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4 Learning Reflections

Learning Reflection 1- Explain to your best friend

Hey Chandana,

You know that I am taking the health humanities course right? I want to explain it so that you have a better idea know what it is. Health humanities is becoming a more popular field in the medical field that explores the intersection between illness and healing by considering what the human experience is in all of it. It is different than medical humanities, because it is less focussed on the biomedical side, and considers the humanity aspect such as storytelling or visual art. It brings a spotlight to the under-representation of the patient’s entire life, rather than just their medical condition. It also brings in concepts and theories we have learned about such as social determinants of health, intersectionality, and cultural safety (I know this is relevant from my cultural competency course). To continue advancing the medical field, it is important to know the objective science behind different health aspects. It is much more difficult to ensure sustainability without fully capturing what studies don’t… empathy. The study of humanities allows people to advocate and give that autonomy, all of which play a part in the patient’s journey.

This was sent as a text message, and here is her response.

Hey Apeksha,

This looks great to me! I think you covered all points and it is worded in a way that challenges the reader to consider their perspective and understand the meanings of both health humanities and medical humanities. Love the part where you mentioned empathy and the role this plays in learning about a patient’s life rather than their medical history since they are more than that.

Learning Reflection 2- Active Listening

I had a deep and meaningful conversation with my boyfriend about his healthcare experience that he had not told me about before. I have known my boyfriend for almost a year, and he has briefly mentioned his previous heart condition but never in detail. My boyfriend talked about his experiences with COVID, the surgery for his heart, and his departure from the U.S. Naval Academy. Due to the nature of our relationship, he spoke at great lengths to describe both the humanity and biomedical aspects. My boyfriend knows that I am hard of hearing, so I, unfortunately, did have to react here and there to ask clarifying questions. I validated him a couple of times, but I cried when I found out how much pain he had gone through. I also noticed that I reacted by sharing stories of my sister after he finished talking. When I used active listening, I was taken into the story as if I were the one who saw everything unfold. I will also note that I was eating food, so this was my primary distraction sometimes, and that is when I would ask him to repeat if I was not paying attention.

Learning Reflection 3- Visual Thinking Strategies

Before taking this course, I vaguely remember having exercises to engage with visuals that relate to health actively. I did not know that our classes’s activity with MERF or the historical pictures were considered VTS. Starting with that historical picture, when Professor Muñoz said it was public health-related, I had a different idea of what the picture could be. To my surprise, it was one that does represent public health, but it was not one that I saw often in my major. I remember jotting down what I knew about the context of the picture such as the racial injustice or bioethics rather than focusing on the artistic details of the photograph itself. After class that day, I thought VTS was a guided exercise to provoke my thoughts, feelings, and memories. I am not used to thinking out loud about my perception of an art piece in class or to peers. It felt interesting conversing about that art piece the entire time. The last time I remember thinking this deeply about art was with various art courses I had taken throughout my K-12 education. At that time, we learned about different art techniques and why they matched the theory. 
With MERF, that was the first time I analyzed an architecture to uncover its meaning. The purpose of VTS is for me to discover the deeper meaning of art beyond the surface level. I should harness my curiosity to notice those details. These experiences with the painting and MERF and discussing it taught me that other people can bring up important points on the findings in a way that I have not thought of before. One part of this experience was exploring the MERF and all its settings that offers to its users. I had never gone beyond the first floor, because I don’t work or study there. The only time I was at the MERF was to participate in a 5k race or when I ate lunch in an adjacent room. I have always been in awe of the building, but it amazes me even more when there are sculptures and art displays within the building. I see how many scientists or researchers delve into art to express their surroundings, and it’s so cool to take part in their journey through the audience’s perspective. I wish that teachers would employ VTS more as a form of learning. It would have been a valuable way to remember and take a deeper meaning out of it. 

Learning Reflection 4- What I now know about AI

It was not until I started college that I became exposed to various AI tools such as NotebookLM, ChatGPT, and other software. I was amazed at the information it could generate and would explain things and get through some of the toughest classes I was taking. I have a love–hate relationship with AI. AI can sap creativity away from someone by using artists’ work without permission or making new art forms with a human behind them. I don’t see the value in using AI for creative purposes unless it is to make doing a process easier or for simplicity purposes. What I do love about AI tools is their ability to go deeper into explanations. Not only is it great at curating the experience for its users, but it can save time on writing that would take forever if it’s all thought out. What provided the best insight into AI’s capabilities and limits was the entire class worth of presentation that a communicator from injury and violence prevention presented to us. It sucks that AI tools nowadays are being monetized to gain profit from tools that should be readily accessible to anyone that has basic technology needs. Money barriers can be an issue when companies or organizations use tools like Canva for graphic designing for free for their staff/volunteers. I didn’t even consider how much AI contributes to climate change with all the processing power it requires to generate information for massive amounts of users. It puts into perspective how much AI is taking over jobs that would require less energy and are sustainable. Upon discovering this tool, I realized how easy it was to search for information because the Google overview did not provide the level of detail I wanted. After that, I started having ChatGPT solve my math problems and calculations. I found out quickly that I was not the best at doing that. It was reemphasized by my public health professor, who told us not to use that specific platform to solve statistical problems but rather to ask it to explain concepts that we could not originally understand with him. I would rather use some algorithm built by mathematicians to do calculations from a website than have AI do it for me. This inspired me to direct AI to be specific with how they explained it to me. If it is concepts from my homework or notes that I found difficult to understand or need to explain more, I would ask it to generate simple language with citations to the notes they were getting it from. I found this useful in my Middle East Policy and Diplomacy class. It double–checks what the professor has said but adds additional information that the professor himself did not cover in a course that might appear in exams. However, I quickly realized that it oversaturated me with information that I did not need to know, and I became overwhelmed sometimes when I took notes from that. ChatGPT is best at editing and correcting my grammar. I currently use Grammarly embedded in Google Docs and Word, but because I do not have Premium, I must figure out the grammar error I made with the underlined part. However, ChatGPT automatically corrected the grammar or suggested edits depending on what I asked AI to do. I have always struggled to make essays flow together. Instead of using thesaurus.com, AI does an excellent job of providing synonyms or antonyms for literary writing. Lastly, with the health humanities course, I got to try new and unique ways of using ChatGPT and other AI software that I had not thought of before. What humbled me is that the human voice truly stumps that of a robot, but alternative software can be a human’s best aid when used properly and for a specific purpose.

Final Learning Reflection- What did I learn in this class, and how did I learn it?

 

Before taking the Health Humanities course, I chose to reflect and integrate experiences with different art forms through a biomedical lens from my public and global health classes. I did not know how to do either of these things before taking this course, but now I have knowledge and experience that I can use to integrate into my own life.

Before starting in August, I had limited knowledge of different art forms of medicine. I had a perception that art was something that health professionals did outside of their working hours. I failed to consider the intersections of health professionals using art to express their lived experiences until I consumed media from them. It includes reading testaments about the experiences within the emergency department or listening to podcasts explaining the strain on healthcare workers. It is how I understood the knowledge I can gain through the diverse ways art is expressed and communicated to audiences. Documentaries about the life-changing nature of music therapy to Alzheimer patients not only serve as a form of healing for these patients, but audiences understand the innate nature that these illnesses can impact that may not be obvious otherwise. Setting aside patients or healthcare professions, I did not know the creative ways I could engage in media that displayed health and produce work that would bring my struggles to light. I am glad I could finally write a narrative ethnography about my mom’s birthing experience in this class. The assignment made me realize how Nepal’s healthcare functioned through the eyes of someone who utilized it rather than from studies. Listening to my mom made her feel heard when I shared her story. Another way was to write lyrics and sing to my condition that I have not fully grasped or gotten diagnosed with, which is chronic loneliness. I felt therapeutic healing, which was not a feeling I had felt before taking the class, especially as I could portray the message and the intended impact on the audience.

Before taking this course, I reflected on different concepts for just text given or a prompt, before taking this class. Only during the reflection assignment would I mindfully take the time to understand the connections to my knowledge and try to identify the change in my perspective. This class taught me how to reflect on experiences, which is a humanities way of thinking. These reflections come from the learning reflections in PressBooks after an activity or a field trip had occurred. Knowing that I would have to reflect encouraged my engagement in my participation by employing active listening or visual thinking strategies with assignments. After going to the art museum or the biomedical laboratories, I now know how I can engage with art or be present in the moment to gain learning from it. It gives me clarity after I choose to go to museums from now on after taking this course. In other classes before this course, when I participated in discussions, the goal was to fill out a worksheet. This time, the discussion helped me to reflect on what we just consumed or the activity done in class. I could better engage with the assignments by listening and taking in the information from classmates.

How I learn

Throughout college, I like to find that the best way I have learned academically is through concept practice. Without seeing the real-life application of this or in what way it is relevant to my career work, my brain turns off. Finding the connection that intertwines different ideas makes it easier to understand why I am learning it and then I can curate my study techniques to understand these topics. I think that is why discussions, field trips, and media help to capture lecture information as relevant topics, and why I like some of my classes over others. After I head on to grad-school, I want to make the most use of asking for help and going to the professors office hours, because those connections can unlock the knowledge they have in their mind which often times will directly help me with what I am struggling with.

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Foundations of Health Humanities 2024 Copyright © 2024 by Kristine Munoz is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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