Introduction

During my first semester of CODES 121, I’ve learned many skills that have helped me achieve not only goals for this classroom but lifelong skills that’ll help me become a successful young woman. I’ve learned how to show leadership, collaborate and communicate within a group of people to solve a problem like an assignment or project, and develop the ability to access information and use it effectively. And as I’ve learned these lifelong skills they will help me prepare myself for the future and as I move forward I will know how to solve problems that I may encounter or struggle with. I personally think I’ve excelled at being able to work in a group of people and collaborate and come up with ideas on how to solve a problem, this helps me get feedback and learn what’ll be the best approach for a situation. One thing I should work on and continue to develop during the second half of the semester is to learn how to think more creatively and critically. This will help me with future reflections, digital projects, or even just class discussions.

5. Information Literacy (10%)

B.) Accesses information using effective, well-designed search strategies and appropriate sources

The artifact that I chose to submit for this goal is reflection #2. In this reflection we had to access information that was given to us, which were visual essays and articles. After analyzing and reflecting on these pieces, we were asked to focus in on one photo essay that would’ve helped me analyze specific photos and be more in depth and think about how they’d work together. This helped me access the information that was given to me, which were the essays and articles, so that I’d be able to write a well designed paper with appropriate sources. Overall I gotten great feedback on my paper, which is a great thing. It shows I’ve worked on information literacy and developed this skill. But one thing I could try different to have a better paper is to pull in more evidence and think about what the photos are expressing.

2. Critical and Creative Thinking (20%)

B.) Takes risks in approaches to learning to create new knowledge

The artifact that I chose to submit for this goal is a comment made on Reflection #3 from my professor Dr. Despain. I attached this photo because this can be a form of critical criticism. This assignment and comment alone helped me develop my critical and creative thinking skills by taking risks, which were doing these assignments and learning to create new knowledge with the feedback that was given to me. This comment pushed me to try to expand my critical thinking skills and think more outside of the box and learn to write more when doing lengthy papers. Something I can do different next time is to just write more and touch more on the overall rhetorical strategy.

8. Oral Communication (25%)

A.) Uses clear organizational patterns and is skillful at presenting content cohesively

The artifact that I chose to submit for this goal is my Digital Project #2 Script. I chose this artifact because it shows how I used clear organizational patterns that will help me present my content cohesively. This assignment helped me develop this new skill by writing and planning a way to present something and writing and planning are some organizational patterns that’ll help me write a paper. Something I could do differently next time is to make sure that I go more in depth into the topic I’m talking about and not go off track but writing the script and getting edits back from others can help me figure out different ways to complete the assignment and present it cohesively.

9. Problem Solving (25%)

B.) Identifies and evaluate multiple approaches for solving problems

The artifact that I chose to submit for this goal is reflection #1. I chose this artifact because in this reflection, I had to find five outcomes that I’ll rewrite for goals in my contract. To pick out these outcomes I looked for outcomes that I troubled with the most and thought about ways, like goals that I can achieve as I move forward this semester. This assignment helped my develop this skill by identifying my lows and evaluating goals or approaches to solve these lows that I have. Some things that I may do different next semester is to stay focused, turn in assignments on time, ask more questions and be engaged. This will help me succeed toward some goals for next semester that I may have set for myself.

13. Written Communication (20%)

A.) Demonstrates a thorough understanding of context, audience, and purpose

The artifact that I chose to submit for this goal is community photo essay assignment. The purpose for doing this assignment is to demonstrate visual analysis and work together with a group and come up with different ideas and conduct a photo essay about community on the SIUE campus. This assignment helped me develop demonstrating a thorough understanding of community. In this assignment we specifically talked about the library in this specific community. We talked about the context of the library, the audience of it and who goes there and the purpose of the library and what it has to offer. Some things I could have done differently is to talk about the overarching theme of the assignment more to help me communicate the central idea or message of the assignment.