Assignment 1: Cultural Artifact Analysis

Due: Week 3
Points: 110

Skill(s) Being Assessed: Problem Solving – Diverse and Ethical Perspectives (Self and Social Awareness)

• Criteria for Success: In this assignment, you will:
• Explain the reasoning and possible influences for choosing a particular artifact.
• Examine the influence of your personal experiences on your reaction to the artifact.
• Describe the artifact objectively by considering that others will have perspectives different from your own.
• Examine how the similarities and differences between your culture and the culture conveyed in the artifact may have influenced your reaction to the artifact.
• Interpret the artifact using details from the artifact to support your response.
• Reflect on what you learned about how culture shapes our perspectives and impacts the decisions you make about the meaning of the cultural artifact.

What to submit/deliverables: Cultural Artifact Analysis submitted in a Microsoft Word document.

What is the value of doing this assignment? This assignment gives you the opportunity to practice the skill of problem solving and self and social awareness as you analyze how your personal experiences and perspective influence how you make decisions when examining artifacts that illustrate diverse and ethical perspectives

In this assignment, you will choose a cultural artifact and analyze it using the strategies you’ve learned in the first three weeks of the course. You’ll explore how your own personal experiences and perspective may have influenced your reaction to the artifact. By using these strategies, you’ll be better equipped with information to help you make more objective and informed decisions, solve complex problems and think through situations related to diversity and ethics, and build relationships and collaborate in the workplace and at home. As you follow these steps to analyze a cultural artifact, you are actively practicing the process of thinking through a problem and breaking it down into its parts, helping you to become a better problem solver across the board!

Additionally, self and social awareness and articulation are critical in navigating the workplace and working with others, whether at work or at home. This assignment will leverage what you have learned in the first three weeks of the course to continue to explore information about the human experience and understand what perspectives you hold and how they impact the choices and decisions you make. In Assignments 2 and 3, you will be able to take the insights from this assignment and apply them to explaining the perspectives of others and collaborating with your fellow classmates toward a common goal. All along the way, you will continue to hone your self and social awareness skill to help you engage with others more effectively and more compassionately.

Your goal for this assignment is to: Practice your problem solving and self and social awareness by analyzing a cultural artifact and examining how your personal experiences and perspective influence your reactions to that artifact and how you make decisions about it.