Ali Alfaraj's E-portfolio

Communication

Communication  Definition:

I believe that communication is the skill of being able to convey or receive a message effectively. Communication requires you to be both a good speaker and listener in order to convey your message to another person clearly and to also understand what other people communicate towards you. It’s an essentials skill in our daily lives in both a personal aspect and professional one.

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Reflection on Informative Speech assignment

Communication Competency

I decided to write my Reflection on Informative Speech assignment that was given to us in our Oral Communication class. I will be basing my reflection on one of the Communication competency success indicators, I believe success indicator number 5. Delivers effective oral communication makes the most sense to choose. Lastly I found this assignment to be a Beginner standard performance of level.

In this assignment I was tasked to deliver an informative speech using a powerpoint presentation on the topic of my choice. I chose to make a speech about the physical and mental health benefits of playing sports. I faced two minor challenges during this assignment the first one being making sure that I didn’t heavily rely on my notes during my speech, and the second one was having to prepare a short presentation on a highly detailed topic, so I had to be very prepared with my speech memorized to face these challenges. I was able to learn a lot from this assignment especially how to deliver a clear and concise speech and stay engaged with your audience at the same time. My advice for those who may have to complete this assignment is to make sure you are prepared as much as possible, because it’s very important that your message is conveyed correctly so your peers can understand it easily.

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Reflection on Informative Speech assignment

Communication Competency

I decided to write my reflection on the Write an Argument Essay assignment that was given to us in our Written Communication class. I will be basing my reflection on one of the Communication competency success indicators, I believe success indicator number 4. Prepare effective written and oral communication makes the most sense to choose. Lastly I found this assignment to be an Advanced standard performance of level.

In this assignment I was asked to write an argument essay on how connections or “wasta” matter more than a college degree from PMU. I argued that connections would matter more. The biggest challenge I faced during this assignment was not being able to find studies or statistics that would support my argument, since the topic is very specific so I had to resort to basing it on various people opinions and experiences relating to the topic. After overcoming this obstacle I still was able to write a solid argument, this taught me how to improvise and still convey your message even when your sources are limited. The biggest advice I can give to someone who may one day have to write this assignment is to think outside the box on how to build and deliver a strong argument supporting your topic

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Reflection on Persuasive Speech assignment

Communication Competency

I decided to write my Reflection on Persuasive Speech assignment that was given to us in our Oral Communication class. I will be basing my reflection on one of the Communication competency success indicators, I believe success indicator number 4. Prepares effective written and oral communication makes the most sense to choose. Lastly I found this assignment to be an Intermediate standard performance of level.

In this assignment I was asked to write and deliver a short persuasive speech about a topic of my choice and it persuade the audience about it using two key reasoning points. I talked about why we should all reduce are screen time for both our physical and mental health. The biggest challenge I faced during this assignment was to make sure my speech delivered clear and informative points without boring the audience and taking too long. An advice I would offer to anyone tasked with this assignment is to try your best to relate your points to your audience give you the best chance to be persuasive.

Professionalism

Professionalism Definition:

I believe professionalism is meeting a certain standard of performance and following the guidelines and ethics that are set. A true professional is consistent and reliable, he shows up to work on time every day and gets tasks done effectively and on time. Professionalism also means you respect everyone around you and treat them the right way without overstepping any boundaries.

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Reflection on Approaches to Conflict Assignment

Professionalism Competency

 I decided to write my reflection on the Approaches to Conflict Assignment that was given to us in our Professional Development Competencies course. I will be basing my reflection on one of the Professionalism Competency success indicators, I believe success indicator number 2. Sustains positive relations with superiors, co-workers and clients is the best fit. Lastly I found this assignment to be an Intermediate standard performance of level.

In this assignment I was required to think of a situation where I faced a conflict and to choose one of the approaches of conflict that would’ve helped in managing this conflict. Then I was asked to write a final reflection. I wrote about when me and my classmates disagreed on how to make our science project, the conflict that occurred because of that, and how we chose to deal with it. A challenge I faced during this assignment was deciding which approach to conflict would be best for my specific conflict. After analyzing each approach I was able to pick one that I thought fit best. Writing this assignment taught me the importance of staying calm in a conflict and listening to others point of view, this approach helps me to sustain positive relations with my peer and allow conflict to help us learn. My advice towards someone writing this assignment would be to keep an open mind and carefully assess the conflict you write about so you can learn from it for the future.

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Reflection on Career Development Theories Assignment

Professionalism Competency

 I decided to write my reflection on the Career Development Theories Assignment that was given to us in our Professional Development Competencies course. I will be basing my reflection on one of the Professionalism Competency success indicators, I believe success indicator number 5. Demonstrates integrity and ethical behavior is the best fit. Lastly I found this assignment to be an Intermediate standard performance of level.

In this assignment I had to answer various questions about the rules of negotiation and what would be ethically correct to do while negotiating. This assignment wasn’t the easiest because some of the questions were subjective without a right or wrong answer. I was able to learn the importance of negotiation from this assignment and how to negotiate with integrity and ethics which is crucial to remain professional in every field. My advice for anyone doing this assignment is to apply what you learn from it in real life situations because it can be very helpful in various different situations.

Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking Definition:

I believe that Critical thinking is having the ability to analyze situations and assessing the possible outcome before making a decision. In simpler terms it can be described as thinking before you act, by doing that you have a much clearer idea of the situation allowing you to make better decisions, and solve problems on the other hand if you don’t do that you will act without the necessary information or with emotions instead of logic. Critical thinking requires you to have good observation skills and to use those to make an analysis that guides on what to do next.

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Reflection on Circle of Critical Thinking Assignment

Critical Thinking Competency

 I decided to write my reflection on the Circle of Critical Thinking Assignment that was given to us in our Critical Thinking and Problem- solving course. I will be basing my reflection on one of the critical thinking success indicators, I believe success indicator number 3. Clarifies problems and develops effective solutions is the best fit. Lastly I found this assignment to be an Intermediate standard performance of level.

In this assignment I was asked to use the circle of critical thinking diagram to help me come up with a solution to a problem that I was facing at the time. I wrote about having trouble balancing school, work, and my hobbies. The biggest challenge I faced during this assignment was having to describe my problem and what I think I should do to solve it in short sentences, to do that I had to write in the simplest way that still described my problem and plan to solve it correctly. Once I overcame that I was able to learn a lot from this assignment because it gave me a foundation of steps that I can follow not only to solve the problem I was writing about but for future problems as well. My advice for those who may have to complete this assignment is to allow yourself to go through the trial and error process, because it may be tough to get in a flow with this assignment immediately but once you do it becomes much easier.

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Reflection on Left Brain or Right Brain Thinking Assignment

Critical Thinking Competency

 I decided to write my reflection on the Left Brain or Right Brain Assignment that was given to us in our Critical Thinking and Problem- solving course. I will be basing my reflection on one of the critical thinking success indicators, I believe success indicator number 1. Gather and process information for decision making is the best fit. Lastly I found this assignment to be a beginner standard performance of level.

In this assignment I was asked to answer a set of questions that would determine whether I am left-brain dominant or right brain dominant, then after getting the result I was required to answer whether I agreed with results or not, and why or why not. Since we were tasked to answer questions in an agree or disagree format I thought that was little vague compared to the complexity of some of the questions. The test was still able to give what I think is an fairly accurate assessment which was that I was left-brain dominant. I felt that I agreed because the traits of a left-brain dominant individual aligned with me, also it encouraged me to read more about left-brain dominant characteristics which made me think about some traits I didn’t notice I had. My main advice would be to take your time to think about whether you agree with the results because it will help you write an accurate response and even possibly learn new things about yourself.

Leadership

Leadership Definition:

I believe Leadership is having the ability to lead others and help them to work together to achieve certain goals that they would not have been able to achieve otherwise. A good leader is necessary for every team to succeed, his role is to ensure that everyone is doing their part and help those who are struggling. Leadership comes in many different styles with not on being a definitive best, it’s up to each leader to decide which one works best for him and his team.

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 Reflection on Leadership reflection Assignment

Leadership Competency

 I decided to write my reflection on the Leadership reflection Assignment that was given to us in our Leadership & Teamwork course. I will be basing my reflection on one of the Leadership Competency success indicators, I believe success indicator number 4. Produces quality results is the best fit. Lastly I found this assignment to be an Intermediate standard performance of level.

I was asked to take a leadership personality test that consisted of statements that I had to answer if I agree or disagree with, then I was required to talk in class if I think the results makes sense and why or why not. I found that it was hard to answer these questions because they were very vague to answer in terms of I agree or disagree. I did learn a lot from the test because it did give me a lot of helpful insight and a new perspective about my leadership style, also discussing it in class with my classmates and professor helped me better understand the results. My advice for anyone doing this assignment is to take the results with a grain of salt, the test can’t be one hundred percent accurate but at the same time you can definitely learn a lot from it.

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Reflection on Leadership reflection Part 2 Assignment

Leadership Competency

 I decided to write my reflection on the Leadership reflection Part 2 Assignment that was given to us in our Leadership & Teamwork course. I will be basing my reflection on one of the Leadership Competency success indicators, I believe success indicator number 1. Offers vision and purpose that inspires others’ confidence and following is the best fit. Lastly I found this assignment to be an Advanced standard performance of level.

In this assignment I had to write a reflection on all that I learned from the course and how it would’ve helped me in previous situations. I wrote about how the leadership and teamwork skills I learned in the course would’ve helped as a leader in sports and other aspects of my life. The challenging part of this assignment was to fit all the that I learned and how it can help in a short essay. My advice for anyone writing this assignment would be is to genuinely relate what you learned to past experiences as it will allow you to implement what you learn in future situations.

Technology

Technology Definition:

I believe technology is the application of combining tech and human knowledge to create something. Technology can be very simple or extremely complicated, for example an alarm clock is a simple form of technology and creating a working code for a software is a complicated form of technology. Regardless of if it’s simple or not technology plays a big part in all of our lives.

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Reflection on Flow Chart 1 Assignment

Technology Competency

 I decided to write my reflection on the Flow Chart 1 Assignment that was given to us in our Intro to programming information systems. I will be basing my reflection on one of the Technology Competency success indicators, I believe success indicator number 1. Uses IT tools for productivity, communication, research, problem-solving and decision making is the best fit. Lastly I found this assignment to be an Intermediate standard performance of level.

In this assignment I was asked to create a flow chart identical to one that we were shown in class using a software called Edraw.Ai. This was my first attempt of trying to create a flow chart so naturally my biggest challenge was facing the learning curve of a new and slightly complicated process, in order to face this and succeed in this assignment I asked for help from my professor whenever I got confused or stuck. I was able to learn how flow charts play such a big part in creating a successful program and more importantly how to create one from scratch. My advice to anyone tasked with this assignment would be to not get overwhelmed because it’s their first time creating a flow charts, instead ask questions whenever you need because if you do the process becomes a lot simpler and you are able to truly learn how to create a working flow chart.

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Reflection on Flow Chart 2 Assignment

Technology Competency

 I decided to write my reflection on the Flow Chart 2 Assignment that was given to us in our Intro to programming information systems. I will be basing my reflection on one of the Technology Competency success indicators, I believe success indicator number 1. Uses IT tools for productivity, communication, research, problem-solving and decision making is the best fit. Lastly I found this assignment to be an Advanced standard performance of level.

In this assignment I was instructed to create a software based on a pseudocode given to us about a banks transaction system. This was a much harder version of the flow chart 1 assignment as I had to translate the pseudocode and turn into a flow chart, which meant I had to recognize and differentiate between whether a function is an input, output , process, decision, start, or end. This assignment was very useful as it gave me a real life example of how and why we would need to create a flow chart, it also taught me how to translate a pseudocode into a complete flowchart. My advice to anyone creating a flow chart in this assignment would be to take your time as it’s natural that you will make mistakes, so taking your time and being detailed is very important to completing this assignment.

Teamwork

Teamwork Definition:

Teamwork is the act of working with others and collaborating with respect. This requires good communication skills, listening, cooperation, empathy, and people skills too. It’s not always easy working with a team but when done correctly it can be very helpful

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Reflection on Event Proposal Assignment

Teamwork Competency

 I decided to write my reflection on the Event Proposal Assignment that was given to us in our Technical & Professional Communication course. I will be basing my reflection on one of the Teamwork Competency success indicators, I believe success indicator number 1. Cooperates and assumes responsibility for individual contributions and group results is the best fit. Lastly I found this assignment to be an Intermediate standard performance of level.

In this assignment me and 3 of my classmates were asked as a group to make a powerpoint presentation to propose a field trip to take foreign visiting students somewhere they can have fun and learn about the Saudi culture. The biggest challenges we faced were agreeing on which venue to choose for our proposal and how to split the workload evenly between all members. We overcame these by cooperating and discussing with each other until we came up with a plan that we all agreed was fair. This assignment taught me how to work with others as a team to create a professional presentation because it required to us to think about budges, logistics and transportation. My advice for this assignment is to try to make it collaborative between your group, this way you can bounce ideas of each other and get feedback aswell.

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Reflection on Group Research Assignment

Teamwork Competency

 I decided to write my reflection on the Group Research Assignment that was given to us in our Oral Communication course. I will be basing my reflection on one of the Teamwork Competency success indicators, I believe success indicator number 1. Cooperates and assumes responsibility for individual contributions and group results is the best fit. Lastly I found this assignment to be an Advanced standard performance of level. In this assignment me and 3 of my classmates were asked as a group to make a research based powerpoint presentation of the topic of our choice. The biggest challenges we faced is I didn’t agree with the topic my classmates wanted to choose but since they all wanted that topic I compromised and agreed on their topic. This assignment taught me how to work with others as a team to create a professional research presentation because it required to us to gather research studies and references and go through them with detail to get the information