SLO Reflection

Sean Cooper
This semester we completed two major projects and several weekly assignments that progress our skills
toward the five Student Learning Outcomes (SLO) which are detailed in the syllabus. Being the basis for this entire
class, the SLOs were always in the back of my mind when I was composing the different assignments and especially
when writing reflections. This allowed me to improve in these five areas before even talking about how I grew in
each area.
The first SLO, analyze rhetorical situation, I found to be one in which I learned the most from this
semester. Analyzing the situation in which the writing will be presented helps show how the work needs to be
written. For each of the two major assignments in this class, I decided how best to present the information in each
based on the subject, purpose, audience, and constraints. In the first major assignment, the analytical report, I chose
the subject since it was one which I was very passionate about. This being the case, I was able to focus on it more
since I cared about the subject. This idea is also true for the second major assignment, the proposal, since I chose to
get youth outdoors through the Youth Hunting Experience (YHE) where they can learn to enjoy the outdoors
through one of my favorite activities. This again allowed me to focus on it and create a work that best represents my
abilities since I had a vested interest. For the purpose of the proposal I chose another subject I care highly about,
protecting our public lands. In knowing my purpose it made it easier to see what my goal was and how I should get
there, which, in this case meant getting youth outdoors and excited about exploring the outdoors based on an
exciting activity. Choosing the audience in both major assignments was important to knowing where I need to direct
the information. Specifically for the proposal of the YHE program, my audience was the New Mexico Department
of Game and Fish (NMDGF) which led me to do the proposal in a form of a video which allowed me to include
many photos of why the program has been successful so far. This helped build the programs experience and
credibility. These aspects help me understand what needs to go into the work before its even written. By knowing
ahead of time, its easier to structure what I need in my head as Im composing, which in turn allows for a more
coherent piece.
The second SLO, finding and evaluating information, is something Ive already had a lot of experience in.
As stated in my homepage reflection, I write a lot of reports for my major and they all require a lot of research ahead
of writing the report, let alone being able to understand the information found in the laboratory. However,
specifically in this class the analytical report corresponded best to this SLO. In analytical report I wrote about drunk
driving here in New Mexico and how it compares to the rest of the world when it comes to effective policies. This
naturally required a lot of research prior to beginning any writing of any sort. We conducted research in the three
major areas for this assignment print, empirical, and electronic. The class first went to the library to collect books
and peer-reviewed articles to help begin research. These helped set a basis for the direction in which the researched
needed to head. The research then turned to a primary source direction where we collected our own data. For this I
created a survey monkey survey and sent it to a large number of people through email. Achieving a number of more
than 30 allowed me to use it as a population size suitable for analysis. This was a first real experience in collecting
primary sources by asking people. This helped improve the substance of the article by including current information
and a list of feelings people have toward the subject of drunk driving. In other reports I gathered this sort of
information through experimentation and calculation, however, it was important for this to get the opinions of
people in New Mexico since this allowed me to include relevant and current information. The final area, electronic,
was of course satisfied through a lot of internet research for the topic. This is nothing new, however, the idea that all
three must tie together was a relatively new thing to me. In this report I did my best to show that these three areas of
research all tied together to show whats happening with drunk driving in this state. By showing that each ties
together also helps show the validity of the information given in the report.

The third SLO, composing documents, is another thing that Ive gathered a lot of experience in due to my
major. This SLO applies to essentially every assignment completed in this course. For the resume I had to structure
the document specifically so it can convey as much useful information about me as possible in the shortest amount
of time. Based on the follow-up feedback I got from the professional I asked to initially review it, the structure I
came up with turned out to be much better than the original. This could give me a better chance of getting a job later
on in life. For both of the major assignments it was especially important to create a logical structure that would
present the information in the best way possible for its audience. For the report, it was important to structure it as a
professionally done report that sounded as serious and straight forward as possible to allow the readers, who may be
New Mexican politicians, to take the report and decide to take action based on its findings.
The fourth SLO, presenting documents, was shown in both of the major assignments. The report
specifically had a presentation aspect. This made me pay attention to how I would need to structure a PowerPoint to
help me convey the information from my report in the best way possible under the time constraints. Limiting the
presentation to eight minutes was especially helpful to gaining the most out of this SLO. Such constraints made me
practice the presentation before I gave the real presentation, which led me to be able to present more information in
the same amount of time since I was able to condense down what I said instead of fumbling around with words. The
presentation of the information from the YHE program in the proposal assignment had a strong impact on my
advancement toward this SLO. I specifically chose to do a video because I would be able to present pictures from
the YHE and show the audience the success of the program through pictures of youth in the wilderness and having a
fun and enriching experience. The major part from this SLO is that I need to pay attention to the fact I need to
supplement words with graphics and figures, and vice versa.
The fifth and final SLO, composing in various modes, was another SLO in which I improved the most in
this semester due to this course. This report was a mode that I had a lot of experience in and I was very grateful that
we only did one of these modes. In the majority of the other assignments we conducted them in a manner of other
modes that allowed me to be much more creative (something that doesnt show up very often in the engineering
field when it comes to writing to convey information). In deciding which mode to present the proposal in, I knew I
wanted to try a video. Doing this assignment in a video allowed me to explore this essentially new-to-me mode. By
exploring this mode I definitely improved in understanding different modes help express the information in a new
way which may be beneficial depending on the audience. In the case of the proposal, it was also possible that
parents of youth would watch it and decide they wanted to apply their child to the program and become involved as
well. This gave the video a clear advantage over simply creating a letter to the NMDGF.
This course had clearly helped me grow in each of the five SLOs and will help improve my future works in
the academic and professional fields. By exploring each of the SLOs in these assignments, and by knowing what
each of the SLOs represent, I can have these ideas in the back of my mind when composing future works so as to
make them the best they can be by changing their modes, considering the audience, evaluating information from all
three areas of research, and knowing just how to present the document in a coherent a fluid manner based on the
subject and purpose.