Class Portfolio

Introduction

During the semester, I have learned a lot more about water issues and how they can affect different communities, while also practicing research tactics and communication. I most enjoyed communicating with my classmates and getting to listen to what they think about issues going on in the world. This gave me a lot of hope because It turns out that we all have very similar opinions. I enjoy this class and I did not feel like it was a struggle. Goals that I want to reach moving forward would definitely be to pinpoint on our issues better and learn how to communicate through a smaller group.

Goal 1 (10%)

Based on 7.A: I will display my interests in the subject through in depth exploration and research.

This artifact is an excerpt from my Multimodal Composition #1. I believe this captures my interest through exploration because I did my assignment on Lake Springfield and I took the time to go and capture the photos of this issue myself. I wanted to make sure I could see the extent of the problem with my own eyes and capture photos that represented that. This assignment helped me understand how much more interesting essays can be when you add other forms of media, especially ones you gathered yourself.

Goal 2 (20%)

Based on 13.A: I will exhibit my comprehension of reason and context while practicing awareness of the audience I address.

I believe that I execute this well through class discussions because I am able to say how I feel about the texts but in a way that my peers would understand and be able to respond in the way they think. We always speak off of others ideas which keeps the conversation going. This helps me better connect with my peers and professor as we are able to fully communicate how we feel. This is new for me because a lot of times before I was never in a setting where I was able to freely express my opinions. I like that we also all read the same texts so we have the same context, but differences in opinions. What I would do differently would be to record a class discussion so I could use that as my artifact instead of only being able to explain the contexts.

Above is a slide that I created for our final presentation on our research project. The way that I had to put the slide together, such as using bullet points and adding a photo from our local context, to present my information shows how I considered the audience I will be presenting to while maintaining the context of the work. I learned that this thought process is especially important while doing presentations because you want your audience to be engaged in what you speak about. I feel like the second half of the semester helped me understand this goal better because we had more serious projects. I will definitely be implementing this idea in my upcoming work throughout CODES and my research team, but also throughout life.

Goal 3 (20%)

Based on 9.B &9.C: I will comprehend the context behind the difficult issues we address and provide insight on possible solutions.

This artifact is an excerpt from my Multimodal Composition #1. I believe this shows my comprehension of contexts to issues and considering those as I try to offer solutions. This assignment helped me a lot to understand how there are many contributors to problems which makes finding solutions more difficult. But, it also helped me think about solutions because a lot of the time I find it easy to understand contexts behind issues, but I don’t consider problem solving. Next time, I would consider more solutions because I feel like I offered obvious solutions.

This is the slide from my group project with the research team on Community Organizations and Communities. Although I did not write this, our whole group came together to come up with what we would implement in the future to conduct research and to change our local contexts issue with water equity. This shows how I’ve worked to provide solutions this semester. This was important because it’s easier to understand the contexts behind the issues, but to be able to think about what and how you’re going to change it is more difficult. As I spend more time in the program I want to be able to be stronger with this goal because we will be working on it for 3 years.

Goal 4 (30%)

Based on 3.B: I will comprehend the complexity of multiple ethical issues and how they relate to one another. 

This is a screenshot from our group Miro board on poor quality of water. This shows how I understand what can cause issues and how this is multifaceted. Also, you can see how they all connect together. Miro boards help me form a better idea of these issues because I am encouraged to not think in black and white. Also, I like that I can hear other peoples ideas because they will say things I didn’t think of before. These assignments have broadened my knowledge. Next time, I would rearrange my Miro board because we switched up the indirect and direct drivers, although this does not fully take away the impact of the message.

This artifact is my introduction from my Multimodal Composition #1. This is a great example of how I understood the multiple ethical issues of a problem and how they connect. This assignment specifically helped me with this skill because this assignment was local, which makes it stand out more. I am able to see the affects with my own eyes and live this. Also, learning about wicked problems and applying this issue to it helped me understand how wide these problems are. Next time, I would like to try to find actual research on this issue so I could understand the quantity of the problem.

Above is another Miro board I created to define the system for water equity in our groups Multimodal Composition #2. This is the most descriptive way I’ve shown how I understand ethical issues connections. This was one of the most important things I’ve created during my semester in this class because it’s helped me to understand my place in our research. I hope to use this tool later on if I need help understanding the complex systems.

Goal 5 (20%)

Based on 6.A & 6.C: I will cease judgment upon others based on identity and reflect on  how figures of my race have impacted these biases.

This artifact is an excerpt of my Source Analysis #3. I believe this shows how I am judgement free based on identity and understand the role that white people(the government in this situation) have played in creating/worsening problems. They made the Flint problem worse through not listening to community voices. I learned from this assignment how much these people had to go through to fight for justice, even with plain sight proof. I learned how people will deny access to basic rights if it costs them money. If I could do anything different next time, I would simply like to learn more about the issue.