OGL 481: Pro-Seminar I Core Assignment 1

Table 1: Organizing and Reflecting on Key Learnings – and Collecting Key ArtifactsCOURSE Key content – textbook / articles /

multimedia presentations / videos

Key learning – concepts, theories, skills, best practices, applications, cases, assignments, discussions, simulations / activities, teamwork initiatives, readings, analysis, other projects, etc.

Professional (or personal) application. As a result of your academics: how do you think differently? How do you behave differently? What can you do more effectively? How have you changed as a person?

Possible artifacts to include in professional e-portfolio / website – that illustrates tangible connections to personal and professional transformation

OGL 200: Introduction to Organizational LeadershipFall 2014

The Manager’s Workshop (hands on simulation where you take self-assessments and also watch interact videos and react to them via multiple choice answers, generating either positive or negative employee feedback/actions):

Self-assessments: Creates awareness of your feelings as an employee and why you feel the way you do. Brings realization to why you may or may not like a job. Helps define what does and does not motivate you.

Interactive video/discussion simulation – Creates awareness of how you respond as a manager to employees in different situations.

Key theories discussed: Direction & Intensity Theory, Need Theory, Learning

The self-assessment made me realize I care about physical conditions and organization within my job. I never really thought about this prior to this class, but I do like working in an organized, clean, stable office environment. I like having my own space to call my own and having organization, even if it is at times organized chaos.

The simulations taught me to not assume, to hear people out, and to give people a chance. As a manager, I am some times quick to judge, or make assumptions. It is important to step back, and think through decisions, and how to best motivate and encourage those that I lead.

The theories taught me that each employee is different, and needs to be treated different. It is important to know your employees, and learn what works and does not work for them. As a manager, you need to be able to change your tone and style based on whom you are talking to,

Paper 7 – A recap of the class, my self-assessment (taken at the start and end of the class) results, and an overview on what I learned from the Manager’s Workshops.

Theory, Goal Theory, Equity Theory, and Expectancy Theory

New York Times articles and discussions

Textbook: Yukl, Gary (2013). Leadership in Organizations, 8th Ed., Pearson Publishing.

and the results you are looking for. I compared this to the book The Five Love Languages – you need to know someone, to know how to work and respond to them.

This class brought awareness to questions you should be asking in an interview, more than just skill and knowledge, you need to make sure the person will be a good fit within the organization. After taking this class, I added a question to my interview sheet, “what type of environment do you best perform in (chaos, quiet, organized, private, loud, etc).

OGL 220: Behavioral Dynamics in OrganizationsSpring 2015

Self-assessments, assessed: Interpersonal skills (strengths and weaknesses), specific behavior competencies (ability to listen and convey empathy, demonstrate compassion, consideration, and caring for others, communication with people who see the world differently, building trust and credibility, cultivating relationships, awareness of own style, developing and maintaining positive relationships, demonstrate flexibility and adaptability, build other’s value with a positive impact, self-knowledge and self-awareness, open-minded regarding controversial issues, separate emotions from facts, resolving differences between people, and effectively handle conflict.

My husband then assessed me on the same areas/scale.

Concepts discussed: Emotional

This class taught me to look at things from a different perspective when trying to solve problems or address frustrating situations.

During paper 2 we had to analyze a mental model from a personal perspective. I wrote about wanting a promotion, and asking an EVP at the company I work for his advice on how to obtain it. He brought up to dress for the position you want, not the position you are in. Since receiving his feedback, I dress to impress at work, and believe how I am treated and viewed has changed since this. People view and treat me as a professional, and a higher rank.

Also during paper 2, I addressed the communication break down between my mother-in-law and myself. I was frustrated with her, and after taking this class I made a change in how I communicate with her. Since this change the communication and relationship has not been as frustrating. Doing this recap reminded me of how I need to interact with her, and

Paper 1 – My own self-assessment results and recap, then my husband’s assessment and my recap.

Paper 2 – The personal changes I made as a result of this class, and the outcomes (dress and communication with mother-in-law).

Intelligence, Primary Effect, False Consensus Bias, Confirmation Bias, Fundamental Attribution Error

Textbook: Hamilton, V. M.  (2007).  Human Relations:  The Art and Science of Building Effective Relationships.  Pearson Prentice Hall.

appreciate how far we have come along.

This class made me realize that although I may not want to admit it, sometimes I am the problem, and I need to change my ways in order to receive the desired outcome.

OGL 240: Introduction to Project ManagementFall 2014

Textbooks: Managing Projects Large and Small: The Fundamental Skills for Delivering on Budget and on Time, Harvard Business Review Press

HBR Guide to Project Management, Harvard Business Review Press

This class taught me the basic principles of project management. I thought I knew how to be a project manager prior to this class. This class taught me there is much more behind project management than what I thought.

One take away from this class was to always think about any cultural and organizational influences on projects prior to starting them. I had not thought about cultural differences prior to this class. The organization I work for only operates in the United States, so I have not had to first hand experience differences in culture. However, this is a very big deal when involved in international projects and conversations. You must do your research, and know what is and is not acceptable.

It also taught me to think about a broader scope when planning a project schedule; things may not always go as planned. There must be a risk assessment, and alternative options are great to have for consideration.

One way that I have changed since this class is to remain aware of demographic differences when planning a project. For example, we have offices in three different time zones. This is a key factor

None – The course could not be accessed, and because I purchased a new computer since this class I do not have any of my original artifacts

when planning meetings and due dates. Now, when planning a project I take this in to consideration, and schedule based on what works for everyone, not just the members around the physical table.

OGL 260: Resource Allocation in Organizations / Foundations of FinanceSpring 2016

Concepts: Cash flow, business balance and income sheet analysis and interpretation, and pricing/demand analysis.

Textbook: Keown A, Martin J, & Petty J. (2014). Foundations of finance: The logic and practice of financial management (8th ed). Boston, MA: Pearson.

This class was right up my alley. I work for a financial institution and am very familiar with financial reports. I sit in the Board of Directors’ meetings where they discuss financial reports in detail. Additionally, I handle all of our investor relations, as we are a privately held company. This class furthered my knowledge of the terms used in financial principles, and how to affectively analyze and compare an organization’s financials.

Since taking this class, I can better understand basic financial principles, and was more prepared and confident to discuss them. Before this class I was less confident and hesitant. This class reassured I knew what I was doing, and boosted my confidence levels of financial principles understanding.

Unit 6 Paper – Analysis of Herman Miller

OGL 300: Theory and Practice of Leadership Spring 2016

Theories: Trait and Skill Theory, Servant Theory, Authentic Leadership, Behavioral Approach, Path-Goal Theory, Situational Theory, Adaptive Leadership, Transformational Approach, and Leader-Member Exchange Theory (LMX) were the theories I focused on during this class.

Textbooks: American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication Manual

Even though this class was primarily focused on the different theories of leadership, it served as a turning point for me differentiating between being a manager, and a leader.

This was the first class I made leadership connections in my personal life, instead of my professional life. Throughout a large portion of this class, I connected the material through being a mother and a wife. Before this class, I always connected the material to what I do at my work,

Module 1 Paper – Evidence of making connections to my personal life, versus professional

Module 7 Paper – Illustrated what I learned from the different theories.

of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington, D.C.: Author.

Northouse. P.G. (2016). Leadership, Theory and Practice (7th ed.). Los Angeles: Sage Publications, Inc.

in my professional life. Connecting the material and concepts through a different channel really opened my eyes and made me realize that it is much easier to be a manager, than it is a leader. Being a leader is much more involved, and I am true leader in my household.

From this point on, I connected further class topics/theories and materials to both my personal and professional life. It made my remaining classes easier, and more enjoyable, it also put things in a different perspective.

OGL 321: Project Leadership, Strategy and ScopeFall 2015

Harvard Business Publishing Simulation – Project Management Simulation: Scope, Resources, Schedule V2, by Robert D. Austin (Harvard Business Publishing, 2013) – A simulation where you juggled human resources (number of employees, skill level, outsourcing, and breaks), project schedule, budget, desired product level, and team meeting frequency and duration. This resulted in team process (morale and stress), task and project completion timeline, product sustainability, and overall budget results.

Concepts discussed: Project resource management

This class made me realize that I was not as advanced in project management as I had thought. The simulations seemed easy at first, but were actually quite challenging.

The class reminded me how important team morale is. During the simulations, if morale was low, or stress was high, the whole project went sideways. It was also important to make trade-offs and determining those trade-offs was challenging. It was like a teeter-totter and balancing act that never seemed perfect.

After taking this class, during projects I managed I remained focused on team morale, but a change I made was assessing risks. I always just ‘went with it’ during projects and this class helped me better understand the big picture, and made me realize more pre-work is required before starting a project, like determining risks. It helped me break down a process map, and structure for large projects, which I still use today.

Module 7 Paper – Recap of my takeaways from the class, how I will change from this class.

An example from the Simulation

BIS 345: Organizational EthicsFall 2016

Textbook: Ethical Issues in Business: A Philosophical Approach, (8th Edition) by Thomas Donaldson and Patricia Werhane.

Ethics is something I was more naive to than I thought prior to taking this class. I always gave people, and organizations, the benefit of the doubt. Before this class, I viewed ethics as legal standards. I did not think of culture, and employee behavior as ethical. This class gave an alarming number of unethical examples. It made me realize ethical dilemmas in organizations are not as uncommon as I had previously thought, and that there is a wide variety of things that fall under the ethics category.

Working for a financial institution, our ethical standards must be high caliber and in tune. Since working for the organization over the last seven years, I have known of three ethical dilemmas, of which all three were due to a lapse in the employee’s ethical judgments, not the organizations.

Since taking this class, I view ethics in a different light. I read our organization’s ethics policy, and became more aware of unethical companies around my area. Because of this class, I feel that I now have a better understanding and true perception of organizations and ethics. This is something I will forever appreciate and remember.

My Favorite Ethical Leader Paper – Demonstrated I understood the principles taught in class. I would consider using this paper as an artifact because I found it to be a well written, well rounded, fun, educating, and enlightening paper. Plus, it is focused on Zappos.com, which I find very intriguing.

BIS 343: Social Processes in OrganizationsFall 2015

Skills: Developed a psychological “contract” with a team. Utilized and reflected on self-managing and self-monitoring.

Used a version of Skype for team contract (Zoom.com).

This class was challenging as my first group class. Numerous times throughout this class we had to video chat with our assigned group, and work collaboratively within a Google doc.

This class made me realize that I am a leader, and a team player. Several of my classmates

Final Interview Report – Report is focused on a fellow classmate, and her psychological contract, but shows we collaborated as a team.

Concepts: Group decision making processes, managing team conflict, participative leadership

Textbook: Thompson, Leigh (2014).  Making the Team: A Guide for Managers (5th edition)  Pearson. 

assigned to my group were not as participative or caring. Being a student that cared about my grades and GPA, this was extremely frustrating.

This class taught me patience and understanding, it taught me how to address freeloaders in a respectful manner. My take away from this class was that not everyone genuinely cared as much as I do. It made me that much more appreciative of the teams I work with day to day, in my job. It also taught me to be an even stronger team player.

Unfortunately, because of the group I was assigned to, and the frustrations I dealt with, this class set the tone for future group classes, in a negative way. It made me dread group assignments, and actually drop a future class after reading the syllabus.

BIS/OGL 350: Diversity and OrganizationsSummer 2016

Culture Intelligence Self-Assessment

Race Implicit Association Test

The game ‘Spent’: Illustrates assumptions people make about poverty and homelessness. Spent is a simulation of experiences, and the financial and emotional toll that arises from decisions made

A documentary on children of the plains: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJapHc7B8Xs&feature=youtu.be

Speaking style exercise – gender and communication

This class is the one that impacted me the most personally. I live in West Michigan, in a community that is not very diverse. This class was extremely eye opening for me. It taught me so much about diversity, racism, discrimination, and socialization.

Part of the class was a cultural immersion activity, where I had to attend a cultural event that is related to a culture or ethnic group different than my own. I attended a local event here in West Michigan on raising strong black men. While I was incredibly nervous to attend the event, it was the best experience I have had in a long time. I left with a new look on life, race, and diversity. It changed how I view my Caucasian son, and African American boys/men

Paper 4 – This was an interview with one of my co-workers whom is a different nationality and culture than my own. It shows I recognized cultural differences, and made a connection to the material learned, and the interview.

Paper 5 – As part of this class we were required to attend an event that is based on a culture different than our own. I

A simulation based on a real event that was faced by the US military in Afghanistan - http://www.worldwarfighter.com/hajikamal/activity/

and the struggles they face. It is an event I will never forget, and will always be incredibly appreciative that I attended to open my eyes to a different world I did not know existed here in my own community.

attended an informative panel for “Raising Strong Black Men.” This paper describes the event, my experience, and what I learned.

PAF 311: Leadership and Change (SB)Summer 2016

Concepts: Personal Vision and Leadership Understanding, and Leading Change

Self-Assessments: Color Test, Community Involvement, Handling Change, Managing Conflict, Group Work

Textbooks: Student Leadership ChallengeAuthor: KouzesEdition: 2ndCopyright Year: 2014Publisher: Jossey-Bass, Incorporated Publishers

Leadership for a Better WorldAuthor: KomivesCopyright Year: 2009Publisher: Jossey-Bass, Incorporated Publishers

The biggest surprise from this class was my score on the managing conflict self-assessment. I scored much lower on this assessment than I would have expected. From this assessment I knew I needed to make a change on how I manage conflict.

Since taking this class, I have taken two conflict management classes outside of ASU. One was specifically for women, and the other was for bankers. Both have drastically helped, and I can proudly say that because of this class I have forever changed for the better.

The other take away from this class is hiding my emptions better. This class made me realize that I sometimes wear my heart on my sleeve, it shows when I am having a frustrating day or experience. This is something I continue to work on. This class created the awareness, but this is something that cannot change over night. I have learned to take breaks and try to get out of the office for lunch when I am having a bad day. However, there are many days where I simply cannot leave due to schedule conflicts. These days I am still learning the best way to deal with frustrations. I am still grateful for this class, and bringing me the awareness on this topic I needed.

Personal Leadership Profile and Essay -

BIS 357: Assessment in OrganizationsFall 2016

Concepts: Organizational core knowledge, capacity, performance & motivation, Good-to-Great and Baldrige models, LESAT 2 and Shingo Prize, and Best Practices of Organizational Assessment Models.

Textbooks: Lusthaus, Charles, ed. Organizational assessment: A framework for improving performance. IDRC, 2002.

Collins, Jim. Good to Great-Quickie Book Summary. (Kindle Edition): Amazon, 2012.

Prior to this class I would have had no idea what assessing an organization entails. Since taking this class, not only do I know what it entails, but I think I could be pretty successful at completing assessments.

Part of my role in the organization I work for is to run the organization’s strategic planning session with the Board of Directors and Officer team. This is never an easy task, and is hard to come up with a different style each year. The session needs to be engaging, useful, serve a greater purpose, and set our vision in the coming year(s). After taking this class, I began adding topics to the agenda for 2017-2018. I began thinking about creative ways I can generate idea sharing amongst this group, to think about, and assess the organization we work for. We all think the organization is great, and running smooth, but is it really?

The final project is a template we could actually use at the organization I work for. It is a tool, using the Baldrige Model that thoroughly assesses an organization.

Our strategic planning session is in November, and I fully plan to use at least some of, most of, my culminating project as a template for discussion.

Culminating Project – This is something I worked hard on, and am very proud of. It is something I could actually see being used by the organization I work for.

OGL 360: Assessment of Leadership EffectivenessSpring 2017

Concepts: LPI 360 Analysis (Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, Encourage the Heart)

Textbooks: The Leadership Challenge, 5th edition (2012), by Kouzes and Posner

The Leadership Challenge Workbook, 3rd edition (2012), by James Kouzes

LPI Observer (Leadership Practices Inventory, observer), 4th edition.

After my negative experience with group assignments from BIS 343 I was nervous about this class. However, much to my surprise this one went much better. For this class, I was paired up with two peer coaches. Each week I had to call these two peer coaches individually, carry on a one-hour conversation, and learn from each other. The guidelines and objectives for these calls were unclear, so I was hesitant at first, but after two weeks these calls became natural, and easy.

This assignment taught me a lot about myself. It taught me that I am good with people. The conversations were never awkward or uncomfortable, because of me. It also taught me that sometimes getting an outsider’s view and opinion on things is helpful and important. These two total strangers (the peer coaches) helped me set goals for myself personally and professionally, prior to not knowing anything about me.

This class also taught me not to be so quick to judge. At first I thought this class was going to be horrible, and that these two younger gentlemen were never going to teach me anything I did not already know. Boy was I wrong! It was the opposite in fact. Additionally, this class made me excited for future group classes.

Assignment 6.0 – LPI 360 Analysis: Five different people rated my based on a survey, this was a great way to see not only how I viewed myself, but how others viewed me as well.

Learning Plan – This was a great recap of the class, but also the plan itself forced me to set goals for myself, personally and professionally. This was a really impactful assignment.

COM 430: Leadership in Group Communication Spring 2017

Self-Assessment: Your best and worst Leadership Moment

Self-Assessment: Willingness to Communicate

This class was interesting because it was a large group project. We were assigned groups, and had to work together to come up with a campaign to launch a new, beneficial service at ASU with a $5,000 grant. We had to use a tool for

Group Project – Smart Parking Solutions at ASU

Self-Assessment: Leadership Communication Style Preference

Self-Assessment: Followership Style Questionnaire

Google Hangout Tool: Used to work on papers collaboratively with my group

Textbook: Leadership: A Communication Perspective, 6th edition by Michael Z. Hackman & Craig E. Johnson

our video meetings I had never heard of, or used before called Google Hangout.

This class taught me the value of being organized, and taking initiative when working in a group. Our group communicated pretty well, but it always took a few minutes on our meetings to get up and running. This proved to be quite time consuming, so I proposed making a rule that you had to be logged in, with the project up, ready to talk at the meeting start time. I may not have been the most liked person for this, but in the end it is what we needed. I took initiative, and at the end of the class two of my group members thanked me for it.

I learned that people have different communication standards. My group members would video chat while driving a car, making dinner, with screaming children in the background, and even at a loud Starbucks. To me, this was unacceptable and rude. I went out of my way to get a sitter for our video chats (they were scheduled well in advance), and always gave my group members my undivided attention.

In the end, I learned to adapt, and just do what was best for me, the best that I could. I tried to play the role of the leader and set standards, but those were ignored. I ended up doing more than my share of the final assignment because I cared about my grade. This made me frustrated, but it was out of my control.

For future group projects, academically, personally, or professionally I will set the standard up front. I will set my expectations, and enforce them the best that I can. As a leader, I

ensure any projects I am involved in that I give my full attention, and do my part, because it is not fair to others when there is a freeloader. It is important that all stakeholders in a project are on the same page, and are equally invested in the outcome. This can at times be hard, but with proper communication I believe it is possible, and what I will strive for.

TWC 347: Written Communication for Managers (L)Summer 2017

Textbook: Bovee, Courtland L. and Thill, John V. Business Communication Today, 13th edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

This class used a lot of creativity, which I found fun. We needed to pretend to open up our own business, and then had various assignments based on that business. At first, I thought this class was going to be challenging, berceuse it was so far fetched, but in the end I actually enjoyed it.

This class made me realize I know how to change my tone, adapt my style, and address an audience based on who they are, and the message I am trying to convey. Professionally and personally, I am exposed to a lot of different groups of people, and I have to be able to effectively communicate with them. I am the primary person at my work for sending emails or messages to all employees, so I need to know how to effectively write.

This class reminded me the importance of knowing your audience, and knowing how to put yourself in check when communicating with them. Since this class, when I need to send an email to a specific group of people, looking for a specific resolution, I will type it up, but then keep it up on my computer for some time before I hit send. After writing the message, I leave it and go back with a fresh mindset, to make sure it makes

Negative Letter – This letter shows I have learned how to properly write and format a professional letter.

Additionally, it shows I know how to address a less than ideal situation, in a professional manner. It shows I am learning how to better manage conflict.

2016 Annual Report – This report shows I know how to communicate as a business owner in a professional manner, knowing whom the target audience is, and what information to include.

sense, and my message is adequately addressed. This has helped, and I have found that many times I end up making changes to the original message. It has been a great tool for sending important messages effectively.

OGL 481: Pro-Seminar IFall 2017

Textbook: Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2013). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership (5th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass

This Table – Used as a great tool and resource to recap classes and my takeaway from each one.

OGL 482: Pro-Seminar IIFall 2017 – B

Table 2: Plus / Delta – Significant Learning Experiences – Structure and Transfer Pick one of your most significant learning experiences from Table 1. Take some time to deeply reflect on the experience. Respond to the following questions / sub-questions as explicitly as possible. Use your imagination and creativity here – this is really all about making connections, and seeing what you can learn about your learning style (and yourself) from the experience!

Describe the task / assignment? What, specifically, did you learn? Be sure to address both declarative forms of knowledge (things you learned – concepts, theories, ideas, models) as well as procedural forms of knowledge(things you learned how to do – skills).

The assignment that had the most impact on me was in OGL 350 – Diversity in Organizations. We were tasked with attending a cultural event that is related to a culture or ethnic group different from our own. After attending, we had to write a two page reflection paper detailing a description of the event, what we learned about the culture from participation, and our reaction to the event. I attended an informative, interactive panel for “Raising Strong Black Men.” Several African American community leaders were present and on the panel, including the mayor of Grand Rapids, College Directors, well known television personalities, and many more. The event was held at a city library, and the audience was packed, with approximately 100 people attending. The objective of this assignment was to assess and increase intercultural competencies and awareness, gain insight into intercultural team development, and examine the impact of culture on interpersonal and small group interaction. The event I attended met all of these objectives, it opened my eyes to a lot, discrimination, challenges, and struggles that I otherwise was oblivious to and taught me to be more empathetic when dealing with different races.

Why is it important to you? What connections can you make between this learning and other things you have learned (in school – and beyond)? What connections can you make between what you learned and your life roles and goals?

Why is this important? Because it impacts my day to day life, my children’s lives, the people and environment around me, and so much more. After attending this event, I vowed to be more open-minded and thoughtful. I have never been racist, or discriminatory, but I also never truly saw the differences beyond skin color. I never knew the different hardships African Americans, especially in a predominantly white city, face. This class, and assignment brought me that reality. After attending this event I told my husband I want to attend more events like these. It was uncomfortable at first, just because it was so out of my element, but in the end it was one of the best experiences of my life. Additionally, I want my children to be aware of these differences, and challenges, I want them to be more aware of diversity than I was/am.

One connection I made to this this assignment and the material in OGL 481 is the piece on diversity in organizations. The organization I work for is predominantly white. After attending this event I realized it is actually harder for African Americans to succeed in our community. The statistics are quite shocking. Many African Americans are raised in broken homes, with no

positive role models. It made me realize that even though African America applicants may be less qualified on paper, they may be better employees in the end, because many of them are so appreciative of where they have been, the opportunity, and their own pride, that they will do whatever they can to succeed and be successful.

What worked for you?In terms of process, was there something about the assignment structure that appealed to you? How did this task / structure of this assignment differ from other assignments? Was it similar to other assignments / tasks that were meaningful to me? What strategies, skills, procedures proved effective in the completion of this assignment / task? Do you see any patterns or connections in this regard to your preferred approach to learning – such as following an outline, keeping to deadlines, other learning or study skills?

The assignment’s structure appealed to me because it was nothing like I had ever experienced before. It was hands-on, and outside the box. It really made me think not only about the assignment but also how I was going to tackle it. I like that it had guidelines, but also a lot of freedom. It was the most creative assignment I have ever experienced. The hardest part for me was deciding what type of event I wanted to attend. It was during summer break for the local colleges, so there was not happening in that space, I was on my own to find something. I really wanted to attend a Spanish or Mexican event so my son, who is in a Spanish immersion program could attend with me, I thought he would think that was very cool. However, I had a really hard time finding something. I narrowed it down to the event I attended, and an LGBTQ event. The LGBTQ event was more interactive, so I thought I may be more uncomfortable, so I opted for the Raising Strong Black Men event. Going to the event I was very nervous, mostly because I did not know what to expect, was I going to be the only Caucasian in attendance? Much to my surprise I was not.

This assignment proved to be successful because it served its purpose, and met the objectives. Additionally, it is something I will not soon forget, and something I talked about to my friends and family. I generally like more creative assignments, and this one topped them all. I like assignments that you can relate to, and are applicable to your life, and this one was.

What can you transfer?Where can you apply / use these skills and knowledge? How can you apply what worked for you (above) to other learning goals or initiatives in your life? Can you connect or adapt this knowledge / skill to other areas of your life? What kinds of metaphorical connections can you make? Can you connect something that was interesting or important with respect to this knowledge / skill to something that you are struggling with?

I can apply this knowledge daily. I have a new found appreciation for African Americans, and a dear friend that is African American. What I can do that worked for me in the diversity class, is try to find real connections to the assignments, completing them for future use or information, not just to pass the class for my degree. Like anyone else, I do better in a class that I have more steak in, and I have more steak in a class where I can actually use the material, and learn something new.

The Brain in a Jar, one’s understanding depends solely on their subjective feelings. We do not know what we do not know… This class brought me new light, it made me not only learn something new, but also changed my subjective feelings.

As bad as it sounds, I have always been quick to pass judgment. This is very hypocritical of me, because I was born with only one arm. So, for someone like me, that looks different, to pass judgment on someone else because of the way they look is absolutely ridiculous. I have been struggling in this area, and continue to try to not pass judgment, because I know how it feels! This ties in what I learned in this class, with race, discrimination, and minority treatment.

What evidence do you have?Do you have a plan for communicating your learning to others? Are there any tangible outcomes (and specific artifacts, in particular) that serve as evidence of this knowledge / skill?

My word and experience is the only evidence I have, and that is detailed in the paper I wrote. One of my best friends is very culturally diverse, and expressed interest in attending these types of events with me. So, with her, I have more of a drive to attend them in the future. Additionally, I have motivation to communicate the concept to my children.

Assignment #1: Questions for ReflectionPrompt #1: Now that you have completed Assignment #1, what were the most important aspects of this assignment? What moved you the most? Any surprises?

I actually found the most important aspect of this assignment was recapping my classes. It reminded me of what I have learned, and what goals I made for myself. For example, in OGL 220, which seems like forever ago, I concentrated on my communication skills with my mother-in-law. Recapping this, I had forgot that I had a goal to communicate better, and a plan of how I was going to achieve that goal. Reminded of those pieces, I reinvented that goal, and this is really good timing as we are about to spend a week with them on vacation. There were not any surprises necessarily, other than how much the one assignment in my culture class changed me. It really did have a life time impact on me, and how I view people, my community, and the world, as a whole.

Prompt #2: What are your ideas in terms of how to best illustrate your growth and development over the course of your education and experiences with the Organizational Leadership program? What are your best ideas with respect to specific artifacts / evidence that you might present (within the context of an e-portfolio) as your consider your growth and development in the Organizational Leadership Program?

If I look back on a paper I wrote at the beginning of my studies, and compare it to a paper I wrote today, that is clear evidence of how far I have come. Not only have I been able to better connect to the materials, I have changed how I write, and my personal style. Additionally, in reading through my artifacts/papers, there is a clear illustration of how I have connected the material to my professional life. I have grown as a leader, and that is evident in my classwork, including discussion posts. I will showcase self-assessments to show my growth. This serves as evidence of how I initially perceived my skills and abilities to how I did in later classes. I made stronger connections, and had a more accurate self-assessment.