Rachel Frazier

SLOs in Action Assignment

Mini-Portfolio #2
UWRT 1101

The artifact that I chose to discuss would be a text message from my roommate Yosra. Before
taking this class I never understood the use of SLOs both inside and outside of the classroom. It
wasnt until now that I am able to identify them in my everyday life. In my eyes, Critical
Reading is the most effective SLO. Being able to interpret something that you cant hear such as
a text message, is very important so that you can deeply engage into the text and use general
knowledge to understand it.

In the text message from my roommate Yosra I connected it to the SLO Critical Reading. Our
class definition of the SLO Critical Reading is deeply engaging into the text and fully
understanding it by applying general knowledge and research ideas to make sense of the
unknown. In this message that my roommate sent to me, because I was not able to hear her
saying it and see the sincerity she truly had behind sending the message it led to me being very
upset with her and not talking to her for several days. All of this was due to a misunderstanding
or for better words a miscommunication. Had I not failed to read critically I would have been
able to sense her true intentions.

Due to the advanced use of technology in our current generation our actions may not always
seem clear and can be easily misinterpreted. It is very crucial to be very clear and say exactly
what you mean while communicating through text messages. Often times, things that happen
while conversing with someone in public including observing peoples facial expressions can not
happen during text messaging. Observing peoples facial expressions is very beneficial in
understanding how sincere a person truly is about a particular subject. In person, people can still
lie to you but is much harder because they are being put on the spot because they are being
forced to lie to your face. Facial expressions provide the reader with comfort and conformation
of the persons true feelings.

Text messaging allows for people to type messages with a mask on their face. It is much easier to
type one thing and feel another when you practically have all of the time in the world to observe
and make up a lie that sounds legitimate or believable. Text messages are not a credible source of
information as they often can be claimed to be meant in another way. Despite all of these
negatives, understanding how to read critically avoids confusion because you are able to read
between the lies and comprehend the information no matter the circumstances.

Another beneficial SLO that can be used in digital communication or text messaging is the
Composing Process. The Composing Process is used in every piece of writing. The Composing
Process can be important in Digital Communication in doing things such as sending emails for
the company you work for. In sending out professional emails, it is very important that you
follow normal composing processes as you would on a laptop when communicating people that
are inquiring on the job. Sometimes professional conversations take place between co-workers

during text messages as well, so it is very important to use emphasis on emotions so that your
words are not misinterpreted.

Knowledge of conventions can be a positive SLO to use as well in a conversation through text
messaging. For me, the perfect example of this can be explained in the use of emojis. It is very
important that you understand them and their meanings before attempting to communicate and
add them along with the text content. Emojis all have interpretations themselves and the use of
the wrong emoji has the ability to change the meaning of a sentence entirely. Being aware of
these meanings eliminates all of the confusion.