Capstone Course and Critical Thinking

I am back again! I spent a lot of time doing my keystone class and ski class the last couple of months. PLU is a great school to learn about all kinds of classes. My
Chinese friends and I took the same ski class last J-term. It was so fun to
take that course. We all do not have any chances to learn anything about skiing
in China. At PLU, we caught this chance and we went to the summit mountain to
learn something about skiing. Each time I fell down from the top of the mountain
to the ground. Although I was hurt so many times, I always laughed. It is because in
my mind I enjoyed that process.

This semester I am taking a Capstone class, and for students who take a Capstone class means that they are graduating. It is the last class that students need to take before graduation. However, I still did not finish my minor courses, so this Capstone course is not my last class at PLU.

But I want to tell something about Capstone course this time. For my communication major, my Capstone course asked me to talk about how I met ILOs (integrated learning objectives). The PLU ILOs, or Pacific Lutheran University integrated learning objectives, are values and abilities that PLU wishes to teach all their students. More specifically, it was about how I met Critical Reflective Thinking,
Expression, Interaction, Valuing, and Multiple Frameworks. I will be giving some
examples that prove I met each part. I would show my previous homework papers, presentations, and videos to prove those elements. From this point of view, we could know PLU takes the responsibility to know what students leaned though several years study. And for students, it is a good evaluation method for ourselves to know what we leaned those years. In order to let you have something to say in your Capstone course, please study well throughout your time at PLU.

-Meng

J-Term Madness!

First of all, I am so glad this J-Term is coming to an end! Talk about a stressful time. Most of the people I know who are taking J-Term classes are already finished, but unfortunately, I have an interview to conduct and a 5-page paper before I can wave bye bye.

To sum up my first PLU J-Term in one word: MEGAMADNESSOUTOFTHISWORLD. And yes, I am aware of the fact that it was six words, but all together and it justifies it all.
Taking my first ever philosophy class was hard, especially to cover one semester over just four weeks. But then again, as a GUR (General University Requirement), there was really no way of avoiding it.

My pre-internship class in the School of Arts and Communication, however, has been nothing but fun, and I learned a lot from it. As a pre-requisite for the internship class I'll be taking as a senior this fall, the class really prepared me for what I later will be taking on in my academics. Even though they are both required for my major, which is Communication, I consider them nothing less but fun classes!

All in all, although I had to say goodbye to my weekends during J-Term as I did nothing but study, write papers and do research, I wouldn't have done it any other way. Oh, and another thing: It is important to know that you can take classes up to 5 credits for FREE and stay on campus for FREE during J-Term. If PLU is giving me the option to do that, I'm certainly going to take them up on that offer!
Because hey, who doesn't like free classes? :)

Best,
Lina.