All this discussion about the topic of genres over the past two weeks has made me realize just how expansive a topic really is. I had only ever really considered genres when picking out movies or books but I see now we all engage in different genre forms in our everyday lives. As stated in the reading Genre: What is it and how does it work? “Genres develop when members of a discourse community repeatedly need to achieve some purpose. They embody the content, organization, and style that the discourse community believes will fulfill this purpose”. This definition of what a genre is literally applies to all forms of human interaction. In our work lives, our personal lives, during our education and even in our leisure pursuits we develop relationships, customs, and communication methods to better and more efficiently achieve our intentions. It’s really fascinating to look around and see the number of genres that exist and the communities that developed them. It’s also really fascinating to see how we create genres to better facilitate our lives but how, in time, those genres we created end up changing our behaviors when we go about our lives.

I don’t really have any questions about what genres are or where they exist but I do have an anthropological curiosity to see how they are created and how they grow with us and we with them.

Genre: What is it and how does it work? http://core.ecu.edu/engl/kaind/DA/Genre.pdf

Humans have an innate desire to make sense of the world around them. In an effort to make sense of our surroundings we tend to categorize what we learn. This categorizing can help us to learn but it is also a very useful tool that helps us to recall information. Nearly every aspect of human life is broken down into different categories and when it comes to entertainment the categories of different types of storytelling are known as genres. The term genre can be applied across all forms of entertainment be it movies, books, television, music, and even paintings.

The term genre is probably easiest to understand when it is applied to writing. We are all familiar with different writing genres like mysteries, science fiction, romance, fiction, non-fiction, historical, horror, etc.. Each genre has a set of characteristics that help to distinguish it. For instance, horror usually deals with scary or macabre subject matters while mysteries usually tell a story sprinkled with clues that the reader is encouraged to figure out before reaching the end of the story.

Even though we create genres to help us categorize our entertainment it doesn’t mean that the different genre forms are rigid and static concepts. Genres or at least the ideas of what they represent are fluid and can change with each generation. The writings of William Shakespeare are usually broken down into three genres; comedies, histories, and tragedies. Those are pretty basic genres that a modern reader would have no trouble understanding and enjoying, right? When someone in a modern audience hears the word “comedy” they are inclined to think of something designed to make them laugh. It could be a slapstick Jim Carrey movie, a CD by stand-up comedian Jim Gaffigan or a collection of stories from humorist David Sedaris. However, in Shakespeare’s time a comedy wasn’t an overt attempt to get people to laugh but rather a light-hearted story with a happy ending. Usually the story dealt with love, the narrative focused more on situations than it did on the characters, and the story concluded with a happy ending.

An easier to see example of how genres can shift over time is with music. Popular or “pop” is a genre that refers to new music that is typically enjoyed by a large range of young people. Hence the word popular. However, as generations age what was once considered popular to them is no longer in vogue with each subsequent generation and the music is then reclassified as classic. If your grandparents went into a music store (assuming they could still find one) and asked for popular music they may end up shocked and confused by what the clerk hands them to listen to.

The term genre isn’t exclusively used for writing done in the entertainment world. Nearly all professions engage in one form of writing or another and students at all levels of education are regularly asked to write papers, create reports, and conduct presentations. All of this writing done during the education process is meant to hone our skills so that when we enter the professional world we will be well suited for any assignment we may receive.

Writing has never been one of my strong skillsets so I try to do as little of it has possible. Actually, outside of school I do almost no writing. I’m a designer of aircraft engines so all of my work is done in CAD programs. The only type of writing I do with any regularity is sending the occasional email.

The articles required for this weeks reading assignment touched on a topic that I think is very relevant in regard to the state of the education system in the country today. The topic being how the knowledge transferred to the student during the education process can then be transferred by the student into practical use in the real or professional world.

Knowledge gained in the education process is typically targeted at the fundamental level. For instance in a basic writing class you learn how to organize your thoughts, choose your words, structure your sentences, build your paragraphs, and so on. You don’t focus so much on what type of media you’re writing for; a book, magazine, blog, website, etc. because the basics of writing are the same across them all. With only a few modifications you can gear your writing towards a specific goal but the process is generally the same. You can certainly choose to further your education by taking classes that go into greater detail like a literary author can choose to take more writing and English courses where an accountant may only need a basic writing course to provide them with all they need to know to communicate in a professional setting.

Of course our education doesn’t stop when we leave school, we continue to learn when we begin our careers. In the workplace we acquire a deeper knowledge about our chosen profession that wouldn’t make sense to teach every college student like industry standards for your field. There are many professions that require further study like medicine, law, and engineering but the information gained at the undergraduate level should not only translate but be a necessary foundation for them all.

I view undergraduate classes like acquiring a set of tools and the instruction on how to use them. I’m given a hammer and taught how to use it, I’m given a saw and taught how to use it, I’m given a screwdriver and taught how to use it, and so on. I can take those tools and build houses for people or for dogs or birds or even dolls but with a firm knowledge of my tools I can apply myself to many different trades.

Sadly, as mentioned in Developing Academic Skills That Transfer to the Workplace, some people including some employers can view words like “liberal arts” as being nondescript and non-relevant to many professional fields. But as the article mentions, if you rebrand liberal arts to “this degree develops critical thinking and problem-solving skills and helps people communicate more effectively in a variety of contexts” employers will see a set of skills that they want on their team.

CFA Staff | Posted In: Academics, & |, C. F. A. S. (2017, March 9). Developing Academic Skills That Transfer to the Workplace. Retrieved from https://collegeforamerica.org/developing-academic-skills-workplace/

Transfer of Knowledge Between Education and Workplace Settings. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237539394_Transfer_of_Knowledge_Between_Education_and_Workplace_Settings

My initial knowledge of portfolios was as the traditional, physical, collection of the work of a visual artist. These might be used to help a photographer get a job at a magazine or to help an actor get his or her next role. I never considered that portfolios might of us to someone in a more “traditional” work setting like an office environment.

My time at UC Blue Ash in the AIS program with it’s emphasis on building and maintaining an electronic portfolio (eportfolio) has shown me that portfolios can be used by everyone to market their skills and abilities. Maintaining an eportfolio is essentially like having a living resume but instead of a shingle sheet of bullet points that list prior accomplishments you have a shareable journal that documents your process through completing your projects. This shows future employers and collaborators how your mind works as well as what you can accomplish.

My thoughts on portfolios were expanded even further after I read the article Portfolio Thinking by Patricia McLagan. In the article the author discusses how portfolios can be used by employees to document their work which can then be used by management as part of the employees performance evaluation. I really like this idea because I think it offers a better way to document and appraise work performance. Has it stands now most performance evaluation methods require the employee or their manager to reflect at certain periods in time, usually yearly. In this reflection the person filling out the appraisal must try to remember what work took place and how the person being appraised performed. With a portfolio to aid the appraiser, they would have a scrapbook of the work that took place and the thought process that the employee used to accomplish that work. This would an invaluable tool that could help to streamline the performance evaluation process.

McLagan, P. A. (2000, February). Portfolio Thinking. Training & Development, 54(2)

My name is Jerry Brown, I’m a life-long resident of Cincinnati. Currently, I have a degree in Power Systems / Electrical Engineering and work full time as a product designer for GE Aviation. It’s a great company and I love what I do. To help me further my career here I thought it would be beneficial to get some business classes under my belt. This will be my fifth semester here at UC Blue Ash and, with a little luck and a lot of hard work, I intend to complete my degree in the Fall of this year (2020).

I am actually really looking forward to this class as I hope to learn from it the tools necessary to communicate more effectively in my business. I work with people all over the world and communication takes place, largely, in written formats. I’m constantly sending emails or creating PowerPoint presentations so I want to be able to present myself and the data that I’ve worked so hard to gather and created in the most professional light.

Outside of work I enjoy being outside, preferably drinking a beer by a fire and watching the stars overhead. I also like to tinker with and fix broken machinery and electronics, and I like home improvement projects. I collect older video games and consoles (mostly Nintendo), and I enjoy spending time with my five dogs.

Below is a picture of Jesse and me. (He’s the handsome one with the great smile.)