Class Portfolio

Introduction

During the first half of the semester, I learned how to look at various point of views, use clear, organizational patterns to present content, as well as how to showcase my knowledge of a subject by using compelling and relevant content. I also learned about water infrastructure and some of the impacts it has on the world around us. What I enjoyed the most so far was learning about water and the advantages and disadvantages of the things that surround it. It was fun to gain knowledge on an issue I didn’t know too much about and it influenced me to do research on it outside of class. What I struggled with the most was keeping up with the work flow because a lot of that work and research is done outside of class and that was an adjustment that I had to learn how to make. The goals that I believe I excelled at meeting the most was goal 2c and 13b. The reason why is because I believe I did a good job on transforming my work from the edits I was provided, and I also believe that I was able to use appropriate, relevant, and compelling content during my source analysis dicussion to showcase my knowledge on the reading. What I want to continue developing during the second half of the semester is my knowledge and skills on implementing sophisticated, workable solutions to resolve global problems, as well as my ability to present content cohesively.

Goal 2c (20%)

Transforms ideas by gaining knowledge from multiple sources and point of views that have been researched.

The artifact that I am providing for this goal is Multimodal Composition #1. The reason I chose this artifact is because it will showcase how I transformed my MC based on the edits I received.

This was my rough draft for MC #1 where I received edits to make it better. As you can see below, I was given the suggestion to give an example for my claim.

Quoted below is how I included that edit into my final draft of the multimodal composition.

“To give an example, let’s look at how there are kids who learn at different speeds, in different ways, etc. So if we implement a solution that only helps the most represented group of students, then the students who have some sort of learning disabilities will be left out and most likely will fall farther behind.”

The second artifact that I would like to include is how I made my paper multimodal. When I first turned in my rough draft, I did not include any pictures because I did not exactly grasp the idea of multimodal composition. However, after receiving the edit to include pictures, that is what I did. The pictures I used are included below.

I believe this assignment has helped me to develop a new skill of transforming ideas because I had to learn how to take constructive critcism and apply it in a way that enhances the items at hand. In addition to that, the process of learning how to execute the edits by going off of the few words provided, proved to be difficult. It was hard to figure out exactly what was wanted and how to structure it, but what helped was going through and seeing how each idea flowed with what was already in place. Something I might do differently next time, would be to communicate more as I go through with applying the edits. I believe it provide a different outcome as my current method does.

Goal 4c (30%)

Gain knowledge and skills to implement sophisticated, workable solutions to address complex global problems using interdisciplinary perspectives.

The artifact that I will be providing for this goal is Multimodal Composition #2. The reason I chose this artifact is because it will showcase how I implemented sophisticated, workable solutions to address the problem I am working on. My paragraph is posted below:

After conducting a causal chain analysis, we found that community gardens are driven by the people in the garden’s communities. These people include the homeless, local organizations, schools, as well as other groups. The role these people and groups play in community gardens are that they invest their time and resources to maintain the gardens. How the homeless population contributes has been previously explained, however, local organizations and schools contribute as well. For the organizations, they help to educate the community about horticulture, which is the practice of garden cultivation and management, as well as provide funding to create and maintain the gardens. An example of this is the American Horticultural Society. Their website says that “AHS connects people to gardening, raises awareness of earth-friendly gardening practices, introduces children to plants, brings together leaders to address important national issues, and showcases the art and practice of horticulture.” (https://ahsgardening.org/about-us/) Lastly, the role that schools play in community gardens is similar to the other stakeholders because they create and maintain gardens on campus for educational purposes as well as sustainability purposes. An example of this is the Pomona College Organic Farm where they use the garden as a part of their Environmental Analysis program. It is said that “students have the opportunity to not only maintain the plots, but also test real soil for soil sciences courses.” (https://nationswell.com/colleges-getting-green/) So, to summarize, the causal chain analysis of community gardens is that local organizations educate the community and provide funds for the creation of the gardens, and schools, the homeless population, and other groups put in the time and effort to maintain them.

I believe this artifact demonstrates my learning of implementing sophisticated, workable solutions to address the problem I am working on because of the direction I had to take in order to complete it. For this assignment I was tasked with conducting a causal chain analysis of community gardens. We are doing research on these gardens in order to figure out how they can help to resolve the water infrastructure in the community. While doing this analysis it made me realize that in order to implement workable solutions to a problem, you first have to think about everything that relates to it. Our problem is the water infrastructure in communities, but now I understand that in order for us to resolve this we need to engage and work together with the actual people who reside in that community. What I might do differently next time would be to do a deeper dive during the causal chain analysis in order to get more specific about who and/or what is contributing, which will allow me to also see how they are doing so.

Goal 8a (10%)

Uses clear organizational patterns and is skillful at presenting content cohesively

The artifact that I am providing for this goal is my source analysis presentation. The reason I chose this artifact is because it will showcase how I used clear organization patterns, as well as presented content cohesively.

My source analysis presentation was on the introduction, “A Most Magnificent Spectacle,” from the book “The Great River: The Making and Unmaking of the Mississippi River” by Boyce Upholt.

For our presentation, we made a list of things we wanted to dicuss in order to have our dicussion flow from point A to point B. The document also allowed us to get back on track whenever the conversation started to go down a rabbit hole. The shared document is posted below.

This assignment helped me to develop a new skill because it forced me to practice holding a dicussion by using a method that communicated a clear organizational outline for our presentation. What I might do differently next time would be to create a more indepth outline to get more deeper answers that require critical thinking.

Goal 9c (30%)

Learn how to address multiple contextual factors by implementing solutions.

The artifact I will submit for this goal will be the final project for my research team. The reason I chose this project is because it will showcase how I completed this goal. A part of the document is posted below:

“The third thing I want to talk about is the solutions for this problem. I have already explained what rain gardens are, as well as how they function. However, I now want to further explain the next steps that we will take in order to get closer to resolving this problem. In order for us to make an action plan to address the problem, we must get involved with the community. We need to ask the residents what they know of water retention, as well as if they currently have any solutions in place to try and fix this problem. We also need to keep the community up to date with solutions we believe will help so we can run them by the residents. In addition to that, we need to talk with the mayor about ways we can implement solutions that we and the community have come up with. By including the community in our next steps, we can make sure that we come up with a solution that actually helps the people being affected.”

I believe this artifact helped me to learn how to address multiple contextual factors by implementing solutions because of the process that I had to go through. There was a lot of trial and error trying to understand the assignment as well as get it right, but I believe that in the end, I accomplished my goal. During this project, I realized that in order for us to solve this problem we need to understand how much the corresponding factors influence it. The “solution” I ended up utilizing for this problem was the community. In order to solve our wicked problem of water infrastructure, we need to realize that the actual people in the community are a key part in the solution. They are the people living through it day after day, so they see things that other people don’t. They have ideas, thoughts, and other valuable information that we need in order to completely solve the issue. What I might do differently next time, is actually go into the community to conduct some sort of informal survey that can help me to figure out the best next steps to take.

Goal 13b (10%)

Use appropriate, relevant, and compelling content to illustrate mastery of the subject.

The artifact that I am providing for this goal is my source analysis presentation. The reason I chose this artifact is because it will showcase how I used appropriate, relevant, and compelling content to illustrate my knowledge of the book.

My source analysis presentation was on the introduction, “A Most Magnificent Spectacle,” from the book “The Great River: The Making and Unmaking of the Mississippi River” by Boyce Upholt.

The specific questions I would like to include as artifacts are as follows:

“Why was taming the Mississippi River seen as such an important task?”

“What are some ways that we can keep up with the ever-changing rivers?”

I believe these two questions provide evidence for this goal because they allowed for critical thinking in the discussion. In addition to that, the questions were appropriate, relevant, and compelling content because it revolved around looking deeper into the story in order to find answers, as well as thinking more critically on how to answer the question. What I might do differently next time would be to create a more indepth outline to get more deeper answers that require critical thinking. Therefore, it would be more deeper answers throughout the entire dicussion instead of just a few.