Micaylah Cunningham

Program Outcomes

This page includes the six program outcomes: communication competence, cultural competence, creative problem solving, information and media literacy, understanding the arts and the human experience, and social scientific literacy. This page is very similar to the core skills page in that I had to choose one artifact for each program outcome in order to show that I have learned the required skills. However, the program outcomes page is a little bit different. The artifacts for the program outcomes have to be discipline specific, whereas the core skills page could be any assignment that fit into that core skill. 

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Out of the six program outcomes, my favorite/strongest was communication competence. In the core skills page, one of my strongest was oral communication, and this program outcome is along those same lines. For communication competence, the artifact that I chose was a video I did in HUM-115 reflecting on my ePortfolio. It was neat getting to show you off all of the hard work that I had put into the ePortfolio and the knowledge and skills that I gained from it. Also, it gave me a chance to improve upon some of the challenges that I face when giving speeches. 

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The program outcomes page is more difficult than the core skills page since the artifacts have to be discipline specific. However, no matter the difficulty, I am continuing to climb my mountain and this was just one step. Doing these reflections has given me the opportunity to see what skills I have gained from each assignment, and it is my pleasure to share with you the knowledge and skills that I have gained at SPCC. 

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Communication Competence

Learners will become effective communicators and critics of communication in the written, oral, and visual contexts of their discipline.

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For the program outcome, communication competence, the artifact I chose was a presentation I did in HUM-115 on my ePortfolio. For the presentation, I had to come up with a thesis statement that was going to be the main topic for my presentation. Then I chose three main points that correlated with the thesis statement. In the three main points, I had to use my ePortfolio as a reference, or evidence, for what I was going to be speaking about. I actually chose the last sentence from my welcome page as my thesis statement for my presentation. The sentence was: there will continue to be struggles, especially in school, but no matter how difficult the task, I will continue to climb the mountain until I reach the top. Therefore, my three main points for my presentation were challenges that I overcame while doing the ePortfolio. 

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The three challenges that I encountered and overcame in my ePortfolio that I talked about in my presentation were: coming up with a theme in my welcome page, coming up with goals for my goals page, and then the core skills page. For each of these points in my presentation, I talked about the challenges that I had for each one. I also talked about what I learned in the ePortfolio that helped me overcome these challenges, which leads into the first goal that I had set for myself in this presentation. My first smart goal for the presentation was to purposefully communicate the most important things that I have learned from doing the ePortfolio. Talking about the challenges that I had faced, but also the things that I had learned in the ePortfolio to help me overcome those difficult challenges showed the most important things that I had learned. 

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The second smart goal that I had set for myself was to keep the audience engaged throughout the presentation. In order to get the audience's attention at the very beginning of the presentation, I started with a story. Starting with a story, question, or joke is a great way to capture the audience's attention. This step in the presentation is crucial because if you do not get the audience's attention from the beginning, then chances are you never will. As my presentation went on, I made sure to make eye contact with the audience to keep them engaged. Then, at the very end, I had a call to action which was, "keep climbing your mountain, because if you don't who will?" Leaving the audience with a call to action gave them something to think about, which kept them engaged until the presentation was over. 

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Cultural Competence

Learners will recognize and adapt to various cultures, ideas, and practices within their discipline.

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For the cultural competence program outcome, I have chosen a presentation that I gave in HUM-115 on, the Ku Klux Klan. The assignment was to choose a certain mass movement that I would be interested in learning about and give a presentation on what I found important in my research on the mass movement. To prepare for this assignment, I had to read a book called The True Believer, by Eric Hoffer. The book talks about what a mass movement is, the type of people who are likely to join, along with key characteristics that are the motivation behind mass movements (ex. frustration, self-consciousness). Then, I was to choose a movement that would fall under the criteria that Hoffer gave and explain how the mass movement is a mass movement based on Hoffer's characteristics. The movement that I chose to do for my presentation was the Ku Klux Klan (changed to the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in 1915). I chose this mass movement because my father's old friend had encountered them a few years back; and thus I was curious to learn more about them.

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My first smart goal for this assignment was to understand mass movements and the motivation behind them. As mentioned previously, I read The True Believer, by Eric Hoffer to learn about mass movements. Before reading this book, I did not have a clue about what a mass movement really was. The book explained what a mass movement is; it also explained that frustration is one of the most important factors for why people join mass movements. Another key factor to why people join mass movements is that they are dreamers and hopeful for the future. Individuals who are frustrated tend to dream and hope for the future because they are not satisfied with the present. Therefore, they join mass movements because it gives them an escape from reality and provides a passage way for hope for a better future. Also, in joining a mass movement, individuals are no longer individuals; they are considered a member of a group. Therefore, they cannot stand out and be judged or be singled out and looked down upon. These are just a few of the things that I learned about mass movements, which helped me to better understand mass movements and why they happen.

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Reading the book, The True Believer, gave me a much better understanding of mass movements. Therefore, I had a good amount of background knowledge on mass movements to pick my own mass movement and do research. My second smart goal for this assignment was to learn about the Ku Klux Klan, specifically the modern klan, and apply Hoffer's characteristics to it in order to prove that it is indeed a mass movement. From my research, I learned that the modern KKK was a group of only white Christians that were fighting for white supremacy. The klan appealed to the frustrated whites who thought that white power was vanishing. The klan also appealed to the poor, the military veterans, the power-hungry, dreamers, amongst many others. Based on these characteristics of the KKK, the KKK can be considered a mass movement because Hoffer explained in his book that mass movements appeal to: dreamers, the frustrated, the poor, the military veterans, and the power-hungry. 

 

Reading The True Believer opened up my eyes to so much on why mass movements occur. Also, out of any book that I have ever read, this one made the most sense. I would read some of the things in the book and it would almost be a moment of awe, like seeing things in a completely new light. Also, taking the information in Hoffer's book and applying it to a real life situation, such as the KKK, to see if Hoffer's characteristics of mass movements do ring true, made the information in the book that much more interesting and useful. After reading The True Believer and comparing it to the KKK, I will be able to take Hoffer's characteristics and compare it to any mass movement that I hear about in the future.

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Creative Problem Solving

Learners will apply appropriate techniques to solving problems within their discipline.

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For this program outcome, the artifact that I have chosen is a speech from COM-231 titled, How Often Do you Exercise? The assignment was to choose a topic that you could persuade people on. I learned to persuade narrowly, which means to persuade based on something specific such as eating vegetables one more day a week, versus converting to a certain religion. Furthermore, it is best to pick a topic to persuade on that is easily attainable, which int urn will more likely get people to be open to the idea. My teacher also mentioned that we should pick a topic that means something to us so that we will be more interested in doing the speech. The speaker's interest and passion for the topic will always show in the speech delivery. Therefore, I chose to do my speech on persuading people to exercise more because health and fitness are very important to me. I work out a few times a week and I definitely feel much better than if I do not exercise. Also, the benefits that can come from exercising are very important to people's overall health.

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My first smart goal for this speech was to persuade the audience to actually exercise. I took two different approaches in order to try and persuade the audience to exercise more. The first approach I took in my speech was talking about the negative effects that can come from not exercising. Some people do not know that not exercising can actually have negative impacts on their health, so informing them of some of the impacts opened up their eyes. The second approach I took was to talk about the benefits of exercising. Another thing I learned from speech class is that people are more likely to listen if you tell them something that will specifically benefit them. Therefore, one example I used for how exercise could benefit them was that it could help take stress away from school. Because I was giving the speech to students, this would appeal directly to them. Talking about the negative effects of not exercising; as well as, the benefits of exercising would certainly get some people thinking. After I talked about these two things, I came up with an action plan. All of the information would not be of much use if I did not provide a plan for people to start exercising more. My second smart goal, therefore, was to offer a solution to a problem that many people have that can be injurious to their health.

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It was important to give the audience information about the negative effects of not exercising and the benefits of exercising, but majority of people would not know exactly what to do with the information. To make it much easier, I came up with an action plan for people to get started on improving the amount they exercise. This way, the plan would be laid out in front of them and they would not have to do the thinking. People are certainly more willing to do something if you just tell them what to do, versus making them figure it out. Also, if I provided all of the information for them, it would persuade more people to be open to the idea. Therefore, my action plan was to: 1) set some time aside to go to the gym and work out, 2) follow through with the plan to go to the gym 3) set another day to go to the gym, and start making this a habit, and 4) (optional) bring a friend or sibling with you to the gym. Each one of these steps are "narrow" and would be attainable. Now the audience would have the tools necessary to start their own plan for working out more. Furthermore, I provided an action plan for the audience to help them fix the potential problem of never exercising, which would then lead to better physical and mental health.

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Information and Media Literacy

Learners will demonstrate use of appropriate technology to locate, interpret, and make informed judgments about information and media within their discipline.

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The artifact that I have chosen for the program outcome, information and media literacy, is a paper I did in ENG-112. The paper is called, Teacher's Salaries: Differences Between the North and the South. Back when I wrote this paper, I planned on majoring in education. I did not know exactly what I wanted to do in the field, but I knew I wanted to teach. For this particular assignment, I was to pick a topic based on my intended major (teaching) and write a paper on that topic. I chose to do my paper on the differences between teacher's salaries in the north and south and compare them. I have always known that the northern states' teaching salaries were greater, but I did not know by how much. Therefore, the paper goes into detail to discuss the salaries in states up north and states in the south. It also goes into more detail to explain why this gap exists and why teachers salaries have been changing over time. 

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When I started researching, I knew that I would have to find credible sources that would give accurate information. This paper was not based on opinions or current events, it was based on specific salaries and facts. The websites that I gathered the information from had to be credible. Therefore, my first smart goal I set for myself when doing this assignment was finding credible sources that I could use in my paper. When looking for credible sources, the first thing I did was see if it ended in .org, .edu, or .gov because these are the most reliable sources. I was able to find two sources that had one of these endings that had information I was looking for (wunc.org and nces.ed.gov). I continued to do more digging to find some sources that had information I was looking for. The sources that stood out as most reliable to me were of articles on well-known sites, such as Washington Post. Making sure that the sources were reliable was very important in writing my paper so that I did not gather and use false information. 

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My second smart goal, after finding credible sources, was to use those sources responsibly throughout my paper. I organized my paper so that I would talk about the teacher's salaries in the north , then talk about the teacher's salaries in the south. After that, I wanted to talk about how much teacher's salaries have changed over the past several years and reasons as to why the change was happening. One of the credible sources that I had found (nces.edu.gov) had information regarding annual salaries for teachers in schools by state. I used the information in this site to make a table for northern and southern states to show some of the salaries that teachers make in each. This information allowed me to better show the gap between the salaries in the north and south. I also used this source to make a table showing the percent change in salary over a period of time for a few different states. Using this information and putting it in a chart made it much easier to understand the changes in salaries among states over the past 20 years. 

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When writing a paper, finding credible, useful sources is always one of the trickiest parts. It was important to find information that pertained to the topic, but also information that was credible, because otherwise I could have ended up using false information. Because my paper was based on specific numbers and facts, it pushed me further to find the best credible sources out there. THIS taught me that I can find credible sources if I look hard enough. Also, this paper required me to use critical thinking to apply the information gathered from my sources and use it properly in my paper. Learning these lessons now will continue to help me on future assignments, especially because I do not want to use false or incorrect information in my work. 

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Understanding the Arts and the Human Experience

Learners will demonstrate an understanding of arts and humanities in historical and cultural contexts.

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The artifact that I have chosen for the program outcome: understanding the arts and the human experience, was a paper I did in Art Appreciation (ART-111) titled, Art Criticism Paper. The assignment was to select any work of art in the textbook and then use critical thinking skills to analyze the work. In order to do so, I had to use Feldman's 4-step Art Criticism model which is: 1) description, 2) analysis, 3) interpretation, and 4) judgement. Having to do this process required me to look at a piece of art in a much deeper way. Rather than trying to interpret the meaning of the art at first glance, I analyzed it in multiple aspects to understand the true meaning of it.

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My first smart goal for this paper was to learn more about art and the people who created the art in Art Appreciation. Art Appreciation was the first art class that I had taken since elementary school, so this was an interesting class for me. I really enjoyed learning about different artists in history and which artists made which pieces of art. For my art criticism paper, I chose to do a piece of art titled, I and the Village, by Marc Chagall. Out of all of the pieces of artwork in the textbook, this one spoke to me the most. I loved all of the different colors and the complex, yet simplistic quality to it. From doing this paper, I learned that Marc Chagall lived in a village when he was a child; the village that he lived in had many different animals. Knowing this key information about Marc Chagall's past really helped me to understand why the piece was titled, I and the Village. This was one of the first steps in interpreting the art, which I had set as my second goal. 

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My second smart goal, learning how to interpret art was more advanced than my first goal and far more interesting. It was very useful to the overall interpretation of the artwork knowing the author and his background; however, analyzing the visual elements and principles of designs in the piece helped me to better understand how each piece/object in the artwork all contributed to a well-balanced, meaningful piece of art. For the first step in Feldman's 4-step model, description included visual elements such as lines, shapes, and colors. The second was analysis which included the principles of designs that were used, such as asymmetrical balance and emphasis. Looking at all of the different lines, shapes, and colors helped to make the artwork asymmetrical. The lines, colors, and shapes all contributed to emphasis on certain subjects in the artwork too. And together, all of these different elements contributed to the overall meaning of the piece. 

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Art was probably the most enjoyable class that I took at SPCC. It was very neat learning about the different aspects that people look at (visual elements) when analyzing a piece of artwork. Enjoying art and fully being able to appreciate it comes with more than just looking at it first glance. It takes skills and knowledge of the artist to truly understand the inspiration behind the piece of artwork. The next time I look at a piece of art, I will certainly use Feldman's 4-Step Art Criticism model. Using this model will provide me with more tools to be able to identify art and its meaning. Also, to provide me with a better appreciation of the artist's and their works.

 

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Social Scientific Literacy

Learners will demonstrate an understanding of social science methodologies in order to explain the consequences of human actions.

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For the program outcome, social scientific literacy, the artifact that I have chosen is a presentation I did in HUM-115 on the mass movement: the Ku Klux Klan. For this assignment, I was to pick a mass movement that I was interested in and do research on it. Then, I had to take the information that I found and compare it to what Eric Hoffer says about mass movements in his book, The True Believer- which I had read throughout the weeks prior to this assignment. For the final result, I decided to discuss: the background of the KKK, the characteristics that Hoffer says mass movements appeal to/how the KKK qualifies as a mass movement, based on these, and the impact that the KKK has had on society over the years. 

 

In order to get the final result of my presentation, there were many steps that had to be completed. Therefore, my first smart goal for this assignment was to learn a process for exploring topics in the social sciences, specifically the KKK. The first step in the process, as mentioned previously, was to read Eric Hoffer's book, The True Believer. This book provided a great deal of information on what mass movements are, why they happen, along with what type of people are most likely to join. Reading this book was crucial because it laid the foundation for the project. Next, I had to analyze Hoffer's book; in order to so, I would choose important quotes from the book and interpret them into my own words. This gave me a better understanding of the material covered in Hoffer's book. After these steps, I was then ready to pick a mass movement and research it. I decided on the KKK because I had heard about it a couple of a times growing up, but I never knew much about it. This was the perfect opportunity to learn more about the KKK.

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Once I started researching the KKK, I started braining storming what I wanted to do for my presentation. After I gathered enough information, I decided on what I was going to do. As mentioned previously, for my presentation, I decided to discuss: the background of the KKK, the characteristics that Hoffer says mass movements appeal to/how the KKK qualifies as a mass movement, based on these characteristics, and the impact that the KKK has had on society. I would say that the last point I discussed- the impact the KKK has had on society- is the most important point out of the three. This shows the consequences and effects that arose from the actions of the KKK. Therefore, my second smart goal was to use research to better understand the consequences that arose from the KKK's actions. Through my research I learned that the KKK was the first white supremacist group, which then led to many more down the road. Also, I learned that the KKK was involved in some very violent activities, such as lynchings. The KKK was hoping for white supremacy; however, their use of violence actually backfired. Once people found out that the KKK members were the ones involved with all of the violent activities, people stopped wanting to join. This is one of the main reasons why the KKK failed. This definitely showed me that people's actions do have consequences.