CRITICAL REFLECTION 1

Critical Reflection

Victoria Roberson

LBSU 487: Applied Studies Capstone

Professor Jwad

09 July 2023
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Education is an important aspect of life. It helps us to learn new tools, ideas, theories,

etc., to help us to be a functioning person in society. Outside of high school, I have been

consistently taking college courses for 8 years. Over the past 8 years I have obtained two

Associate’s Degrees, in Social Science and in Business Administration. After this course is

completed, I will have obtained my third degree, a Bachelor of Arts in Applied Studies. Within

these 8 years, I have learned new knowledge, skills and abilities from my coursework that has

not only impacted my career development but in my personal life as well. In this essay, I will be

discussing those topics and what I have learned over the years.

To start with, one of the skills that I have learned is regarding how to find a way to

complete all my assignments by the due date without being overwhelmed through time

management. One of the first skills was to set alarms for myself. This helps with keeping

motivation. I would work for 30 minutes and give myself a 10-minute break to refresh. During

this 10-minute break, I allowed myself free time to read a book of choice, scroll through social

media or eat a snack. This has helped me to get my work completed. In addition to setting

alarms, I created a spreadsheet that listed all the assignments for the course. I began doing this

once I transferred to UMass and it has helped immensely. This was a tool that was added within

the last year, but it has made a difference with meeting deadlines.

Prior to coming to UMass, using the school library was an option and not necessarily a

requirement. Since I have been at this university, it has been a requirement. I used to shy away

from using my previous schools’ library because I was being lazy and didn't want to take the

time to look through the databases and find what I needed. Through this, it reflected in some of

my work, negatively. I have come to the realization that the school library is my friend because

they are academic sources and not just sources that are posted on the internet. They typically

help with having already created citations which have been helpful.

The third topic that I have gained knowledge from is through accepting constructive

criticism. Criticism helps us to grow an understanding of how we can grow and become better at
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skills. Sometimes, it is difficult to accept criticism when we are so accepting of the work we

completed. Constructive criticism is only to help us refine and make our work better. I am

appreciative of the professors that I have had who have left me detailed notes on my

coursework so that I can make improvements for the next assignments. Those professors are

typically among those who also require peer reviewed work. I have noticed that within those

courses, I grew the most in my writing.

Early on in my educational college courses, the two community colleges I attended

require their students to take counseling and career pathway courses. Some students entering

college don’t necessarily know what they want to do with their lives. For me, I had an idea of

what I wanted to do but changed my path. I started my journey wanting to be a teacher to

wanting to be a sign language interpreter to wanting to be a social worker then to running a

business and back to wanting to be a teacher. Although it has taken me several years to figure

out what I want to do, I am grateful that I had the opportunity to explore different career paths

through testing and hands-on experience to figure out what I wanted to do with myself.

The last piece of knowledge that I have gained through my career path is how students

and individuals have different learning styles. Some students are visual, auditory, reading &

writing or kinesthetic learners. Visual learners learn by seeing things done, auditory learners

learn by hearing information given to them, reading & writing through reading books and writing

notes and then kinesthetic learners learn by doing which is essentially hands-on learning.

Through my college life, I have understood that I am a kinesthetic learner because I learn best

by doing it myself. For example, in math courses I did not retain information through notetaking

and listening. I had to physically write down the formulas and complete the problem on my own.

Or in science classes, I had to learn by dissecting a pig on my own versus just watching it be

done. Understanding my own learning styles has helped to gain more clarity on the topic in

order to help others in the future.

Although I am not a teacher yet, I am set to become one in the next year or so. I

currently work in education with students who have behavioral challenges. Utilizing and gaining

these skills will help me be a better teacher for my students. Not only will I be able to learn my

different students' learning styles, but I can adapt my teaching methods so that the messages

can be delivered clearly to them. In addition, I can help them prepare for their own classes while

in school and in the future so they can be able to use time management skills to be successful

students. All the skills I learned helped me in my personal life through setting alarms so I can

get chores done. It helps me at work to keep me on track with reminding me where and when I

am supposed to be somewhere. These skills and knowledge will stick with me so that I can be

successful in my personal and professional life.

I have included in my professional portfolio a few projects that I have completed in my

Applied Studies core or emphasis courses. The first project I chose is from my Intercultural

Communications, COMS 256, course taken at College of the Canyons. This project was called:

Cultural Background Poster and Paper. In this project, I was required to create a poster based

on my own culture and then discuss each part of the poster. This project helped me dive deeper

into my own culture and think outside of the box. It allowed me to analyze an image and put it

into words.

The next project I chose to include is from my Professional Writing, ENGU 380, course

taken at University of Massachusetts, Global (UMass). This project was called: Multimedia

Problem Case Presentation. This was a course long project where students had to find a

problem in their workplace and figure out a solution to the problem through research and study.

I chose to do a problem that affected me directly that I now put into place. Doing this project

helped me to set up communication skills so that I can communicate with my supervisor in order

to get the needs of my position met.

The last project I chose to include is from my Media Ethics, COMU 375, course at

Umass. This project was a case study, specifically on ethical dilemmas regarding journalists
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lying. This project helped put in context about the media and how everything people see may

not be true. It gave me a new perspective on what media presents to the world and how to

always be skeptical. Applied Studies is a program that dives deep into different topics

throughout its program. It is not limited to one viewpoint but opens minds to see different ideas.