THERE ARE 4 PEER RESPONSES NEEDED. EACH SET HAS ITS OWN INSTRUCTIONS

Respond to Peers: Review your classmates’ posts, and respond to at least two of your peers by Day 7. In your responses, provided feedback on the different skills your peers have acquired that would make them successful in their chosen career field. Each participation post should be a minimum of 75 words. 

Sondra’s post:

Review a job description through a job website (e.g., Career Builder, etc.) in your desired career field. Please provide the job title and the link to the job description.

• My degree is pretty general as its operations management and analysis, as such I’ve selected a Business Support Manager position, which is an analytical role and fits my degree. https://www.monster.com/jobs/search/?q=business-support-manager&jobid=202200819 (Links to an external site.)

Identify at least five skills you have obtained through your general education courses that will make you successful at this job.

• One of the biggest things I’ve learned through my education is how to work with data. How to gather it, analyze it, and interpret the results. Everything we do generates data which means we can analyze everything, such a necessary skill.
• Written skills
• Critical thinking
• Communication skills
• Ethical reasoning

Demonstrate with at least two examples how your newly acquired knowledge and skills have shaped both your personal and professional development.

• In my current line of work, I send highly visible emails to our department, as well as our Senior Leadership Team (SLT). As I’ve advanced through my education, I’ve learned to hone my writing skills which has done incredible things for the written portion of my work.
• My entire department at work is virtual, so communication skills is a necessity. Going through the general education courses have helped my communication skills not only at work, but also in my personal life. They’ve helped me be more concise and deliberate.

Describe your plans for putting your education to use within your community.

• I plan on creating a program where my company helps the local community. Through this program we can invest a portion of our time and money to back into the local community by feeding the homeless, helping children, etc. Through this program we can have an impact on our community and can be role models and community leaders.

Matthew’s post:

Review a job description through a job website (e.g., Career Builder, Monster, etc.) in your desired career field. Please provide the job title and the link to the job description.

Sr. IT Director  – I am currently attending Ashford University to pursue a BA in Business Information Systems, and I am interested in an IT management position.

https://www.careerbuilder.com/jobs?utf8=%E2%9C%93&keywords=It+Director&location= (Links to an external site.)

Identify at least five skills you have obtained through your general education courses that will make you successful at this job.

General education courses at Ashford University have equipped me with the tools necessary to make me more successful in my career.  Below is a list of five skills I acquired through the general education courses.

• Critical thinking skills allow me to evaluate problems or issues and identify the best way to solve them.
• Communicating skills allow me to work better with colleagues through speaking and openly listening.
• Reading / Writing skills allow me to extract essential information from documents and write more technically.
• Academic researching skills allow me to find relevant information to support the argument or claims I make.
• Planning / Scheduling skills from meeting assignment deadlines will help me meet project deadlines in the future.

Demonstrate with at least two examples how your newly acquired knowledge and skills have shaped both your personal and professional development.

My newly acquired knowledge from Ashford University has helped me personally develop by finding a way to balance my hectic life schedule through planning and abiding by a strict schedule.  Communication through discussions has helped me personally develop by opening the conversation up with others around me.

My knowledge and skills learned at Ashford University shaped my professional development by utilizing leadership skills through business courses such as MGT 330 Management for Organizations.  My professional development also grew from the communication skills I picked up at Ashford University.  Since attending college, I feel that I write better and listen to my co-workers better than I ever have.

Describe your plans for putting your education to use within your community.

Looking back at my experience at Ashford University, I see that my education was more than just learning the basics and taking focused courses for my area of study.  I learned many life skills related to the real world, and they will reflect in my community.  I have more knowledge of ethics and moral reasoning that helped me become more of a utilitarian, and I will act in my community to fight for those in need.  I am thankful for my education, and I will not waste my knowledge by keeping it myself.

Respond to at least two of your classmates’ initial posts throughout the week by noting how their perspective is the same or different than yours. Each of your responses should be at least 100 words long. Both your initial post and your responses should refer both to your own experience and to content from readings, media, or websites.

Responses Checklist:

• Did you respond to two or more classmates throughout the week?
• Did you use scholarly resources to support your work?
• Did you discuss each area in the instruction and Grading Rubric?
• Did you use APA?

DENISE’S POST:

Test Results

The first test that I took was sexuality IAT. The results stated that my responses had a strong automatic preference for straight people over gay people. My results stated that my score was calculated as such because I was faster responding when straight people and good were assigned to the same response key than when straight people and bad were classified with the same key. 

The second test I took was weight IAT. The results stated that my responses had a strong automatic preference for thin people over fat people.  My results were due to responding faster when thin people and good were assigned to the same response key than when fat people and bad were classified with the same key.

How subcultures influence my perception of others

Growing up in a strict Christian home has influenced my perception of others. As I was growing up my mom drilled in me that being gay was against scriptures and God’s will. I was taught that if someone was gay that they were an abomination, and they were not a part of God’s kingdom, they would automatically go to hell. As time has passed, I have moved past this way of thinking, but I will admit, it has affected me.  Thinking this way has taken quite some time for me to get over. Khan (2015) stated “discrimination can take multiple forms. Discrimination can be viewed as discernment or as an unequal treatment by one person” (section 4.1 para. 1). My mom utilizes her discernment to treat gays unequally and to pass judgment on them. I have grown and learned to leave things in God’s hands and let him be the judge. However, now and then I will have a relapse.

 As for weight, she had a lot say about that as well. My mom always told me that the body is the temple of God and that I needed to it treat well. My mom was very hard on me about my weight, she always told me things like; “you would look prettier if you would just lose some weight. All the comments did not come from my biological mom. The comments came from the mom that raised me when my biological mom passed away. However, I was so young when my biological mom passed that I hardly remember her teachings. I do remember that she was a loving, kind, and nonjudgmental person. From my biological mom, I can remember that she had friends from all walks of life. Every day I grow a little more and I have learned not to discriminate against others different than me. Every day, I tell myself that I need to remember my biological mom’s teachings and practice a little more the things she taught me, not just with her words but the way she lived her life.

I am very hard on myself when it comes to my weight. This year I have managed to lose 60 pounds. I am proud of myself mostly because I did it for my health and with my children in mind.  I do believe that I can be somewhat judgmental when it comes to people who are overweight. However, I have learned how to look at it from a health perspective.

References

Kahn, A. (2015). The ecology of diversity. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education.

Project Implicit. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/

CARMEN’S POST:

Harvard Project Implicit

Implicit Association Test (IAT) Debriefing:
Implicit Association Testing was a very interesting study, that I ended up taking more studies than planned. The purpose of this study is to see how individuals learn to evaluate some groups positive or negative through a series of questions based on one’s hesitation. Sometimes we are embarrassed or unaware that we have implicit attitudes or unconscious biases, however, through this study, it measures the attitude and believes we may have, but are unwilling or unable to report them. The first study I chose was under the Religion category, based on my rapid response my debriefing reported that I have a stronger automatic preference for Christianity over Judaism. This might be because I am a Roman Catholic, but I was hoping that it would mention I viewed them equally as I am very respectful and open to other beliefs. The second study I completed was under the sexuality category. In this study, my debriefing reported that I have a stronger preference for straight people over gay people. I was again in shock about these results as I was hoping to feel equal about Christianity over Judaism as well for straight over gay. I still feel that I am open and mindful of other’s differences and appreciate everyone’s uniqueness.

Subculture Influences
Many things influence our culture, however, the way we react or our behaviors which we have control over is important. According to Davis (2015) in his speech, he relates how every culture is unique and that is what makes us human and I couldn’t agree with him anymore. Hockett (2017) states that we all have implicit biases that are unconscious, but how we go about it can shape and mold our behaviors in which we can harm others or we can be mindful and try to understand it. In the study above, I feel that as a Roman Catholic it is the belief that being gay is unacceptable, although I practice this religion, I do not minimize others or stereotype against others. I believe everyone has a right to be happy regardless of their race, religion, and sexuality. This study helped me understand that I need to be more aware of bias, practicing being more mindful and conscious of bias so that I do not become a racist person. I have had several situations where I have been categorized and stereotyped and this does not feel good at all. I have been in a store where I am followed and watched just because of my skin color. I would not like to make anyone feel the way I felt in that situation.

References:

Davis, W. (2015). Thco research training institute. [Video file]. Retrieved fromWade Davis TEDx

Hockett, D. (2017, September). We all have biases. So what can we do about it? [Video file]. Retrieved from We all have implicit biases. So what can we do about it? | Dushaw Hockett | TEDxMidAtlanticSalon (Links to an external site.)

Kahn, A. (2015). The ecology of diversity. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education.

Project Implicit. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/