STUDENT LEARNING OBJECTIVES 1

Student Learning Outcomes

Alicia Duran
Salt Lake Community College
April 2018
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Student Learning Outcomes

1) Identify significant historical events in the US including acts of

oppression and conflict, identity and empowerment, social

movements, economics, changes in law and policy, educational

inequalities as well as describe family behavior patterns and

intergenerational cultural differences.

This class allowed me to learn bout the many acts of oppression that the Native

Americans experienced. In class, we discussed the many events that have scared the

living conditions of the Natives and which led them to the point where they are now. It is

very interesting to learn about their oppression by hearing stories from the Natives

themselves, as well as people who have experience working closely with them.

I know have a better understanding of identity, empowerment, and social issues

that impact the Native Americans; I have also studied family behavior patterns more in

depth. All these things allowed me to gain a further understanding of this culture and its

people. I now understand why and how, they are struggling and what they are doing to

fix their problems.

2) Practice principles of effective and professional communication, both

written and orally, by reading, writing and speaking of relevant

topics, contemporary realities, social issues relevant to the study of

the Native American in the United States. They will be required to

support their statements/views with authoritative sources.

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This class allowed me to practice principles of effective and professional

communication through essays, class discussions, poster boards, and oral presentation.

There were many opportunities for team work; which is also a good thing to practice.

There were many written assignments that covered different issued surrounding the

Native Americans. Additionally, we had to prepare a poster board for an in-class

presentation.

Moreover, we had class discussion that allowed us to gain different insights and

perspectives from other classmates. I truly enjoyed these moments in which we were

learning from one another. I think my favorite assignment was our final paper because it

gave the opportunity to, not only research a problem for the Natives, but to also come up

with a solution for it. It involved critical thinking and additional research that made the

assignment more significant.

3) Discuss and interpret quantitative information from the social

sciences by examining norms, percentiles, variation, growth, etc.

As one of the assignments we had the opportunity to select from a variety of

problems that Native Americans experience and do some research on it. My group

decide to learn more about their suicide rates and why they are so high. For which we

needed to find graphs and statistics that supported our topic.

I examined many graphs representing suicide rate from different minority

groups, and I also found graphs that represented the reasons behind suicide. This
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assignment also taught us about variations that are visible within suicide; as there are

many aspects involved in it.

4) Construct informed positions regarding relevant contemporary

realities through the synthesis of discrepant and alternative

perspectives; learning to differentiate fact from fiction and/or

sensationalism; drawing parallels to their own life and experiences;

evaluating respectable news sources from individual blogs and

opinions. They will examine issues/problems relevant to Native

Americans and identify effective solutions.

Throughout the course, we were given many assignments that included extensive

research. Which meant we had to find credible resources; which is not easy when

dealing with controversial topics. The assignments pushed me to look for information

that was not biased or incorrect. Many articles from Native American are write by

Native Americans, which means that sentiment sometimes influences their writing;

making it more difficult to find sources to use.

In addition, we also had to interview people from a different culture and then

compare their answer to what we would have answered. This was a good way to make

connections between cultures, finding similarities and differences amongst the two. We

also had the opportunity to examine problems that affect Native Americans and the

solutions that have been proposed and implemented over the years. I was able to

examine the level of effectiveness for these solutions, as well as propose my own

solution and determine whether it would be successful or not.

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5) Participate in exercises of creative interpretation and analysis;

juxtaposing socio-historical, political, economic and cultural events

against creative expressions in art, poetry, music and dance.

We had two assignments that dealt with social, political, and historical issues and

compare them to different expressions of art. One the assignments was a cross cultural

examination of three different murals. The instructions were to find historical and

artistic aspects; it was interesting to think about simple murals more deeply. I was able

to see the true beauty of Native culture hidden in many small details all over the

paintings.

The other assignment consisted of attending a Pow Wow. I was able to learn

about the Natives culture through their dance and music. It was amazing seeing how in

sync the dancers were with the music; their regalia was also very beautiful. They all had

a very unique style.

6) Critically examine current policies impacting the Native American

community. The examination will include: identifying weaknesses

and needs; developing viable strategies; recognizing areas of

resistance; and proposing positive social changes benefiting the local,

national or global communities.

As I had previously mentioned, all of our assignments included some type of

research. In them we had to examine current issues that the Native Americans face;
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while connecting them to previous problems or injustices that may have created or led

to new problems.

After we had identified an issue that interested us, we had the opportunity to

come up with our own solution. For this, I analyzed data related to the problems; I also

examined previous proposals that had been implemented in order to determine key

factors that had made them successful or unsuccessful.

7) Interact with others in a professional, culturally competent,

constructive, and civil manner.

This course provided opportunities to work with others every single class. I had

the opportunity to be part of enriching discussions related to culture and social

injustices. I believe everyone was respectful of others’ opinions and provided different

perspectives. We were all learning from each other; which, I think, was a big part of

what made this course so significant.

Another opportunity I had to work with my classmates was through group

assignments. While these assignments are often disliked by many, I think it is crucial

that we learn to work with others as a team. As this is somethings that we will inevitably

have to deal with in our future works.

8) Utilize computer technology consistently throughout the course.

Assignments and assessments will be posted online, completed

digitally, and submitted electronically. They will cite credible

evidence-based sources in all writing assignments and will have

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opportunities to supplement that content with information from their

own experience, other research, etc.

I was able to utilize computer technology consistently throughout the course

because all of the assignments required some type research, they had to be typed,

and turned in online. Moreover, our research had to be from credible sources that

were not biased in any way and they had to be properly cited in our paper. This

meant time using a computer.

Another thing we had to do was type our assignments and turned them in

online. While it is nice to have the option to either submit homework online or as a

hard copy, I think online submissions are the most effective. I do think the course

involve the right amount technology use, to balance out the lecture and discussion

time that did not necessarily involve any technology.