Final Question #3

I personally liked learning about language. I liked this concept because I learned the different functions of language that I never knew existed before. I honestly thought all functions of language were just combined into a whole. I wanted to learn more about this concept because I think it's important for us to know what kind of language we use in our daily lives. There is informative, expressive, directive, and ceremonial. All of the functions are used on a daily basis by everyone except for ceremonial, because that's more formal, as in saying, "I do" in a marriage ceremony. I thought it was interesting how there are 6,800 known languages in the world, but they all use the same basic universal grammatical rules. This is the only concept that I wish we went  into more detail for because we just touched on it a little bit. Overall, this was a great class and  a great experience, and I would definitely recommend other students to take this course to fulfill their Area C3 for their pre-requisites.

Final Question #2

Taking this class was a great experience. When I signed up for the class, I was confused on how a "small group communications" class was going to be online. I was questioning on how students were going to meet up and do assignments together since we wouldn't know who the other was. Overall, I really liked how this course was with blogging. I would say that it was my favorite part about this course because it was anonymous, so we were able to express ourselves without any judgement88. Writing blogs about the chapters that we read about improved my reading and analyzing skills because it made me really think about what I just read and how it relates to me. As for my least favorite part about this class would probably have to be the fact that since it was an online class, it made it difficult at times to meet up with my group mates for the assignments because everyone had different schedules. I don't think this course needs any improvement because although some students don't do the blogs every week because they forget, it's nobody's fault but theirs because it's their own responsibility.

Final Question #1

Over this semester, I have learned so much about communication and language. I learned from what critical thinking is to errors in thinking to science. It is honestly hard to only name things that I have learned in this course, but one of them is rhetoric. I never even knew what that word meant until I took this course. Now, I know that rhetoric is the ability that is used to inform and promote a particular postion, like persuasion. I've heard the phrase 'rhetorical question', but by definition, that means a question that is used to make a point without the expectation of a response, which is different than rhetoric. I believe that everyone uses this ability in their daily lives. For example, if you're with a group of friends trying to decide where to go to eat and one friend suggests to go get pizza, but you don't want that, you would most likely try persuading your friends to go to another restaurant.

Week 14 ; Ch.12 #3

The section that I found most interesting in this chapter was "Assumptions Underlying Science". This section names six different assumptions because science is a system created by humans. The first assumption is empiricism, which is the belief that our physical senses are the primary source of knowledge. The second is objectivity, the belief that we can observe and study the physical world without any observer bias. Third, is materialism, which is the belief that everything in the world is made up of physical matter. According to scientists, there's no reason to have scientific descriptions and explanations for non-material concepts. The fourth assumption is predictability. Scientists have assumed that the world consists of interconnected casual relationships that can be discovered through observation and inductive reasoning. The final type of assumption  unity, which is the belief in that there is an underlying unity of the universe, or a unified dynamic structure that is present in all phenomena. I believe the most common assumption that is used today is empiricism because the text says that it's the only reliable method for obtaining knowledge.

Week 14 ; Ch.12 #2

This past September, it was my birthday and since it was a Monday, I wasn't really able to celebrate it. My best friend since the 3rd grade was the first person to wish me happy birthday, with a phone call at exactly midnight, a text, and a post on Facebook. Next, was my roommate. Throughout the day, I got birthday wishes from a lot of people, even from people that I didn't really talk to. What surprised me was that I didn't get a birthday wish from one of my close friends, and I shared this with my best friend. She was surprised as well that she didn't wish me a happy birthday because it wasn't like her to forget. Soon enough, the day was almost over and I still didn't receive a call, text, or anything from her. When I signed onto Twitter, I saw that she posted a happy birthday wish to a girl from high school that has the same birthday as me. I know that it wasn't that big of a deal, but as I was thinking about it, I got upset and angry. About a week later, I got a text from her apologizing about me thinking that she forgot about my birthday because my best friend talked to her about it. She said that texted me, but I never texted back saying thank you or anything, so she thought it was a misunderstanding and I never received the text from her. What I don't understand though, is how I got everyone else's text, but hers. I still personally think that she forgot it was my birthday and used that as an excuse because if I were in her position, I would have called if I didn't get a response back.

Week 14 ; Ch.12 #1

I'm a Virgo because I was born on September 17th. According to dailyhoroscopes.com, today, November 15, 2012, it says "You are very creative but may have found a clogged pathway where your ideas are concerned. Consider keeping a notepad with you. You will want to write down your thoughts about things to do later, things to look up, people to see and creative techniques for new ideas. One way to keep creativity alive for yourself, is to value and pay attention to the little ideas that you get wherever you are--including the workplace. One new idea can open up doors of opportunity. Your career direction gets some encouragement and you should find easy solutions. You have a heightened interest in health and diet and have an urge to get things organized into a rational system. There is mental busywork now. Seeing both sides of an issue takes on importance." I personally don't really believe in horoscopes because I think they're just things to get into your head, but since we were required to read ours, I agree that there is a bit of a clogged pathway where my ideas are concerned because of an event that just happened recently. My horoscope also got the "you have a heightened interest in health and diet" right because I want to become a pediatric nurse. Some events that could falsify the horoscope would be if I weren't creative at all, I didn't have a clogged pathway where all my ideas are concerned, and if I didn't have a heightened interest in health and diet. A few of my friends are also Virgos, but from what I know and have seen, they don't show any creativity. Most of them also don't want to major in anything relating to health or diet or even have an interest in it, so that would be a false statement in the Virgo horoscope. Even though it may be a true prediction for me, it might not be for others. 

Week 13 ; Ch.11 #3

The section that I found most interesting was "Social Networking". It states that the internet is affecting the daily lives of young people. I agree with this because today, many people are addicted to using social networks. There are many times where this happens to me when I'm doing homework or just laying in bed trying to fall asleep. When I'm doing homework on my laptop, there are many times where I would open up Facebook because it's so convenient. Also, since I have an iPhone, it's a lot easier to go on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram because there are apps for that. There are times where I find myself looking through each social network, then five minutes later, I would check them again thinking that there would be something new posted. Nowadays, there are many students that post pictures of themselves drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana, or doing any other illegal activities. What these students don't see is that posting these pictures can affect them professional wise when they're trying to apply for a job. This section proposes that when you post a message on a social network, you need to consider who the potential recipients, both intended and unintended are. Many students assume that their profiles are private and people whom they're not friends with can't see what they post, but there are ways in which employers and administrators can find out if you do something illegal. So the next time you post a picture up of yourself doing something illegal, you should think twice about it.