Final Blog: Transformative Learning

I was inspired by Denise Herzing's Ted Talk and decided to focus on dolphins from that on. I feel the importance of protecting our biodiversity and respecting all living species from now on. In addition to marine pollution, human production activities, such as engineering construction, fishery production, and changes in the natural environment, such as global warming and sea-level rise, can damage and alter the marine ecological environment. The overfishing of certain marine organisms by humans has led to a decrease in the quantity and quality of marine biological resources. It has also brought some species to the brink of extinction. To further protect our marine species, the government should take more action in making new regulations.

The second transformative learning experience is from doing Twitter research. From Twitter, I gained many perspectives from worldwide researchers and organizations. They genuinely care about marine issues and show their stand by spreading more words on social media. Through ten-week research, I believe that I have become a better researcher and know media better.

Problems To Work On

In the future, I need to pay more attention to managing my time and be more productive in writing my essay.

I had a hard time managing my time throughout this quarter due to recruiting, on-campus jobs, and family issues. I wanted to fit all things into my schedule, but I then found out how hard it was to accomplish everything I wanted to do. This quarter, my work-life balance was terrible, and I became so exhausted every week. In the future, I will try to manage my time better and only focus on a few things if I can.

I was not productive in writing my essay because I could not find solutions to mercury pollution at first. I then broadened my topic to all pollutants related to heavy metals harmful to marine life. In the future, I will try more sites to search for things. However, I found Google Scholar a beneficial resource.