Hunt Library vs. Google

Explore the Hunt Library and reflect on how you might use the Library as a resource for your studies.

The Hunt Library allows students to access many databases at one time and gain information needed to conduct research. The Hunt Library database incorporates: magazines articles, journal articles, technical reports and other scholarly material. In addition, it provides student with instant access to information without having to spend hours of time in the library searching for research material.

 

Moreover, the Hunt Library assists with locating the information needed to successfully complete research assignments. Furthermore, it not only provides students with access to a wealth of information but grants students the convenience of finding scholarly material that is easily accessible through an online environment.

 

How is the scholarly information you found in the library different from the typical information you find when you Google a leadership concept?

 

The scholarly material found in the library vs. that found by searching the internet is more inclusive and accurate.  The library provides scholarly material that cannot be found on the internet. Students should be cautious about the scholarly information found on Google. Although Google does provide some scholarly journals, not all the journals found on Google are true. Google can only provide some relative information to begin researching a topic but should not be used as the final source.

Clarity and Accuracy of Communication within the Family

Clarity and Accuracy of Communication within the Family

Each Family has their own pre established boundaries, rules, communication patterns; as well as, unique ways of dealing and adapting to change. In my family we pride ourselves on family definition, family satisfaction and rational rules. My family has been something that I have always cherished. My family is defined by our ability to communicate with one another with clarity and accuracy. My family members are known for saying what they feel. I believe that communication of any sort must be thought out thoroughly; what exactly do you want to say? What is the best way to communicate your point? This concept seems to work well for my family. Every agreement, disagreement, or liking is out on the table for discussion. Developing shared meanings and reminiscing on funny stores of the past, gives us the ability to let down boundaries and creating a family system where we all work on together.

 In our efforts as a family to communicate our feelings, we try to create family satisfaction.  Family satisfaction has many different ways of being accomplish, in my family satisfaction is achieved by ensuring that everyone in the family has the essential needs, such as: clothes, food, shelter, and all the necessities. We also try to make each other happy, even if it means doing something we are really not interested in.

 Conflicts between family members within any family system are common. Most people lack proper communication skills and speak openly and freely about topics that may make people feel uncomfortable. There are many different types of communication skills that can be used to help manage conflicts. In my family we use more of the horizontal approach: communication through taking turns. I have two younger sisters who just turned eighteen this year. That’s right they are twins and they are girls. Presently, but mostly in the past it was hard to create structure in our home. As a result, my mother came up with the idea to hold a family meeting once a week. These meetings were to talk about chores, grades and anything that we wanted to share with each other. Although, her intentions were good, we still lacked proper communication skills. To fix our communication problem my mother decided to pass around a talking stick. Only the person who had the stick could speak. This was a way for us to communicate without interrupting one another. Unfortunately, this organizational skill did not always work and we often spoke out of turn. This soon created such a problem that we no longer had family meetings and my mom started posting the chore list without allowing anyone’s input.  

            The structure and roles within my family have never been completely defined. Since I was little I have been telling my mom what I was going to do or what I think she should be doing. For example when I was two I put a straw up to my mother’s nose and told her to “suck up this will hurt”.  Remember I was only two! Rationally, I think that my mom is afraid of being “the bad guy”, so she calls it; as a result, she lacks the ability to discipline my younger sisters. Therefore, I often take on the role and responsibilities of my mother; dropping off and picking up my sisters from school, washing everyone’s clothes, cleaning, helping cook dinner, buying things for the house, and going grocery shopping. I feel that her lack of discipline is going to have a big impact on how my sisters grow up or what they chose to do with their lives. It is hard to take on the role of being a mother, but I have learned over time that I am NOT a mom and  I cannot stress myself out because my mom’s lack of discipline towards my sisters.

            The ability that my family has to work together, to help each other and to live happily with one another is astonishing. I know that no matter what I do or say, my family will always be there for me. Most families cannot define what it means to be a family, to have family satisfaction and or be able to adapt and establish rational rules the way my family has been able to. I consider myself very lucky!

Intellectual Perseverance

To define a person’s character, critical-thinkers must have and build upon nine different character traits (confidence in reason, intellectual humility, intellectual courageous, intellectual empathy, intellectual integrity, fair-minded, intellectually engaged, intellectual perseverance, and intellectual autonomous).

 Among the nine traits listed above is intellectual perseverance; intellectual perseverance can be defined as: ones willingness and consciousness to obtain and practice his or her intellectual insights and accuracy despite difficulties, obstacles, and frustrations. In addition to have a firm understanding of his or her rational principles despite oppositions from others, one must overcome resisting confusion and breach unsettling questions in order to achieve a deeper understanding or insight and arrive at a desired conclusion.

Intellectual perseverance is the beginning stage of thinking, in this stage one starts to notice associated problems in his or her thinking, but is deficient in the information needed to reveal solutions. Most problems are not easily solvable and can sometimes be complex in nature. Intellectual perseverance presents a person the ability to work though such complexities despite related complication and/or frustrations he or she may encounter. For example: In my UCF Cornerstone class, intellectual perseverance was essential to understanding how to effectively manage multiple related activities without affecting the quality of the experience each of my team member received.

Partnering with Marine Recourse Counsel, a non-profit organization in Brevard County, our team chose to participate in the activities highlighted below:

1.      Mangrove beach cleanup: to collect mangrove propagules off the shore of a local beach and to provide a safe housing.

2.      Removal of invasive species from Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge.

3.      Planting of native species at The Museum of History and Natural Science, Cocoa FL.

You can view the results of our efforts by visiting: http://titusvilleshorelinerestoration.weebly.com

As team leader, intellectual perseverance gave me the ability to:

·         Manage each of the above listed activities

·         Correspond with Marine Recourse Counsel

·         Assigning and delegate associated tasks for each project

·         Solve all unresolved problems

Summarized below is the lessons learned from my UCF Capstone project; highlighting the team’s intellectual perseverance.

For each major phase of the project, identified below is what worked, what didn’t work, and ways our team could have improve.
Project Phase/Task	What Worked	What Didn’t Work	Ways to Improve
Propagule Pick-Up	Meeting everyone at a central location and carpooling. Cut down on cost into the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge	Walking from two ends of the beach and meeting in the middle. The walk was too much for some volunteers	Have checkpoints on the beach were volunteers can drop off findings; not have to carry such heavy loads.
Invasive Species Removal	Removal of the invasive species was successful with the help of Marine Resource Council volunteer	The first site was already cleared from invasive species. Our contact with MRC had to relocate the entire team and our volunteers.	Have a team member volunteer to scout out the area prior to arrival to allow for any last minute changes.
Propagule Planting	We planted 6 new native plants for the Museum of Natural Science	We had planned to plant mangroves out at the Wildlife Refuge, however that was not possible.	Due to last minute changes in planting location, out team was not familiar with the types of plants we would be working with. We did not have any control over this.
Recruiting Volunteers	Reaching out to the local cub scouts and boy scouts	Posting flyers around BCC and UCF at both Titusville and Cocoa locations.	Recruit volunteers from all generations; to educate both children and adults.
String Activity	Having Marine Resource Council there to assist with recognizing the invasive species	We were successful with this activity	Allow volunteers to become familiar with the invasive species prior to arriving for the activity so they can actively point out the invasive species.
Targets analysis: How effective was the project/team?
Achieve goals and meet project objectives? We were able to effectively meet all of our goals and objectives.
Meet deadlines? We met all of our target deadlines by staying true to our timeline. Most activities were done on the original date assigned; however, we had to push back our planting date due to the shuttle launch.
Monitor and stay within budget? We were able to stay under budget for most activities were based not based on money.
Communicate about the project? We were very effective in communicating. We met after class and on weekends. We also used Grouptable and emails as effective ways of keeping in touch.
Resources assessment: Were the resources allocated to the project (time, money, personnel) appropriate, sufficient, and efficiently used?
Yes, each of our activities had an allotted amount of time. During this time, with the help of 10-15 volunteers, we were able to effectively meet each of our objectives. We collected over 800 mangrove seeds with a goal of 500 and successfully removed 12 Brazilian Pepper trees.
Lessons learned: What are the key lessons learned that can be applied to future projects?
We feel that education was one of the most vital parts of our project. We believe that having the resources to educate people on why these projects are so important is essential to our success.