Aaliyah Lindsey’s First Semester at SIUE

Introduction

During the first half of this semester, I’ve improved on skills that I already possesed while also recognizing the areas where I need to grow. I’ve learned how to think critically about various pieces of literature, how to collaborate most effectively with others, and how vital it is to be patient with yourself(especially in a program like CODES). It’s been a pleasure to have a classroom that is genuinely a safe space to share ideas, thoughts, and concerns. Although CODES is shaping me to become an academic weapon, i’ve endured challenges like everyone else. The biggest one for me has definently been time management and promptly meeting deadlines. When I get my work submitted it is usually well done but, it does not look good turning in an assigment 1 week after it was due. I’m working on it. Despite this, I do believe that I’ve achieved the goals in my grading contract thus far. My evidence is below!

Semester Completed!

It is now the end of the semester and I think I’d describe it as a beautiful rollercoaster. I learned so much and improved on so many skills. Skills that I’ll have to draw from for the entirety of my academic career. It was amazing being able to work with MOBOT and everyone else in my cohort. I’m looking forward to see what adventures and knowledge second semester will bring!

Goal 1 (30%)

6.b: Demonstrates sophisticated understanding of the complexity of elements important to members of another culture in relation to history, values, politics, communication styles, economy, or beliefs and practices.s sophisticated understanding of the complexity of elements important to members of another culture in relation to history, values, politics, communication styles, economy, or beliefs and practices.

Pictured above is a piece of my multimodal composition #2. I analyze a graph that compares traditonal native knowledge to Western science. This is a vital comparison to make because it highlights ideas that are not typically prioritized in the Western world. We can see this lack of inclusivity when looking at the plants within the MOBOT.

This is a snapshot from my source analysis #2 where we looked at chapter 3 of Sustainable World. This section specifically refers to how direct and indirect drivers can fluctuate across temporal and spatial scales. This assignment really provided a good foundation for the formatting of all my future source analysis. Especially considering how lengthy this chapter was. It was really interesting though!

This is a snapshot from source analysis #3 where were learned how plant names revealed African knowledge on new world flora. Pictured above is where I began to detail some examples of these plant names and how they also provided intel to the geographic location of some enslaved people. This assignment absolutely pushed me out of my comfort zone. The reading was a little hard to follow initially but, I got the hang of things was slowed down and took my time digesting the material.

Goal 2 (25%)

5.a: Defines the scope of research questions effectively and selects information cogently to address them.

Pictured above is a snapshot of multimodal composition #1 where we started to piece together how our wicked problem of inequality in plant knowledge and collection fits the characteristics of all wicked problems. In this paragraph, I talk about the vague problem definition aspect of our problem which basically is difficulty defining what the actual issue is. This is hard to say due to differences amongst stakeholders. This MC provided a lot of clarity for me in terms of what our research team focuses on.

This is the slide that I created for our final presentation. I was responsible for identifying the wicked problem and some of the direct drivers that contribute to it. It pulled together the main ideas that we learned from working alongside MOBOT this semester. This assignment allowed me to develop better public speaking skills and it taught me how to operate efficiently as a team.

Goal 3 (15%)

8 b. Uses compelling, appropriate delivery techniques. 

This is me presenting at the showcase about our wicked problem! I was super nervous but I think I executed it as intended.

Goal 4 (20%)

9.a: Constructs insightful problem statements with evidence of relevant factors.]

This is a drivers map I created and included in MC#2 that covers some of the direct and indirect drivers that can be attributed to our wicked problem. This pulled together the key ideas and concepts that we covered throughout the semester. It was a lot of fun making this and I’ll probably refer back to it for second semester.

Above are notes that I took while reading Sustainable World chapter 2. The notes pictured above cover concepts like cultural eutrophication, temporal/spatial scales, and causal chain analysis.

Goal 5 (10%)

7.a. Explores a topic in depth, yielding a rich awareness and/or little-known information indicating intense interest in the subject.

These are notes that I took when Robbie Hart visited us in the IRIS center. I gained so many seedlings of information that eventually grew and sprouted into full trees of knowledge.

These are photos that I took during a visit to the garden. On the left is a photo of a plant specimen from Sri Lanka and on the right are photos of the basement in Henry Shaw’s house. This visit was really eye opening regarding the gardens history.