Jonghyeok Byeon
MY LEARNING JOURNEY AT UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
CRITICAL & CREATIVE THINKING
March 12, 2022
Through my academic journey at the University of Washington Bothell, IAS’s five learning goals seemed difficult to understand, but as my academic journey continued, the five learning goals gradually absorbed into my academic skills. When I think about critical & creative thinking, I often think of new ideas, being logical, reasonable, and imaginative. Before deciding to apply for Global Studies as my major, I thought I was good at being critical and having creative thinking, but once I took IAS class; it triggered my new way to analyze the issues with no biases and gained a new ability to look closely at what surrounds me rather than believe in what I see. Especially, BIS 265, Introduction to Comparative Ethnic Studies has shaped me to be a more critical and creative thinker. As I read “Critical Race Theory” from BIS 265, I learned that racism is a socially constructed concept that is used by white people. Of course, I knew racism has been a serious societal problem in the States but did not know that racism was rooted deeply in education, law, economics, and politics. Even though I deeply care about ethnic problems, I did not know of them such as multiculturalism, colorblindness, and what exactly diversity is. Also, I learned that ethnic studies not only focus on the racial problem but also sexuality, gender, and other such fields of studies. The response & reflection paper for BIS 265 also helped me to think critically about why Asian immigrants have not been treated equally to white immigrants. It also matured my creative thinking skill to how can, as a young scholar, reduce the biases that have been deeply rooted in American society. I can certainly tell that I learned the importance of being a critical and creative thinker in various ways, especially the ethnic studies and academic terms related to ethnic studies. I realized how important to know ethnic studies because ethnic problems are still serious and continue to be serious too. Since we are living in a globalized world, ethnic studies will help people to understand the diverse perspectives of reality.
INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH & INQUIRY
March 12, 2022
Among five of the IAS learning objectives, the Interdisciplinary Research & Inquiry was a vague learning objective for me because the meaning of interdisciplinary is related to more than one branch of knowledge. Not like any other majors at UW Bothell, the school of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences can be vague to most people, and I was also confused about this program. This vague part intrigued my interest in the IAS program because while other majors at UW Bothell focus to find the specific answers, the school of IAS focuses on why and how whether what. Also, it is designed to draw connections across diverse fields of study and to link academic work with real-life concerns. The IAS learning objective: Interdisciplinary research and inquiry were important to me because they helped me to engage learning objectives from various angles and tackle the obstacles critically and creatively with my research methods.
Especially, the class BIS 300 helped me to develop the ability to access and conduct interdisciplinary research by engaging with and across multiple areas of knowledge and kinds of inquiry. The artifact that I built from BIS 300, Gun Violence Activism, matured my knowledge of interdisciplinary and made me think as a young scholar about how gun violence was regulated and being abused across the U.S. . This artifact was about how the U.S government failed to regulate gun violence and how gun violence activists need to formulate and design approaches to reduce gun violence. This artifact was significant to me because it not only taught me how to demonstrate critical thinking and reading skills, animated by the ability to pose and analyze a variety of complex questions which draw on various types of evidence but also how to conduct inquiry-based research by using the resources at UW Bothell, to identify scholarly work while producing my original knowledge through gathering data, interpretation, and the use of evidence. BIS 340’s artifact, Gentrification was also important to me because it helped me to learn about how gentrification affects our society or every individual. Furthermore, it taught me what interdisciplinary research is by generating and contextualizing complex research questions and conducting research by identifying the current societal issues. I believe, Interdisciplinary research & Inquiry is a really important learning object because it teaches about how to think critically and creatively about the current issues without any biases. This learning objective will help me to figure out how to solve problems critically but not prejudicial.
WRITING & COMMUNICATION
March 12, 2022
Through my academic journey at UW Bothell, the IAS learning objectives: writing and communication were the most difficult learning objects that I confronted. Since English is not my first language, I had to spend more time writing. Honestly, I had no confidence in writing and communicating. However, as I took IAS classes, I gained my confidence back and realized that I slowly obtained skills.
Especially from BIS 356’s group project, Habitat Destruction, helped me to learn how to research properly and write based on my research. It not only helped to gain research and writing skills but also communication skills. Since it was a group project, I constantly had to communicate with my group members and by doing so, I realized the importance of communication. This project was significant to me because it made me capable of posing, answering, and re-posting a variety of complex questions. Also, it made me feel that my writing based on my research can pose a powerful message about the assumptions about how values, ways of life, and other human behaviors and institutions impact our natural system.
Furthermore, BIS 252’s Braided Essay also helped me to upgrade my writing skill. The braided essay is an essay that uses 2-3 events or topics to create an essay surrounding an event or question. I never heard of a braided essay before and did not have any idea how to write it. As I followed the professor’s instructions, I was able to build a braided essay and by doing it, I felt confident that I achieved and learned something that I had no idea.
Writing and communication skills are certainly valuable and something that will be used in my future workplace. I feel confident that my academic journey at the University of Washington, Bothell helped me to gain life skills and helped me to upgrade my wiring and communication skills.
COLLABORATION & SHARED LEADERSHIP
March 12, 2022
Throughout my academic journey at UW Bothell, I was able to learn the value of collaboration & shared leadership. As being an IAS student, I learned to work with others to identify dimensions of various projects, generate and refine ideas, follow through on the consequences of collective decisions, and pursue specific tasks without losing a sense of the whole.
Especially class with a professor, Jennifer Atkinson helped me to shape my value of collaboration & leadership. BIS 356’s final project, Habitat Destruction was a group project that helped me to analyze the ethical dimensions and debate around an environmental issue of habitat destruction. Each of the group members, including myself, was in charge of their page that highlighted different aspects and dimensions of the issue. Throughout the group project process, I was able to learn the importance of collaboration with my group members to achieve a shared objective. Furthermore, this group project was very significant to me because this was the first collaborative project that I built at UW Bothell and by doing so, I embraced one of IAS's main objectives, Collaboration & shared leadership.
Another course that helped to achieve the IAS’s learning objective was BIS 312, Approaches to Social Research. During this course, I worked with other classmates to have an awareness of research terminology, understanding of basic research and social science inquiry, and encourage each other to draw from various disciplines to address a particular social issue by discussing the questions that the professor asked every week. By collaborating and debating each other’s ideas, I was able to build an artifact about my Personal Reflection Essay that was focused to chronicle my own lived experience of the effects of the current global pandemic and crisis of COVID-19 in terms of racism, discrimination, and social injustice. This artifact was also significant to me because it helped me to look back on my own experience as an Asian immigrant during the crisis of COVID-19.
I believe collaboration & shared leadership is something that I need for my career and even for my life because I live in a world where many valuable things are created by collaboration. However, I noticed that to be collaborative, there must be equal opportunities and no biases. So that people can be critical listeners and speakers to share and develop their ideas and thoughts.
DIVERSITY & EQUITY
March 12, 2022
When I was young, I believed the world revolved around me and I could not understand if someone was a little different from me. As I grow to order and order, I learned the value of diversity and equity. Throughout my academic journey at the University of Washington Bothell, I was able to take classes with other classmates who hold different backgrounds and experiences from me, and because of it, I was able to learn from various perspectives and experiences. I still remember that when I was in Korea, everyone looked the same and spoke the same language but here in the States, everyone comes from different backgrounds and some speak other languages. Because of the IAS’s learning objective, diversity & equity, I realized that diversity and equity are something that is not evaluated on a uniform basis, but respect and recognize the uniqueness of individuals.
Final Analysis, an artifact from BISAES 367 is a great example that depended not just on the diversity and equity issue in Military Accessions to the Vital National Interest (MAVNI) but also to bring out the issues to the public for applicants, who hold different background with American citizens, and who failed to join the U.S military. This artifact also helped me to learn the importance of diversity and equity through analyzing the relationship among race, culture, and power and the role of such relationships in producing inequality and shaping contested discourses of American national identity, specifically in the context of immigration.
Reflection #2, artifact from BHS201 is also a great example for learning diversity and equity. It focused on general stereotypes toward Hispanics and how the environmental, social, and economic disadvantages that lead the health disparity for them. By working on this artifact, I tried to answer the question of how has inequality formed? And I concluded that social media and the government had a huge impact on forming inequality and the inequality that was already created led people to have greater stereotypes toward a certain group, age, race, and gender.
I strongly believe that as the globe becomes interconnected more and more, the value of diversity and equity will also increase.