I'll go through the goals that you had for this blog component to provide a clear critique.
1) In my opinion, the blog achieved the first goal easily and the most effectively. I was able to at least learn a little bit of the backgrounds and thought processes of my classmates. The degree to which it extends into communicating in class is not as profound, but is nonetheless beneficial.
2) This is somewhat related to the first set of goals. Oftentimes we can't express all that we want to about a class activity because of time constraints (the activities take up the entire class). Many of the blogs require us to connect the activity to a recent topic, and that does help us study when we look back. I retain a lot of what I learn only if I record my thoughts immediately after the activity. I'm also guilty of sometimes blogging last-minute, so I don't have a solution there.
3) I find your blog informative and revealing of your experiences. They are interesting, and I see that they are catered to a larger audience - one that extends beyond this class and perhaps this school. My suggestion is to include or replace them with more personal posts. What I mean is that you can post your reflections and reactions to what we did in class activities, or perhaps how previous classes fared.
4) Being a C personality type, I've kept this 20% in my mind throughout the semester. I think it's a fair percentage and it is a huge incentive to keep blogging on top of due dates. I honestly believe that it's within every college student's responsibility to meet deadlines. This 20% is a gift to me as it should be to future classes (all other things equal, haha)
5) I do plan to post on a blog sometime in the future, albeit not this one. My problem lies with Blogger. Blogger is great in the sense that it's dead simple to create, and it's perfect for these blogs. It's just not as flexible as others are. (Wordpress, for example)
To sum it all up, I'm ok with the blogging and its point value. I like the push it's given me the push to record my thoughts.
Cheuk,
ReplyDeleteHave to totally agree with you, that the professor really gave us these 20 points for our grade, and also gave use the opportunity to receive extra credit for any late assignments we might have accidentally missed. I have to agree that this 20% is a huge incentive, and that if people forget or choose not to do them, they are missing out on this "gift" as you described it. This blog was an awesome way to reflect with your own personal perspectives of what happen in class, as well as answer any feelings or perceptions you had as well. And it is so true on how we can reiterate thorough our blogs what we learned creating knowledge for ourselves. It has been a pleasure meeting you this semester. It is to bad about the Lego incident we had, but I can't stress anymore how great of a job you did. The whole group was relied on you to deliver, and you did in my perspective with or without the 5 points.
-Cheers,
Marco
I have to agree with you. Blogging has pushed me to put my thoughts into writing especially that the professor requires us to do so. The 20% incentive motivated me to keep on top of the blog deadlines, since I really don't talk much in class. It gave me an opportunity to control 20% of my grade. Aside from that, blogging is an effective way to learn and share thoughts and views with other students in class.
ReplyDelete