October 18: Journal Entry #7 Reflection and Looking Ahead

JOURNAL ENTRY #7

My first assignment was an infographic in which I attempted to accurately display what I had learned about my essential topic, is the CIA actually operating in Africa? I have some room for improvement in the future. I don't think the amount of time I put into the infographic was the cause of the finished product. I spent about two to three hours looking over my research and picking out the parts of it which I felt would be most beneficial to my audience, along with actually composing the infographic. I had chosen an infographic because I felt I didn't have the past experience to deliver to my audience a different product that would be more interesting to them, without also risking the possibility that I may fall short. I think I would do a few things differently next time, one of the main things being a further emphasis on SPECS. The definition of critical thinking provided to me was useful. I think this was due to how specific it was, if I was ever unsure I could always go back to it and receive clarification, but it was rare when I felt unsure. I think in some ways I was able to accurately display my learning, but that is just it, in some ways. In the future I will pick a different type of SDA assignment that would allow me to dive deeper into my learning because I think that was my main issue with this first assignment, it was skin deep. I could have dived deeper into certain subjects, but I didn't and that is something I need to work on. Moving forward I think the thing that I need to work on the most is diving deeper into the information in my assignments. I plan on doing this by placing a further emphasis on SPECS along with choosing a different type of SDA that would allow me to dive deeper into my topic of inquiry.

After answering my essential question I now know that the CIA is operating in Africa, but now I want to know why. The next essential question I will be inquiring into is this, why did the CIA find it necessary to operate in Africa? I think that knowing why they found it necessary to be in Africa is important because it will allow me to understand the overarching justification behind the operations which took place. Knowing the overarching justification is important because it will allow me to gain a deeper and more rounded understanding of some of the questions I plan on inquiring into further in my studies. I am still trying to set up a good foundation to work off of before I inquire into more nuanced topics such as CIA participation in civil wars.