children with ADHD. From the research, I received multiple scholarly articles that I did not understand nor could interpret. This resulted in reading articles and using similar wording to the author’s instead of putting them into my own words. From that point forward, I began to read the article and highlight key terms and sentences that I did not understand. Next, I defined them and wrote what I thought they meant in addition to a summary of what the article was about. After all sentences were wrote out, I compiled all the information together to formulate my paper. This process also helped with my second smart goal.

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​My second smart goal was to focus and organize based on my main idea. The main idea of this essay was to inform my audience of how children with ADHD are effected through their diet. Once I settled on this topic, I chose three points to focus on within the paper. My three focus points involved: a case study of a type of treatment for children with ADHD, concerns with other treatments outside of the restricted elimination diet, and future research for ADHD treatment. Under each point, I described a few things that related to the topic and expanded on them. My expansions created the body of my paper and that is how I accomplished my goals.

 

 

 

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​Oral Communication

The learner will organize and express ideas clearly through oral communication in a manner appropriate for the intended audience.

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The artifact that I am using for this core skill is my Humanities 115 presentation video. This video was recorded during a 16 week course and in the classroom setting. The video displays a presentation of my ePortfolio and my future after I graduate from South Piedmont Community College.

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For this core skill, I set two goals. My first goal is to avoid using "ums", add filler words, and proper speech in front of my audience. Using proper speech to address an audience is very important. It helps your audience understand the message clearly. Previously, while presenting, I used many different filler words that weren't appropriate for the event. Some  filler words I've used are: "Umm. Does that make sense? Do you know what I'm saying? I forgot what I was saying. You Know? Like." These fillers were used when I became nervous or when I didn't know how to transition to the next topic. Having experience in presenting and being in front of people helped decrease my usage of those statements in my ePortfolio presentation. I have experience in hosting events, singing, motivational speaking, and the presentation director at my church. In preparing for my presentation, I began to pay close attention to my daily speech. Each time I stated, "Umm" or other inappropriate filler words, I was address it and start my statement over. Doing this routine daily, decreased the times I used filler words like "umm." During my presentation, I rarely used inappropriate filler words.  I couldn't be more proud of myself!

 

In addition to my preparation, I used notecards while presenting my ePortfolio. Notecards are very beneficial in guiding you from point to point to keep you focus and on track. This is exactly what focused me. On a few notecards, I wrote down the main ideas and key points from my ePortfolio. Under those points, I included one statement that summarized what was being discussed and a transitional sentence.  As I went through the presentation, I would refer to my notecards. This brings me to my second goal.

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My second goal is to keep my audience engaged and interested. I wanted to ensure that  my peers experienced a moment they would remember  for the next several years of their life. Before I began the presentation, I provided handouts to everyone and used my ePortfolio as a visual aid. Afterwards, I began with a passionate story about a little girl with big dreams who jumped over every hurdle in her life. Once she persevered, she became one incredible woman. This story draw my audience in significantly and hungry for more. An important fact to know about my story is I had passion about what I was sharing. Passion keeps your listeners engaged and interested. Through my entire presentation, I would ask my audience questions. This kept them on their toes and attentive.

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Through my presentation, I learned how to communicate with my audience in a way that kept them interested and engaged. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing.

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Intercultural Competence

 

The learner will develop awareness, knowledge, and behaviors necessary for intercultural competence: To positively influence personal identity and personal choices, To maximize positive communication in cross cultural context, and To understand the impact of culture on organizations.

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The artifact that I chose for the core skill was my History 131 Final Essay Paper called the Second Great Awakening. This paper describes a religious movement that transformed American religion over time. The assignment required me to choose from a few topics that showed powerful events throughout history that impacted how religion is viewed today. The topic of the Second Great Awakening was the movement of religion that I could relate to and understand. Growing up, I was exposed to the religious traditions of Christianity, but not the foundation nor its origins. To further my knowledge of the foundation, I set two goals for myself.

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My first goal was to learn how religion influences people's lives. This influence was evaluated through the Second Great Awakening. The Second Great Awakening was a revivalist movement that not only transform American religion, but shaped the foundations of American culture. This movement resulted from the establishment of separation of church and state and began when different denominations started religious revivals. Once revivals had spread, other movements were created and brought together like: the antislavery movement, women’s rights, revivalism, and different denominations like Quakers and Anglicans.

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My second goal was to understand significant individuals who impacted religion. 

I wanted to learn about leading individuals that aided the Second Great Awakening movement. The two individuals highlighted in my essay were: Charles Finney and Lyman Beecher, who were both ministers. Finney was an encourager of revival techniques, while Beecher was an American revivalist. Throughout their time, they participated in educational reform and the antislavery movement. Significantly, Finney bridged the gap between religion, education, and African-Americans by using his knowledge of theology to educate students and allowed free African-Americans to attend. This created a different atmosphere for religion and the antislavery movement.

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By completing this assignment,  I gain more knowledge of religion during that time period. More specifically, how the Second Great Awakening influenced other movements that impacted American culture. Also, learning about two people who significantly helped with the success of the movement gave me a better understanding of how historical events have been influenced by people and their religious beliefs. Without religion in our history, the shaping of our culture and the things accomplished may have never occurred.

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Technology

The learner will choose and utilize appropriate technologies to access, organize, and analyze and communicate information.

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The artifact that I chose for this core skill is my ePortfolio. It was created during a sixteen week class. The ePortfolio is a website that describes my best college work and reflects the material I’ve learned while at South Piedmont Community College (SPCC). The ePortfolio includes: a welcome page, personal introduction, short and long term learning goals, artifacts that highlight SPCC’s General Education Core Skills and Program outcomes, other educational experiences, and my current resume.

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My first smart goal was to uniquely demonstrate how to organize a website that expresses who I am. In demonstrating who I am, it is important to identify unique aspects of my personality and worth ethic. Some things I identified were: boldness, creativity, and out of the box thinking. With these identifiers, I chose my theme and created my welcome page.

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The theme that I chose displays different circles of various sizes, all floating around. Some circles are small and clustered together, while others are bigger and by themselves. From my perspective, these circles represent different people in society. Some blend in, while others stand out. Some are dull, while others are bright. Some are followers, while others are leaders. Regardless of the role they play, all have the potential to be the biggest and brightest. With this in mind, I realized that I was once one of those small circles who grew into a bigger and brighter circle. In order to grow, I had to overcome many obstacles in which I consider as my “it’s.” This term comes from my favorite quote found on my welcome page (“Whatever your it is, finish it.”) along with the summary of my ePortfolio. This quote connects my theme, welcome page, and the rest of my ePortfolio together.

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My second goal was use information responsibly to help with my understanding of the ePortfolio. With little knowledge about the ePortfolio, I was unaware of where to start formulating information. So, I referred to previous student ePortfolios on the SPCC website that received the ePortfolio of Excellence. As I reviewed them several times, I noticed they all were well developed in their writing and interesting. They also included all the information that was required for the ePortfolio. After reviewing, I wrote down difference ideas and pointers to help with my ePortfolio. Some ideas I gain from them were: be concise and detailed, but engaging. Using these ideas and this information responsibly, I was able to create my own ePortfolio.

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Analysis and Interpretation

The learner will apply the basic principles of interpretation and analysis to synthesize information.

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Art is something that is displayed in everything we see, whether you see lines or three-dimensional shapes. Depending on the art, the viewer is able to express their opinions about it and understand why the art was created. This is the viewer's analysis and interpretation of the art.

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For this core skill, I used my Art 111 Museum Essay. The instructions for the assignment was to visit an art museum and choose a piece of artwork to analysis. The museum I visited was the Mint Museum in Charlotte off of Randolph Road. This museum consisted of numerous pieces of artwork from religious and cultural backgrounds.

 

For this assignment, I set two smart goals. My first smart goal was to effectively analyze a piece of artwork. My second smart goal was to better understand and appreciate  art. I began my process by taking a museum tour and looking at various pieces of artwork. There were many interesting pieces, but none of them stood out to me. After visiting different rooms, I discovered a piece called, “Crucified Jesus.” Being a follower of Jesus Christ, this artwork means alot to me. On the artwork, there is a cross and below His nailed feet was a skull head and candle holders. The artwork represents the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ and how He shed His blood for all humankind. In the piece, Jesus was described as the second Adam while the skull was described as the first Adam. Being in the presence of this piece allowed me to grow in appreciation for art. To be able to admire the works of an artist with a power message behind the work, is an honor. Now when I see different art pieces, I stop to admire them. Therefore, I have accomplished both of my goals.

 

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Problem Solving

The learner will apply the basic principles of mathematics and/or scientific inquiry to identify, interpret and evaluate and solve problems.

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This core skill uses basic mathematics principles to understand problem solving. For this core skill I used an equation from my MAT 152 Statistics class. The problem uses the data set of pulse rates of females and males. With that dataset, I constructed a boxplot for both sets and used it to compare the two sets. A boxplot is a graph of a data set that includes minimum value to maximum value, and a box with lines drawn from the first quartile (Q1), through the median (Q2), and to the third quartile (Q3). This idea of boxplots can be difficult to interpret if you do not understand the other components of the boxplot. That brings me to the goals I set.

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For this problem, I set two smart goals. My first smart goal is to effectively construct a boxplot. When constructing a boxplot, you must have: a set of data. From that data, I discovered the 5-number summary or the five values. The five values consist of the minimum value, the first quartile (Q1), the second quartile (Q2) or the median, third quartile (Q3), and the maximum value. After all numbers are found, I chose a range that all the numbers would fall into and put them on a number line. Next, I created a box around the three middle numbers, Q1, Q2, and Q3 and that is how I created a box plot. Going further, some boxplots have outliers that effect the relationship the data set and the boxplot. That brings me to my second goal.

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My second smart goal is to gain understanding of how boxplots and data sets relate. Boxplots reveals if a data set has a value that is far away from much of the other values. That far away value is an outlier. Within this problem, we evaluated both data sets and constructed the boxplot. Since all numbers are within the interquartile range of values, there are no outliers.

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