Introduction
During my first semester enrolled in CODES, I have learned numerous things both about myself and the topics we have researched. From video creation to multimodal essays, my skills with content creation have increased drastically in a short amount of time. In addition to this, I have also met many great, inspiring people who have given me alternative viewpoints and challenged my ideas. All of this and more have allowed me to succeed in both CODES and college at large.
Goal 1 (20%)
1A) Demonstrates ability and commitment to collaboratively work across and within community contexts and structures.
One of our first group projects in CODES was the collaborative photo album project. The goal of this project was to create a photo album which showed a community of people at SIUE. As a group, we chose to take photos of the arts department on campus, capturing numerous angles of the diverse and unique community. Together, we assigned rolls to ourselves and gave the project our full attention which can be seen in our group presentation in class.
Goal 2 (20%)
5B) 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.
In the project, “Multimodal Composition #1”, I wrote about my experience as a child and how the COVID-19 pandemic changed harmful ideas I had due to having the time to reflect. In this work, I describe how it felt to move from Canada to the U.S. and all of the challenges that faced me. By acknowledging my culpability and participation in harmful and reductive thoughts and actions, I assume responsibility for the harm a younger me has caused. In addition to this, I also reflect on how my environment allowed for these harmful ideas to form in the first place.
Goal 3 (30%)
8A) Uses clear organizational patterns and is skillful at presenting content cohesively.
The most recent project we have created in the CODES-121 class was the rhetorical analysis video. In this video, we were tasked to analyze a piece of media and discuss the rhetorical devices the creator used. In my video, I deeply and effectively researched my piece of media, taking time to discuss how the creator’s rhetoric added to the piece and where their argument may lack in effectiveness. In the audience companion piece, I described the audience I was targeting in my analysis, building my video around this audience to make an enjoyable and effective video.
Goal 4 (20%)
13C) Uses language to skillfully communicate with clarity and fluency.
I pride myself on being a good writer and holding a deep understanding of the English language. In all of my written work, this deep understanding can be seen, from the choice of words used to the structure of the work itself. My written works are easy to digest and understand, all while carrying the professionalism and journalistic integrity expected out of a college scholar. Both my Multimodal work and reflections put these skills on full display.
Goal 5 (20%)
2B) Takes risks in assignments and in approaches to learning to create new knowledge.
Prior to the video assignment, I have never created a professionally edited video. The challenge presented by the assignment initially frightened me, yet after much discovery and learning I created the video, inserting numerous unique clips and audio segments into the video.