GENERAL EDUCATION

Welcome to my General Education page! Here I will be presenting you with artifacts that will represent the development of my core kills.

The assignments that I will be presenting to you are from various class that I have taken while attending South Piedmont Community College. The classes that I am taking have helped me tremendously with developing my core skills. These core skills include written and oral communication, intercultural competence, technology, analysis and interpretation, and problem solving. As a student of the Associate's of Science program, it is expected that I develop these six skills.

The core classes that I took were Math, Science, Communications, and Writing.

I set out a couple SMART goals for my writing course. But there were two goals that I really wanted to work out. The first SMART goal was to become a better paper writer, in regards to research, formatting, and citations. That was something that I really felt that I struggled with. Second, I wanted to be able to become better at gathering information. I have always struggled at finding credible sources and meeting the requirements for a specific amount of sources. So those are two things that I really wanted to work on. The classes that I took to help me achieve these goals were, English 111, 112, and 231. The artifact that I have chosen for this was one of the last papers I wrote in ENG 112. This was a research paper, and it was intended to be 5-7 pages in length. It also had to be in APA format, so I had to include a title/cover page, an abstract, and a reference page. I needed at least 5 sources for this paper.

My goals as a writer were difficult for me to accomplish. But the two that I am most proud of are my formatting skills and ability to locate credible sources. When I begin most papers, especially those that allow me to write freely. I always try to choose something that I am passionate about, so I have more fun writing it. I feel that when you write about something that you have a passion for, it shows in your paper. And that is what I tried to do. By doing this, I was able to find more sources for my paper, but there was still an issue. I needed to have credible sources. Using the online database's that the school provided us was very helpful, and helped me find credible sources for all of my papers. One of my SMART goals was to improve my research skills, and I was able to accomplish that. Next was to improve my formatting. I used the resources that my instructor provided me in order to figure out how to format my paper properly. And by doing so, I can now format my papers in both MLA and APA format, with APA being the most difficult. The artifact that I have chosen to present is a research paper about the benefits of diet and exercise, and that is a topic that I am truly passionate about.

Working on this paper brought me a lot of joy. At this time, this was one of the few papers I wrote that was about something that I had a passion for. And that helped me with my ability to find credible sources as well as meet the source requirements, which I exceeded by 6 sources. And I was still working on APA formatting at this time, and I feel like this paper really shows my ability to write in APA format.

Written Communication

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

Oral Communication

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

For my first communications class I took COM-110 which was intro to communications. During my time in this class, I was assigned multiple speeches. And I feel like each speech got better and better. The speech that I have attached is my persuasive speech. My speech was about why you should try a low carbohydrate diet and what the benefits of this type of dieting are. My speech was graded based on a few things. My ability to meet the time requirements, the fluidity of my speech, credibility, my visual aid, following along my speech outline, and my overall performance. One of my SMART goals for communications was to be able to write up a speech and have supportive information to back up what I was saying, and for my second SMART goal, I wanted to be able to structure a speech properly. I also wanted to work on my fluidity, and be able to have a much smoother flow while speaking. I also had a personal goal for this class, that was to work on my fear of public speaking.

During my time in this class, I was able to accomplish my goals, both SMART and personal. I was able to work on my speeches throughout this class and gather stronger evidence each speech. And I would often find myself practicing my fluidity by trying an old trick that many public speakers do. My instructor, Ms. Connie Davis told us that if we practiced talking while having a pencil in our mouth, it would work on our speech flow. I did that a lot while preparing for speeches and I noticed a huge difference in my fluidity at the end of this class. I recall my first speech, I used a lot of filler words, more specifically, "Um" and "uh". Ms. Davis would do a great job at counting the filler words we used, so we knew what we needed to focus on the most.

I feel I had a great instructor, and was able to pass this class and obtain some valuable skills. I can proudly say that my overall communication skills have increased greatly. I no longer find myself using many filler words and have much better fluidity with my speeches. And my ability to put together a speech and find credible information has also improved. I came out of this class with a lot of confidence in my speech giving abilities.

Intercultural Competence

The learner will develop awareness, knowledge, and behaviors necessary for intercultural competence: to positively influence personal identity and personal choices, to enhance communication in cross cultural contexts, and to enrich understanding of how culture influences interactions with individuals, groups, and organizations.

Technology

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

My first SMART goal was to become more understanding of other cultures by seeing the world from their point of view and see the issues that they struggle with. My second SMART goal was to notice how the world reacts to the many different cultures that we have and how it has effective their culture. I was able to do this in my sociology class. In SOC-220, we mainly discuss social problems. And one problem that I chose to focus on for one particular assignment, was the issue with the LGBT community and them not having the same rights as traditional married people have. And this is the artifact that I have chosen. The main purpose of this assignment was to discuss that people in the LGBT community don't have the same rights as heterosexual people. And it is quite alarming to think that we deny them civil rights based on their sexual orientation. This assignment really opened up my eyes.

I was able to accomplish my first SMART goal. While doing research, I was really able to see what the people in the LGBT community go through, and the struggles they face simply because of their sexual orientation, so It allowed me to see from their point of view. My second SMART goal was one that I did accomplish, but I did not enjoy doing so. Reason being is that I discovered how many people feel about the LGBT community and it is truly awful. And SOC-220 really helped me do this. Because I was required to look at these issues through sociological perspectives and find out what the cause is as well as finding a solution. And finding out more about the struggles that the LGBT community go through.

I never knew the struggles that the people within this community dealt with. The two main points I focused on wee that they were not allowed to have a traditional marriage in some states. And some adoption agencies would deny them the ability to adopt a child because they didn't want a gay/lesbian couple to adopt a child. But being in SOC-220 has really helped me take on the view points of people from many different cultures and also see how they are either positively or negatively viewed by those around them, and how it effects them, and by knowing this, it could help solve any problems that might occur.

Technology has always be something that has always been something that interested me. I always try to stay updated on recent advancements in technology as well as using the many devices I have. And I love how those many devices have many roles in our life. When I came to SPCC, I thought I knew enough about technology to get by. I didn't think I was going to have any worries. That was until I started CIS-110 which was introduction to computers. This is where I began working on my ePortfolio. CIS-110 taught me a lot about how to use Microsoft Office products such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. And I was pretty knowledgeable on how to operate Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, but Excel was a completely different story. My two SMART goals were to figure out how to use Wix to create my ePortfolio and how to properly use Microsoft Excel.

Throughout the class, we had to do various exercises that would test our knowledge about Microsoft Office programs. Excel was one that I had a difficult time in. The most difficult part was writing functions to get results. By the end of CIS-110 I was able to write many functions and formulas without any issue, and I was able to accomplish this SMART goal. For my artifact, I am going to be using my ePortfolio. I feel like this is something that I have worked much harder and longer on throughout my time here at SPCC. And I feel like I learn something new every single time I use it. I really wanted to get better at using Wix because I wanted to have a great ePortfolio. And CIS-110 helped me do that.

Working on my ePortfolio has been full of ups and downs. But I enjoyed every second of it. It was a really fun assignment, because it was something that was personal to me. Something that provided a lot of personal information about myself. And it is very interesting to see how much I have grown as a student. And this class really helped me with this by introducing me to Wix and aiding in my websites development.

Analysis and Interpretation

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

Problem Solving

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

While attending SPCC I took two math classes, and one of them was MAT-263 which was brief calculus. This was my second math class. And I was hoping to do better than I did in my previous math class. My teacher had us use a program called SAGE, and it was similar to Microsoft Excel but it made you be more specific with your functions and formulas. We would use SAGE for lab assignments to help us solve problems. My first SMART goal was to figure out how to properly use SAGE to my advantage, and my second SMART goal was become a better test taker in this class than I did in my previous math class.

The artifact that I have chosen is SAGE. SAGE helped me a lot when it came to studying and understanding formulas in order to figure out problems. After many hours of practice, I was able to figure out SAGE as well as how to properly write a formula. I used SAGE to help me figure out how to solve problems so I can do homework assignments as well as study for tests. And I can say that the test scores in this class were slightly better than the ones in my previous math class. And I was really proud of that.

I have never really enjoyed math, but after being able to understand it better, it became much more enjoyable because I was becoming much better at it than I thought I would. I chose to use SAGE as my artifact because it really did help me a lot with this class. It helped me study, and figure out how to solve problems and how the formula worked. SAGE made this math class much more enjoyable for me and I was able to learn more efficiently.

General Education: Core Skills

For this, I decided to go with what I have done in my MUS-110 class, which is music appreciation. During this class I set two SMART goals for myself. The first goal was to be able to understand music and what the artist is saying. And second, how much of an impact music makes on society, and I feel like I have done that for this particular artifact. The artifact that I have chose to use is a discussion forum that I had to a few weeks ago, and in the document attached is the question as well as my response. I chose to use this artifact because this discussion forum made me dig deep to understand why this musical piece got its name, and the impact it made on society

The discussion forum was about a piece of music called 'Transcendental' and I needed to listen to the music as well as watch the performance in order to figure out why it got the name, 'Transcendental'. While doing this assignment, I was able to understand what the artist was trying to say through the way he played the piano, because this song had no words. I was also able to figure out how the audience reacted to this, because they had never seen anything like it, and it was truly magical. The way this gentleman played the piano was much different than anything that they have ever seen before.

So while doing this assignment, I was able to analyze the musical piece and conclude why I thought it got the name 'Transcendental' as well as watching the performance to figure out why else it may have gotten the name it did. This assignment was difficult at first, but as I listened to the music, and watched the performance it became much easier to analyze it as well as give my own interpretation of why the name of the piece was 'Transcendental'. This music made a huge impact on society, because nobody has ever seen a performance such as this. It truly paved the way for many artists during this time to perform music such as this. I was able to accomplish my two SMART goals by understanding what the song was about, and by knowing what the artists was trying to say. And then understanding what impact this musical piece made on society.

Overall, I was able to analyze music through the instruments I heard, as well as the listening to the rhythm to notice how it would change throughout the song. By being able to analyze the music, I was able to listen to the lyrics or the instrumentals and interpret what the artist/composer was trying to say. One interesting point my teacher brought up is if a song is in a different language, can it still speak to you. That is something I was able to figure out, by listening to music that was performed in a different language, I had to analyze what instruments were being played as well as pay attention to they rhythm, this way, I could interpret what the song was about. I was able to confirm that music speaks in all languages. There are many ways that music can speak to people, and it was very interesting to learn that.