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Gerdes Ryan Portfolio 2/14/08 Reflective Thinking The disposition "reflective thinking" is probably the vaguest of all the Loras dispositions. Does this mean to simply learn from the past? Does it mean to apply new techniques to current situations? To me, reflective thinking involves perpetually expanding our means of gathering information and using said information. We should be able to take new experiences and develop new ways of interpreting future incidents. This does not, however, mean that we should simply abandon all of our established means of interpreting data. We should retain some qualities that define us. My three artifacts demonstrate my development as a reflective thinker and, more specifically, my ability to utilize creative ways of translating information. My first artifact is in the form of a survey I did for my BUS-310 Business Statistics class. After forming groups of four, we were to choose a topic of interest and produce a survey to hand out to Loras College students. My group and I chose the issue of student parking on campus. We felt that this was an issue that was likely to draw interest from students and be less likely to result in indifference. After gathering all of the information from the surveys, our group arranged the information so as to interpret the results. We were seeking information on percentage of negative responses, demographic figures, solutions, etc. This project was really the first large-scale survey I had ever done inside of a classroom. The refreshing aspect of the project was that our group was responsible for not only distributing the surveys but also creating the content and interpreting the results. We knew what message we wanted to convey and had to come up with a method that would best accomplish that. We were forced to put ourselves in the shoes of our audience and imagine what kind of message our results would convey. I believe that to be a very important aspect of reflective thinking. The assignment enhanced my ability to present information creatively and effectively. My second artifact is a paper I did in POL-251 Environmental Politics, a course that was clustered with Global Warming. Our assignment was to conduct an interview with two people of differing backgrounds on the issue of global warming. The questions included whether or not they believed it existed, what to do about it, and actions they have taken. While we had guidelines for questioning, the majority of the questions were developed by the interviewer. The purpose of the assignment was to demonstrate to what extent person's a background affects his/her views on global warming. Although both of my interviewees responded similarly, other students' results varied considerably. The assignment truly helped me think reflectively on the viewpoints of others. This assignment also encouraged me not to project my value system onto others. Much like the survey, this assignment required us to interpret information in creative ways and to create a hypothesis based on our findings. After compiling the results of my interviews and the interviews of the entire class, it was apparent that socioeconomic backgrounds and other factors played an important role in shaping people's viewpoints. Up until this assignment, I had never been required to compile results from an interview and then interpret the data in a meaningful way. My third, and final, artifact for reflective thinking is an assignment from my BUS-358 LIFE Portfolio class. The purpose of the class is to allow students to utilize some of the college endowment fund to invest in securities of their choosing. A recurring assignment that we had throughout the semester was to choose a company and evaluate their stock. To do this we used a template for evaluating stocks and plugged in the pertinent information. However, the final decision did not lie with the template. We also had to use our own discretion when deciding what to invest in. Questions that arose include whether the stock was more of a "play" or a core holding and how might that affect its performance in the template. In a way, we were formulating new hypotheses as we experienced the investing world. Reflective thinking was a part of our everyday tasks. How does this investment affect our overall portfolio? What kind of affect will the earnings release have on the stock price? We had to think reflectively by constantly adapting our strategies to a number of variables (i.e. the market, news releases, etc.). The class taught me that reflective thinking is a constant process. My journey as a reflective thinker did not begin my freshman year and will not end with my senior year this spring. I have continually expanded my methods for developing ides and consequently grown as a reflective thinker. I have learned that there is, more often than not, more than one solution to every problem and by thinking reflectively I can evolve my methods for dealing with said problems. I will continue my growth as a reflective thinker as I move onto law school in the fall. It is imperative that I learn to accept new ways of thinking as I move onto my career.

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