Class Portfolio

Your Goal Grade

Highlight the header for the column below to indicate which grade you plan to work toward in the course. Meeting the basic requirements for your chosen letter grade, according to the table below, is mandatory.

A Work	B Work	C Work
– Misses two classes or fewer, or makes up excused absences – Completes all assigned readings on time and annotates them thoroughly – Contributes deeply to discussions – Meets all assignment and draft deadlines or has approved extension – Work shows engagement, care, effort, and growth – Abides by the CODE of Conduct and classroom norms	– Misses three classes or fewer, or makes up excused absences – Completes and annotates most readings – Often participates in discussion – Meets all assignment and draft deadlines or has approved extension – Work shows care, effort, and growth  – Abides by the CODE of Conduct and classroom norms	– Misses four classes or fewer, or makes up excused absences Completes most readings – Sometimes adds to discussion – Completes all major assignments, and meets most draft deadlines  – Meets minimal expectations on assignments; shows some growth  – Abides by the CODE of Conduct and classroom norms

First-Week Introduction

For the first week, I chose five goals to help guide this semester in CODES. The reason why I chose these goals is because I believe they will go hand and hand with the work I will be doing. All of my goals have to do with efficiently researching and gathering data in order to produce a relevant, informative product. So, it won’t be too much of a stretch trying to figure out how I can incorporate all of the work I will do into evidence and artifacts for my learning outcomes. For this class, the assignment that makes me most excited is getting more accquainted with Emplace because I have not worked with or even heard about this before, so I am excited to try something new. Overall, I believe this will be a challenging semester as I will be under pressure to come up with a physical product that I can actually implement and share with our stakeholders. So my main strategy for this semester is to keep pushing because it will be really stressful with everything going on, but I’m almost done so I can finish up strong.

Midterm Introduction

As I near the halfway point of this semester, I feel that I have really worked on my skills revolving around patience. This has been a very trying semester to the point that it feels like a test. I have struggled to balance school and overall health, as well as my priorities in general. This semester has felt very jarring and redundant, so it has been hard to stay present. However, it took me changing my perspective to really lock back into this class and my work towards this problem in general. Looking back on this last half of the semester, what I most enjoyed was the process because it is leading me towards the finish line. Lastly, going into the second half of the semester, I wan’t to give it my best and end on a good note so I can proudly stand behind my work as I present it towards the partners.

Final Introduction

Now that the semester is at its end, I feel like a huge weight has gotten taken off my shoulders. Not only was this semester a trying time for me in my personal life, but this whole process of creating a product that we actually disseminated was a hard one as well. At every turn, I had to think critically about the feasability, the impact, as well as other real life consequences it would have. However, it was still a very big learning moment for me. I learned so much about collaboration, self-motivation, as well as how to put me first while still staying on top of things. In regards to my goals, I feel that I made great strides to hone those skills, but there is always more that I can learn. Lastly, the main goal I want to take with me into my future courses would have to be how to take the knowledge I learn in the classroom and connect it to my everyday life. I say this because there are a lot of things that I learned here, and they can be very useful as I navigate life itself. So, I will be leaving this class here, but taking it’s lessons along with me.

Course Goals

Goal 1 (15%)
Based on 1b. Connects and extends knowledge from academic study to civic engagement: Write out Goal in your own words

For my artifacts for this goal, I will talk about them together because they go hand and hand but are still two separate things that I had to accomplish.

Research:

This is a page from my brochure where I included the links to different conservation organizations that host volunteer events, internships, classes, and more.

Life Changes:

This is a screenshot from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service website.

While looking through all the volunteer opportunities HeartLands Conservancy had, I started to realize just how many there were, and not just with this organization. There were multiple other organizations in the area and in other places that had volunteer events as well as information on places you can actually learn about topics surrounding conservation. There were websites that had actual programs you can participate in that will teach you about these important things. I was able to research very useful information that I was able to include in my brochure, but I was also able to find resources that I would be able to take home with me to my friends and family. I feel that it’s not just young adults who struggle with knowing how to get started with volunteering; it’s people of all different ages. So, I found this research to be very useful in my work on the brochure as well as my everyday life. What I plan to do in the future is continue my work on informing people of ages on conservation and how they can get involved, and I also plan to use these resources to help my friends and family get started on their journey of conservaton in their everyday lives as well.

Goal 2 (25%)
Based on 2c. Transforms ideas through synthesizing knowledge from multiple domains: Write out Goal in your own words

The first two artifacts I have are stated below. I am putting them together because these are all examples of when I have worked on a rough draft of an assignment, gotten feedback, and used it to make my work better. This outrightly showcases my work to achieve this goal because it highlights each time where I have increased my work performance simply by listening to the criticism given to me and adjusting my work in accordance to it. What I plan to do in the future is to continue to work on my time management, which will allow me more time to get more feedback. That way I can have time to perfect my work as much as possible before it is due.

My Informational Brochure:

Before Feedback:

Page 3 + 4(the only page on my partner HeartLands Conservancy)

Page 5 + 6(page about how to search up volunteer opportunities)

After Feedback:

Page 5 + 6(I added two more pages about HeartLands Conservancy like more information on their volunteer opportunities and how to contact them)

Page 7 + 8(I added a section where I quickly explain why volunteering is important)

These edits were made after I sent my rough draft to Anna from HeartLands Conservancy. She gave me a lot of good things to think about while making my final draft and helped to guide me in the direction to go.

Author Bio:

Before Feedback:

“A quick look at some of her key experiences are the 4 years in Youth and Government that she did in high school, her journey through various artistic and athletic clubs, and the overall skills that were generated from the constant need to collaborate with other people in life. The numerous years of customer service work, volunteering, club activities, as well as school in general, has all contributed to her ability to adapt to the ever-changing situations she is put in.”

After Feedback:

“Participation in high school and undergraduate clubs, such as Youth and Government, have played a significant role in shaping her collaborative skills; her numerous years of customer service work, volunteering, club activities, as well as school in general, have also contributed to her ability to adapt to the ever-changing situations she will face in the future.”

After taking the edits from one of the CODES mentors, I was able to curate my bio to flow more, as well as take away that wordy feel without taking away the message I was trying to portray.

Quote from Relfection #1:

“The secondary sources that I might need to explore to bolster my previous research is about Heartlands Conservancy as well as other conservation organizations in the area. The reason behind this is because I want to have a multitude of volunteer opportunities, internships, and just activities in general, that I will share in my product in order to help these young adults find a starting place to begin exploring how they can help participate in conservation.”

This artifact showcases my work towards this goal because it shows my thought process on how I can better my product by using outside resources and learning more about the surrounding organizations. That way I can allow readers of my brochure to have multiple places that they can learn and grow from. Something I plan to do in the future would be to get more resources that can give me first-hand experiences on these organizations.

Quote from Reflection #4:

“I learned that just going along with what is being presented before me doesn’t always work out. It is important for me to add my ideas, inputs, critiques, etc., into the space because our work won’t improve if only one person is taking the reins for the whole group.”

This artifact showcases my work towards this goal because in this quote, it shows my realization towards the importantance of gathering information from multiple parties because that’s the best way to improve, as well as the only way to improve as a group. During this semester, I was able to see that happen in real time and see the consequences, good and bad, come as a result of that. Something I plan to do in the future is to exercise communication more in group settings, since that will increase the work flow, and quality of work, amongst the group.

Goal 3 (25%)
Based on 5a. Defines the scope of research questions effectively and selects information cogently to address them: Write out Goal in your own words

For these first 5 artifacts, I am showcasing them together because they are all of the reflections. They have the same outcome, but are each different in their own respective research questions.

Reflection #1:

The question for this reflection is: How are you going to revise your work? What secondary sources might you need to explore to bolster your previous research? Who are you writing for and how will that impact your revisions?

“Coming into this new semester, I want to revisit the draft I came up with.”

“The secondary sources that I might need to explore to bolster my previous research is about Heartlands Conservancy as well as other conservation organizations in the area.”

“The audience that I am writing for is young adults, the way that this will impact my revision is what I decide to do as my implemented product.”

Reflection #2:

The question for this reflection is:
Who do you want your work to reach? Who are the relevant stakeholders, and how do/should they shape your work?

“Based on my research and plans, the audience that I want my work to reach is young adults within the age range of 18 to 25.”

“For my work, the relevant stakeholders are the young adults, 18 to 25, in the community as I previously explained, since they are my target audience. However, another stakeholder who is relevant in my work is Heartlands Conservancy.”

“The influence that these stakeholders have in the shaping of my work is a very big part of my process. The fact that my target audience is young adults means that the way I want to engage them will have to be catered towards them which will limit me, or push me, to certain forms of engagement. Also, my work has to benefit Heartlands Conservancy in some way, so that pushes me to help promote and spread the word about them and their organization through my research and work.”

Reflection #3:

The question for this reflection is: What is the process of giving and receiving feedback like for you? What can you do to give better feedback and improve how you engage with the feedback you receive from others?

“The process of giving and receiving feedback for me is being open, whether that’s open to changes or open to criticism, it’s the best way to have a constructive feedback session.”

“What I can do to give better feedback as well as engage more with it has everything to do with listening.”

Reflection #4:

The question for this reflection is: How will your recent interactions with your research team, community partner, and CODE320 mentors shape your work moving forward?

“These interactions will shape my work moving forward because I will continue to work on my time management as well as my communication.”

Reflection #5:

The question for this reflection is: What have been your biggest takeaways from this semester, and from CODES as a whole?

“So, going off of that, my biggest takeaway that I got from this experience of CODES is that I should never dampen who I am as a person, and I should instead take my personality and put it into the work I want to accomplish.”

These artifacts showcase my work towards this goal because it shows how I answer these questions straightforward. The prompts for each of these reflections gave us a set amount of questions to answer. I started off each paragraph in my reflections answering that question to the best of my ability. I start by answering it straight out in the first sentence, and then continue to provide more evidence to back what I am stating as my answer. This simple ritual of how I answer they reflections is what I see as evidence to show that I see a question and immediately find the best, and most straighforward path, to address it.

Goal 4 (20%)
Based on 7a. Explores a topic in depth, yielding a rich awareness and/or little-known information indicating intense interest in the subject: Write out Goal in your own words

Quote from Reflection #2:

“The influence that these stakeholders have in the shaping of my work is a very big part of my process. The fact that my target audience is young adults means that the way I want to engage them will have to be catered towards them which will limit me, or push me, to certain forms of engagement. Also, my work has to benefit Heartlands Conservancy in some way, so that pushes me to help promote and spread the word about them and their organization through my research and work.”

The way that this artifact showcases my work to achieve this goal is how it shows the thought process I took to understand who is the target audience for my project as well as other important stakeholders. I also had to understand how they’re importance would affect me and my work, in regards to how I go about it and what I all include. My target audience is young adults, 18 to 25, so I conducted surveys and interviews in order to bring out themes that would best represent how to resolve our wicked problem for this demographic. With HeartLands Conservancy being my partner, I made sure to involve them in my product’s creation because they would be the main point of interest for my brochure’s topic.

The next three artifacts will be talked about together because they have the same outcome, but the process is what makes them different.

Individual Contribution Research:

This is the initial research I conducted in order to find the information that I wanted to put inside my brochure.

I had to take time to think about what would be the best information to introduce them to conservation and HeartLands Conservancy.

Final Product:

This is the final version of the informational brochure that I created.

I had to put in so much time to get the layout that I wanted and fight through the technical issues to get them sorted right and put together.

Final Research Presentation:

This is a quote from the script I came up with for the final presentation we did at the Undergrad Scholars Showcase. I didn’t speak it word-for-word, but this is what I wanted to get across while I was showing off my brochure.

“To help spread awareness of the volunteer opportunities available to these young adults, I created a brochure that had a variety of useful information that can aid in starting their volunteer journey. The information I included was what conservation is and why it’s important, who our partner HeartLands Conservancy is and the opportunities they host, as well as a list of other organizations where they can find volunteer events, and lastly, a simple step-by-step guide on how to search for volunteer opportunities online. This brochure provides young adults with a tool to find volunteer activities even when they aren’t being publicized to the majority of this age group. There is a physical copy of this brochure as well as an electronic one, that way there won’t be a limitation on who can or can’t have access to this information.”

These artifacts showcase my work towards this goal because it showcases the overall outcome of all the time and effort I put into researching this wicked problem, conducting surveys and interviews, finding codes and themes, and putting it all into a physical product that can be shared in order to further our progress in resolving this problem. This whole journey took so much out of me because I had to give so much of myself to do it, but it also allowed me to come out of this with a type of knowledge that will allow me to make changes in the world and in myself. What I plan to do in the future is to continue working on getting this brochure disseminated farther than just that presentation. That way this information can be shared far and wide so more and more people can benefit from it.

Goal 5 (15%)
Based on 13b. Uses appropriate, relevant, and compelling content to illustrate mastery of the subject, conveying the writer’s understanding, and shaping the whole work: Write out Goal in your own words

Final Research Presentation:

For my presentation at the Undergrad Scholars Showcase, I had mainly visual elements to my part. For my slide in the presentation, I shared it with a group member who also did a brochure, and we both only had a short description of our work below our respective pictures. I wanted to allow the audience to focus on the brochure as I explained what the pages contained. I didn’t want to have a bunch of words on the screen to the point that the audience is no longer focusing on me, but instead are trying to read what’s on the screen. This showcases my work towards this goal because it allowed me to have an engaging physical object to show the audience in order to keep them hooked while I talk about the details and specifics that come along with it.

Informational Brochure Design:

This artifact showcases my work towards achieving this goal because you can see the time I spent putting each and every detail into this brochure. I did not use a predetermined brochure layout, instead, I went on Canva and created the design using shapes and pictures, some I took and other’s from websites. I put in effort to make it appealing to look at in order to potentially not let my words be drowned out by a poor design. After being drawn in by the design of my brochure, the reader will then continue to read on as they are being given information about conservation and the opportunities surrounding it. I feel that the information provided showcases my knowledge of my target audience as well as our wicked problem.