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Kelsey Summey
Key Concepts Im Engaging With Key Concepts that Challenge Me
1. Critical Thinking 2. Independent Inquiry and Curiosity 3. Responsibility for Learning
1. Making Connections 2. Providing and Receiving Feedback
Key Concepts that Im strongly engaging with:
Critical Thinking Throughout this semester, I feel that I am critically thinking better than ever
before. This type of critical thinking is a lot different compared to in 1101. My critical thinking
in 1101 solely dealt with creativity. It took me awhile to get my papers rolling and interesting.
Here, in 1102, Im critically thinking through every assignment were given. For example, in Blog
Four we were required to create a list of people that would sit at our inquiry questions roundtable
for debate. First, I had to think about what type of people I wanted at the table. I chose a journalist,
NSA ex and current members, federal judges, and an activist. The last thing I had to do was
compare their stances on my inquiry question. The very next day, in class, on February 12, 2015,
we had to create a conversation between these people. I had to take in account their points of
views, why they felt this way, and how they would present this information. Creating this
discussion was difficult but fun in the same way, as it allowed me to get into a role of each member
of my roundtable.
Round Table Conversation (snippet)
Pauley III (ethical) There is no question that the NSA surveillance is not important. It almost
prevented 9/11; it could prevent future attacks.
Rogers (ethical) I totally agree. Our programs are for the better good of the country.
Leon (unethical) But is there any actual proof that these programs have already or will prevent
attacks?
Snowden (unethical) NO! Its all just an excuse. If the NSA is trying to prevent terrorist
attacks, then we dont need every single Americans information.
King (ethical) We might not need everyones information, but it is valuable intelligence.
Rogers (ethical) Exactly! We arent viewing everyones information
McCracken (unethical) If you arent viewing all the information, why are you deciding to keep
it for five years? You have us all guilty until proven innocent.
King (ethical) No one is guilty until proven innocent; we have to go through many steps to
open this information.
Snowden (unethical) Theres no point to even having the information! You all are abusing
power.
Independent Inquiry & Curiosity After finally figuring out what my inquiry question should
be, I wanted to keep finding out more. My original inquiry question was Is the NSAs mass
surveillance and spying unconstitutional? Literally after doing five minutes of research, I came
upon various questions. I started asking myself What exactly does unreasonable search and
seizure mean? Is the process ethical? If its unconstitutional, how can they do this? Who caused
the uproar of the NSA programs? Are there any protests going on? Through various research, I
actually answered all the questions listed above. Its a bit too broad for this project, so I decided
to narrow down my inquiry question a little further. Ive decided to ask the question Though the
NSAs surveillance programs are unconstitutional, yet legal, are they ethical? I will incorporate
all the research that Ive done into this topic.
Responsibility For Learning Throughout this course, I feel that Ive been 90% responsible for
my learning. Ms. Ingram has helped me and given me hints about some assignments, but Ive
done most of the work. Just like the Portrait of a Writer Essay in UWRT 1101, I feel like Ive
been left alone to figure this all out, which is great.
I had the hardest time trying to figure out how to actually set up my visual bibliography.
Im not sure which was more confusing, the fact that prezi wasnt working well or the fact that my
research was going nowhere. After finally figuring out prezi, I still had the problem with my
research. I reached a dead end with the constitutionality of the NSAs surveillance. At first, my
topic titles were things similar to, The NSAs Telephone Metadata Program Is Unconstitutional.
Yes, this article supported my view on the subject, but it left me no useful substance. It was then
my job to revise the way I looked at my research. I then began to find things such as, Federal
Judge Rules against NSA Spying and Most Americans Back NSA Tracking Phone Records,
Prioritize Probes over Privacy. These new articles pushed me into new directions, and I began to
feel like I was on the right path. This is the sole reason of why I believe that I have been responsible
for my learning.
Key Concepts that challenge me:
Making Connections Making connections is something that I struggled with in 1101 as well. I
never felt confident incorporating and connecting our readings to my own writing. This is pretty
much what Im dealing with now, except I can see it especially in my Visual Bibliography. Though
Ive made a key terms list for every source, I am having trouble connecting all the sources together.
My next move is to get and use advice from my group member, Olivia. Her inquiry topic has to
do with whether or not the use of drugs like Adderall are considered cheating. She did the three
column notes and has decided to use different highlighter colors to connect her sources. For
example, she uses a RED highlighter to see the similarities between the drugs. Adderall and
Ritalin has been the most common drugs across her research. Another example is her using a
GREEN highlighter to compare the locations of the research conducted in her study. I can take a
lot from her and use it to better develop my Visual Bibliography.
Providing and Receiving Feedback Because Im giving and receiving a different kind of
feedback, I feel a lack of confidence in what Im saying. In 1101, we got to read our group
members essays and then we gave feedback. This feedback would deal with things such as
sentence structure, introduction and conclusion changes, or even the title of the paper. Since, in
1102, we are only giving feedback on the visual bibliography and/or the three column notes, I feel
that its not that effective. When giving feedback, I am not sure what to say or what to look for. I
usually think to myself, Should I say something about the citation? Or how the color of the
background appeals to me? Are there any grammatical errors? Its a summary, so how exactly
do I give feedback? As for getting feedback, I dont think its as effective as 1101 feedback. Last
semester, the feedback made me start thinking. It led me to the experimentation and creativeness
of my paper. With this semesters feedback, itll help me make brief changes but not change my
outlook or get me thinking. An example of this semesters feedback is from McKenna, and it
states, Sounds like you did good research and learned a lot about the topic. I didnt find any
holes; you wrote enough. I love my group members and their feedback, but Im just not sure how
the receiving of feedback of the visual bibliography will help me in the long run.