University Undergraduate Learning Outcomes, Essay Example

There are five University Undergraduate Learning Outcomes (UULOs): intellectual breadth and lifelong learning, inquiry and critical thinking, communication, global/multicultural awareness and knowledge, and citizenship and ethics. These five elements are meant to help a student engage in academic learning while also fostering personal growth. This means that the UULOs aren’t just for college life but can translates themselves into my future job, family, life. The following essay will take a look at the UULOs as they have been applied to my learning or when I think that I can use them either at college or beyond. I think it would behoove me to mention some personal and academic goals as the UULOs are key in finding out if I can reach my goals and if so by what means. I plan on having a successful job that I’m not only well qualified for (that means getting good grades that lead me to an internship in a company I want to eventually work for and possibly own) but that fulfills my need of purpose (i.e. finding purpose with a job means liking or even loving what I do on a daily basis, working with people I respect and can learn from) as well as my bank account (after all, a good paying job leads to some personal happiness since it relieves the pressure of debt and the anxiety that comes with it). Thus the UULOs are intrinsic in allowing for my life after college as well as my life in college.

Intellectual Breadth and Lifelong Learning

This UULO is all about empirically knowing an area of knowledge. This means thoroughly study my major and taking all necessary courses in it so that I’m gaining not only route memorization of facts and figures, but a comprehension of the theory behind it and the way that I can utilize and possibly improve on past theories. This isn’t exclusive to my major however, as the college requires certain outside the discipline classes to be taken so that I graduate knowing a little bit about everything and a lot about one particular thing. This means that even though I didn’t want to go to the ballet recital I had to as a requirement for my introduction class (freshman orientation class) as part of the university’s UULO. There were other necessary classes I was required to take in order to graduate with a better knowledge base (outside my discipline) such as a history and math class. Neither one of these is part of my integral course syllabus for my major, but they are a requirement if I’m to graduate.

When I took math I wasn’t excited about it and in fact took it during the summer so that the course was shorter and I didn’t have to spend an entire semester on it. Although I still don’t like math I do have a better understanding of the if p then q formula as well as an interest in studying the lives of mathematicians as they are more interesting to me than the math problems themselves. Our professor took part of a class one day and taught us some of the background for common theories in mathematics that we adhere to today (such as the golden triangle rule, and ancient Greeks and Phoenician’s contributions to math) all of which I would not have known about if I wasn’t required to take math for this UULO. Something else I think that I’m especially good at now that I’ve taken this math class is balancing a checkbook. I feel that if I have confidence in factoring trinomials then I stand a pretty good chance of being able to effectively add and subtract.

Inquiry and Critical Thinking

As much as I didn’t enjoy taking math (or history second to that) I do like this UULO. I find the organization of it appeals to me. I like to structure problems and find solutions using this UULO as it has all of the necessary components required to act like a detective. First, I have to find or identify the problem, and then I have to ask the right questions in order to step beyond the problem and go toward a solution. In order to do this I have to collect data and information through extensive research (something I picked up in my computer class), and then I use inductive and deductive reasoning along with qualitative and quantitative methods of research. Next I take a step back because the problem often gets very big and too complicated to see up close. After that, I evaluate the information I have and come to a conclusion. An example of when I used all of this isn’t just in researching and writing papers but in my real world life where I have to find out why a bill hasn’t been paid. In order to do this I identify the problem (a late notice in the mail) and then gather information. In order to gather information I look at my bank account and account for the last time I paid the bill through my online checking account that keeps a record of all of my past payments made by check (which I do in case something like this happens). After I determine whether or not I paid my bill, when I paid my bill, and the reference number I have (in case it was an online payment) I then call the company with all of my information at hand. When I call the company they look at their records and we check to see if our records coincide with each other and if they don’t where we are off and by how much and how many days. Thus, with all of this information at hand and with my proper researching and reasoning skills from the UULO I am able to take of my past bill/cancellation problems.

Communication

I feel that this UULO has benefited me the most. Through my English classes I’ve become a better speaker and a better writer. There was one exercise I liked in particular where we had to write a letter to one of our relatives that we don’t really speak to. I got a response back and have kept up correspondence ever since. My family members say that my vocabulary has greatly improved since I’ve come to college and I think that because of that I am better able to express myself clearly. That’s one thing that I couldn’t do before college because I didn’t have the right words in my vocabulary or because I was nervous about sounding stupid. Writing better has definitely increased my confidence and I think this in turn will help me land a job I want. Not just because of the confidence but because the first thing a future employer will know about me is how well I write from my cover letter (another exercise we did in class).

Global/Multicultural Awareness and Knowledge

Taking arts classes (even though I was reluctant to at first) I feel has positively benefited me. I know its part of the college’s UULO but I found that through art history and having to write about art (a museum visit actually) I was able to express myself (thanks English) and then to identify with a work of art. It was kind of surprising that I identified with art because previous to college I didn’t really think about painters or sculptors. The piece I wrote about was Edvard Munch’s The Scream. I know a lot of people have written about this piece and have said that it’s soothing but when I look at this piece I feel kind of at peace. It’s as if, because the artist put all of that frustration and anxiety down on canvas then I didn’t have to feel it anymore. It was as if I was identifying with the painting so strongly that it robbed me of my feelings, took them from me, made this little man scream on a bridge and I felt well. It was as if I were the little man, and I was free to do what I wanted to do because I was a painting and nobody cared if I felt anxious, or didn’t ace my final, or anything else having to deal with anxiety. The little man helped me out during a really rough patch in my college career (e.g. suffering from homesickness, not getting a high mark on certain tests, struggling with new concepts, etc.). I like art now because it makes feel less alone.

Citizenship and Ethics

I am a big contributor to on campus events. I like attending them and if wasn’t that big a deal in my freshman orientation class when I had to go to musical events, or plays because I got to see my friends perform, or I got to go out into the world and experience something new. That’s why I like this UULO, because it makes room for cultural events, or on campus connections that otherwise wouldn’t be possible. I also liked going to the homeless shelter during break (as it was a requirement of one of my classes) and helping out people who were not able to feed themselves. I feel that being a citizen of the world means we’re all in the world together and we should help each other out if we can. I know that even though I’m not required to help out at that place anymore (because I’m not in the class any more) I plan on volunteering over summer break and not just to make my resume look good, but because I felt like I was making a true difference in someone else’s life and that made me feel like I had a purpose. I’d like to feel that way again, and I’d like to make other people feel like someone cares about and for them.