Core competencies are essential skills important for growth and success on both personal and professional levels. They are the skills required to not only do your work effectively, but to continue learning and improving yourself. Written communication and creative thinking are two skills I have developed which I believe will serve me best in attaining my professional goals.
Written Communication
"Written communication is the development and expression of ideas in writing. Written communication involves learning to work in many genres and styles. It can involve working with many different writing technologies, and mixing texts, data, and images. Written communication abilities develop through iterative experiences across the curriculum." - Association of American Colleges and Universities
Written communication is how we express ideas through our writing, and is one of the most important means of communication in the digital age. In my Climate Justice and Communications course, I learned how to communicate ideas and concepts about climate change to a wide variety of audiences, meeting them where they are at and helping them to develop their understanding. With the popularity of social media, it is more important than ever for climate activists to develop written communication skills in order to reach the general public and encourage them to make a difference in their community, something I had the opportunity to do while working with the Monterey Peninsula Regional Parks Department on my service learning project.
Creative Thinking
"Creative thinking is both the capacity to combine or synthesize existing ideas, images, or expertise in original ways and the experience of thinking, reacting, and working in an imaginative way characterized by a high degree of innovation, divergent thinking, and risk taking" - Association of American Colleges and Universities
Creative thinking involves taking existing ideas and using your imagination to combine them into a new concept. Working with the Monterey Peninsula Regional Parks Department, I had the opportunity to combine research and information about the effects climate change would have on our parks, and format it in new ways to reach a variety of audiences, including via an informational guide for teachers and posts for the general public on various social media sites. Formulating information so that it can reach different audiences with varying levels of knowledge and interest on climate change is essential for environmental outreach.
Written Communication
"Written communication is the development and expression of ideas in writing. Written communication involves learning to work in many genres and styles. It can involve working with many different writing technologies, and mixing texts, data, and images. Written communication abilities develop through iterative experiences across the curriculum." - Association of American Colleges and Universities
Written communication is how we express ideas through our writing, and is one of the most important means of communication in the digital age. In my Climate Justice and Communications course, I learned how to communicate ideas and concepts about climate change to a wide variety of audiences, meeting them where they are at and helping them to develop their understanding. With the popularity of social media, it is more important than ever for climate activists to develop written communication skills in order to reach the general public and encourage them to make a difference in their community, something I had the opportunity to do while working with the Monterey Peninsula Regional Parks Department on my service learning project.
Creative Thinking
"Creative thinking is both the capacity to combine or synthesize existing ideas, images, or expertise in original ways and the experience of thinking, reacting, and working in an imaginative way characterized by a high degree of innovation, divergent thinking, and risk taking" - Association of American Colleges and Universities
Creative thinking involves taking existing ideas and using your imagination to combine them into a new concept. Working with the Monterey Peninsula Regional Parks Department, I had the opportunity to combine research and information about the effects climate change would have on our parks, and format it in new ways to reach a variety of audiences, including via an informational guide for teachers and posts for the general public on various social media sites. Formulating information so that it can reach different audiences with varying levels of knowledge and interest on climate change is essential for environmental outreach.
Integrative and Applied Learning
"Integrative learning is an understanding and a disposition that a student builds across the curriculum and co-curriculum, from making simple connections among ideas and experiences to synthesizing and transferring learning to new, complex situations within and beyond the campus" - Association of American Colleges and Universities
Integrating ideas from across our curriculum is a common requirement in my courses at CSUMB, but my capstone served as the culmination of this. This was a semester-long collaboration between CSUMB students and a local middle school, with the goal of implementing place-based climate action projects. I combined knowledge of interpretation and education from previous courses and my work to develop a curriculum which would introduce students to pollinators and how to plant a pollinator-friendly garden. Pollinators are being affected by climate change in a myriad of ways, and planting a native garden not only helps them, but helps sequester carbon and provides a foundation for deeper conversations about climate change.
I drew on my college education for everything from educational theory to natural history and how to frame climate education to enact sustainable, systemic change. I synthesized this knowledge to create a project which built on theories for transformative education to teach students important scientific concepts while empowering them to make a positive difference in their community. That being said, integrative learning isn’t just about applying knowledge from our curriculum, but also incorporating teamwork and communication, building off of past experiences to come together and collaborate successfully on a larger project. Together, we were able to build off each other’s knowledge and areas of expertise to create a stronger project with a lasting impact.
"Integrative learning is an understanding and a disposition that a student builds across the curriculum and co-curriculum, from making simple connections among ideas and experiences to synthesizing and transferring learning to new, complex situations within and beyond the campus" - Association of American Colleges and Universities
Integrating ideas from across our curriculum is a common requirement in my courses at CSUMB, but my capstone served as the culmination of this. This was a semester-long collaboration between CSUMB students and a local middle school, with the goal of implementing place-based climate action projects. I combined knowledge of interpretation and education from previous courses and my work to develop a curriculum which would introduce students to pollinators and how to plant a pollinator-friendly garden. Pollinators are being affected by climate change in a myriad of ways, and planting a native garden not only helps them, but helps sequester carbon and provides a foundation for deeper conversations about climate change.
I drew on my college education for everything from educational theory to natural history and how to frame climate education to enact sustainable, systemic change. I synthesized this knowledge to create a project which built on theories for transformative education to teach students important scientific concepts while empowering them to make a positive difference in their community. That being said, integrative learning isn’t just about applying knowledge from our curriculum, but also incorporating teamwork and communication, building off of past experiences to come together and collaborate successfully on a larger project. Together, we were able to build off each other’s knowledge and areas of expertise to create a stronger project with a lasting impact.