Critical Reflection Paper – My Learning Journey as a Sociology Student

Critical Reflection Paper – My Learning Journey as a Sociology Student

Abstract

This paper will reflect on my learning journey as a Sociology student, listing and explaining how different aspects that I have learned have enhanced my professional, personal, and academic growth. I will discuss some of the theories that I have studied to attain the learning outcomes. Through this paper, I will be able to reflect on how the entire course has been beneficial to me and the activities that I have indulged in to fulfil some of the program’s requirements. A discussion of the various theories, videos, and analytical videos will be made, as well as how the knowledge of these was transferred into the external environment, like leadership opportunities and community involvement. I will wind the paper with a reflection of the learning goals and what I intend to achieve moving forward in order to enhance my professional and academic growth in society.

Introduction

Throughout this master’s program, I have been able to gain insight into various sociological theories and problems as well as probable solutions to address these problems. I was green on so many sociological concepts when I started the program. In addition, I had a bit of a narrow mind in regard to some of the sociological problems that face our society today. For instance, I was highly unaware of the extent to which discrimination against African Americans is taking place from education to the workforce in the US society.

Besides, Maddy and MacCann (2008) highlight how difficult it is to identify such problems and condemn them. I was able to learn some fundamental theories, such as Karl Marx’s conflict theory which enabled me to understand inequalities in society better. Learning all these has been among the most significant milestones in the course of my study. However, I must admit that I had some challenges, particularly in regard to writing scholarly papers as well as juggling between work and studies. At the beginning of the semester, I had some trouble finding academic papers and referencing them in a scholarly manner. In addition, I had difficulty conducting research, but I was able to overcome these challenges through much practice and reading. Regarding school and work, I just had to prioritize my activities to help me perform effectively in both. In this paper, I will discuss in depth some of the things that I have learned during the course of my study.

Evidence of Learning

In the second assignment, I focused on the sociological theories concerning institutional discrimination faced by African Americans. One of the learning outcomes was to demonstrate knowledge of sociological theories as they apply to various sociological concepts. Therefore, in this case, I studied Karl Marx’s conflict theory which concentrates on the manner in which social inequality arose from power conflicts between ethnic and racial groups and how prejudice is used as a tool for maintaining the power of the majority (Güçlü, 2014). Demonstrating analytical skills was also a key learning outcome in the course. I studied the link between income, education, and race in this case. This is the time that I also got to learn more about independent and dependent variables.

My independent variable in my artifact 3 study was education (highest level of education), whereas my dependent variable was income. Race was considered a control variable. In artifact 4, I delved deeper into differentiating between independent and dependent variables by making six observations with varying research questions. I learned how to phrase a research question by making it specific, clear, relevant, and measurable. Making these observations was highly beneficial in that I was able to think critically about some of the issues in our current society. Examples of such problems include social alienation brought about by the overuse of phones among teenagers, as well as how obesity influences the probability of contracting COVID-19, a recent global problem, among others. This widened my understanding of the topics as I was able to conduct in-depth research in an attempt to answer these questions. Furthermore, I was able to find evidence such as the severity of COVID-19 experienced among obese people, as demonstrated by Simonnet et al. (2020), as well as the feelings of helplessness, abnormalities, and void brought about by overuse of mobile phones (Atarodi, 2020).

Moreover, one of the assignments also involved watching a TED video named How to See Past Your Own Perspective and Find the Truth. Watching this video was highly beneficial in enabling me to think more critically and reflectively about various things in society. For instance, I was able to learn of some of my unconscious biases towards other people. In addition, I learned how, like many other people, I could be influenced into blindly supporting a political candidate and failing to see anything wrong about him or her, whereas only viewing the opponent in light of positive things. I have learned not to take things at their base value. I question various things and intentions and try to understand the behaviours and actions of other people and myself as well. I have realized that to understand others truly, it is important to understand myself and be aware of my prejudices, biases, and motivations. The video made me question so many things from childhood that I had never taken the time to process and think about. I seek multicultural competence and diversity as this will be highly beneficial in enhancing my self-awareness as well as an understanding of other people and showing humility, where I can view the world from the viewpoints of other people as opposed to considering myself as an expert on everything. I believe in open-mindedness, cultural humility, diversity, and competence.

Relevance of Learning

As stated earlier, one of the major things that I have learned in the course of my study is the importance of analytical and critical thinking as well as being open-minded and understanding other people. I have developed a keen interest in forming relations with individuals from diverse cultures, religions, and sexualities in an attempt to understand myself and others better. This has really boosted my self-awareness and creativity as I am able to find diverse ideas on how the world operates. As a result, I have experienced immense professional, personal and academic growth. By learning the importance of critical thinking, I have a desire to influence other people to consider various issues, such as politics and how it impacts us. Back in my home in Nigeria, many people are highly tribal and tend to vote for candidates based on their tribal affiliations. Individuals might vote for a leader more than once even though it is evident that the leader has failed to accomplish any of the promises that they had made. I have developed a passion for writing blogs, mainly addressing the youth and engaging them in an open discussion on matters of politics and the economy to empower them to see beyond tribes, particularly during elections. By engaging with individuals from diverse backgrounds, I have also learned to develop some key leadership traits like listening, communicating, self-awareness, and emotional intelligence.

Learning Goals

Moving forward, I propose to be more actively engaged in community activities to be able to help make changes. I could do this at the micro or macro level and be a key player in influencing various policies involving different social problems, such as the issue of institutional discrimination against individuals who are considered minorities in society. Using various theories to understand how these problems came to be makes it possible to find ways of dealing with the issues in a better and long-lasting manner.

References

Atarodi, A. (2020). Cell phone use and social alienation of young teenagers. Library Philosophy and Practice. https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=xzi8o00AAAAJ&citation_for_view=xzi8o00AAAAJ:LgRImbQfgY4C

Maddy, Y., & MacCann, D. (2008). Neo-Imperialism in Children’s Literature About Africa: A Study of Contemporary Fiction. Routledge.

Simonnet, A., Chetboun, M., Poissy, J., Raverdy, V., Noulette, J., Duhamel, A., … & Verkindt, H. (2020). High prevalence of obesity in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus‐2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) requiring invasive mechanical ventilation. Obesity, 28(7), 1195-1199.

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My Learning Journey as a Sociology Student

Instructions:

A Critical Reflection Paper is required for every End of Program Portfolio. This is the piece that ties together all of the artifacts in your Portfolio and demonstrates how you mastered the objectives of the Master’s program. Your Critical Reflection Paper will include these sections:

1. Abstract: Includes the following components: a brief overview of what your paper will cover and a short explanation of how you will use the paper to demonstrate you have met the learning objectives of the program. The body of the abstract is limited to 150-200 words.

2. Introduction: This section provides a reflective narrative of the student’s learning journey from the beginning to the end of the program. It sets the stage for the body of the paper by summarizing the most significant academic milestones, challenges, or accomplishments during the degree.

3. Body (3 subsections)

Evidence of Learning. Here the student should contextualize artifacts from the portfolio within disciplinary theoretical frameworks and literature. Each artifact should be discussed in terms of how it demonstrates growth or mastery of the program’s learning outcomes. These artifacts may include items such as research papers, critical essays, field experience logs, creative displays/ performances, data analyses, reports for projects, video or audio files, presentations, or research posters.
Relevance of Learning. The focus here is on articulating how the program has fostered professional, academic, and/or personal growth. The student should discuss the practical applications of their learning in their professional sphere. In addition, the student could discuss how the learning impacted their ability to lead or their ability to transfer what was learned to external environments such as professional affiliations, community involvement, or leadership opportunities.
Learning Goals. Finally, the student can use this section to discuss how they plan to enhance, connect, and apply their learning as they move forward in their academic and professional lives.
General requirements:

Submissions should be typed, double-spaced, 1″ margins, times new roman 12 pt font, and saved as .doc, .docx, .pdf.
Use APA format for citations and references
View the grading rubric so you understand how you will be assessed on this Assignment.
Disclaimer- Originality of attachments will be verified by Turnitin. Both you and your instructor will rec