CTZN 110 – Foundations Level Course – Fall 2018 – 3 Credits
This course fulfilled a Foundations Level Course. All freshman have to take a CTZN course, and each individual course has a different theme or focus. For my CTZN 110 course with Dr. Blincoe, the focus was an intro to Philosophy and Ethics. The first part of the semester we learned all about Philosophy and Ethics in general and in the second half of the semester we applied what we learned to modern day topics. We covered the death penalty and abortion. The class was very interesting and despite covering sensitive topics the whole class remained respectful of each other. This class was a speaking infused class. Instead of having a regular exam for our final, we had an oral exam one on with Dr. Blincoe and have a philosophical debate. We would have readings for every class and would be quizzed on them pretty much every class. Due to the fact that we would have readings that we would be quizzed on pretty much every class, we would be encouraged to take readings notes. We did have 2 exams during the semester, and to help us prepare Dr. Blincoe would provide us with study guides for each test. Attached is a study guide that I filled out to prepare for one of his tests.
EDUC 245 – Pillar Level Course – Fall 2018 – 3 Credits
This course fulfilled a Pillar Level course as well as a Nursing major requirement. This is a human growth and development course and I found the content of this class very interesting. This class did, however, met a different time in comparison to my other classes. This class met only once a week in the evenings, meaning it was my first evening class of my college career. This class had a big semester long project, that was a research project. This project is called The Three Ages project, I interviewed three different kids in three different age groups to analyze their growth and development. I thought it was a very interesting way to apply what we have learned to real life scenarios. The project consisted of three phases, creating the questions and rationale, the actual interviews, and writing a 10 page research paper. To finish the semester we had to present our findings to the class and it was very interesting to compare my findings with my classmates. I thought it was a very interesting way to finish the semester. Attached is the PowerPoint presentation that discussed my findings from the project.
HONS 295 – Special Topics – Fall 2019 – 2 Credits
This course was a Special Topics Honors course that I took to help me on my way to fulfill the 8 Honors Classes requirement. This Special Topics course was more specifically a City as Text course, taking place in Pittsburgh. Place as Text is a common Honors College theme/course and I’m glad I had the chance to experience it. We used the city of Pittsburgh as our classroom during the duration of Fall Break. Before traveling we discussed many different topics in the class here on campus, like gentrification and demographics. Before going to Pittsburgh we had to choose a topic through which we would be seeing Pittsburgh and how that city compares to Farmville. My topic was disability and accessibility. This topic hits close to home as one of my older sisters has a disability. After spending time in the city we took what we learned and created a poster presentation. This class took me out of my comfort zone at times and it taught me how to think about things in a different way. I experienced the city in a completely different way and I’m glad I took this opportunity to engage in a learning experience outside the traditional classroom. Attached is my group’s poster presentation.
HONS 495/WGST 495 – Reproductive Justice – Spring 2020 – 3 Credits
This course was a Perspectives Level course, for the Historical & Contemporary or Behavioral & Social Perspectives level. At the beginning of the semester, I was not enrolled in this course. I ended up dropping another course as it did not seem like a good fit for me at the time and switching into this course. This was a perfect example of my plan not always working out the way I would like, but I was so happy it didn’t. This was a new class to Longwood this year, and it was a great one to say the least. It was centered on the Reproductive Justice Framework that was created by Women of Color that combines the concepts of reproductive rights and social justice. We had readings or podcasts to listen to for every class, and then every class was more of a discussion than a traditional lecture. In conjunction to these readings, we had other individual and group assignments as well. For example, we had Reflective Blogpost assignments at different points in the semester, Audience Friendly Summaries which are like mini-podcast episodes depicting a reading we would do, and a Transgender Exploration Archive. Instead of a Final Exam, as this class didn’t have tests or quizzes, we had a Final research project which was a Podcast Project. We had to pick a Reproductive Justice issue that affected one of our communities. I decided to do my project on Sexual Assault in the Military, with a focus on males. It was an enlightening project and the research was very interesting. While the semester ended up in a way I never would have thought, this class still had interactive components that helped me feel connected to my professor and peers. While we had lots of interesting and engaging assignments, my favorites were definitely the Reflective Blogposts. They truly helped me reflect on all I was learning in this course specifically, and the skills I can take into the rest of my college courses in the future. I really like to write, so whenever we had a blogpost assigned I was always super excited to get to be creative and write about my time in this course. These assignments helped me get back “in touch” with my creative writing side, which is one of the reasons I loved this assignment. Attached is my last blogpost for this class.
NURS 315 – Nutrition: Health and Disease – Fall 2020
This course is a Nursing Major requirement, which I decided to enhance to count as an honors course as well. This course discussed the importance of nutrition when caring for a patient with a particular disease process as well as it’s overall implications for an individual’s health. As with many of my nursing classes, this course was set up in a ‘flipped classroom’ format. This means that chapter readings and quizzes are due prior to class which allows for classroom activities, discussions, and application to practice exercises to take place during the class meeting time. This classroom format was beneficial to me as it helped me critically think about scenarios that I could come across in the nursing profession. The enhancement for this course was actually coupled with Pharmacology. For this project, we were to pick certain drug classes and discuss the potential side effects that certain foods can cause. I found this project to be beneficial as this is helpful knowledge for me to take into my practice. Attached are a couple of slides from the presentation.
NURS 320 – Principles of Pharmacology – Fall 2020
This course is a Nursing Major requirement, which as mentioned above, I decided to enhance alongside Nutrition to count as an Honors course. This course discussed nearly every drug class, what types of drugs should be used for certain disease processes, their action in the body, and the reaction that they can cause. This course was also set up in a ‘flipped classroom’ format, which I discussed above. In the Nutrition section, I mentioned the honors enhancement project. The drug classes that my partner and I picked were primarily mental health drugs. This class of drugs are not always discussed, so it was helpful to research these drugs further so that I can be as knowledgeable as possible going into practice. Attached are a different set of slides from the presentation.
NURS 370 – Nursing Care of the Older Adult – Spring 2021
This is a Nursing Major requirement, which I decided to enhance to count as honors course as well. This course differed from my other nursing classes, as it was an online asynchronous class. The bulk of the course came from discussion boards and pulling information that we have learned from other classes to apply to the care of the older adult. I enjoyed this class since it made me critically think about a specific group of individuals who require, at times, more specialized care. The honors enhancement project for this course was to look at how COVID-19 affected the elderly population. My group focused on older adults who live in long-term care facilities, and we spoke with a nurse from The Woodland senior care facility in Farmville. I felt this was a very important project as it applies to the times we are in right now. Attached is a portion the presentation in which we discussed the affects of COVID-19.