Sorry for the Cliché title I am an actor, and my apartment number is actually "2B". That being said like Shakespeare’s tragic hero I am indecisive when it comes to the effectiveness of this blog. This class brakes down into two different points the straight facts (lectures and Tests) and the application (activities and this Blog), and I am not sure if it is or is not an effective assignment.
-The blogs assignments were barely apart of my studying for test. Except in highlighting sections to cover, it did little to help me prepare for the test. It did not help me understand the concepts of the class. It became more of a vent of what I was feeling or perhaps seeing in activities. Perhaps it was related to covered material, but did not help me in comprehension of the tested marital. Rarely in writing or reading the blogs did I have light blubs go off in my head about concepts. Perhaps I could have spent more time studying the slides if I was not writing the blogs.
- The effectiveness in the blog and inherently the activities is in the feeling of community. That with everyone in this class working together trying to solve the puzzle that is this class it made it fun, challenging, and team-oriented. I only missed one day the whole semester not because I was afraid of four absences, but I felt obligated and engaged by being an active member of the group I’ve been working with all semester. By having a forum to place my opinions and get response and respond to others was a motivating factor of working harder on this class
-El profesor's blog did give me insights that I found engaging. I would otherwise not read these kinds of materials had the assignment not been given. The marital covered perhaps sparks my interest in the power of management and I may be inclined to look at it in the future. At this point I will not blogging in the future, but that could change.
-The disconnect I have is the relationship of the application to the tested material. In studying for the second exam I relied on the slides and graphs provided on blackboard. With those materials and my personal notes from the lecture I did very well on the second test. Yet, the blog seemed to be an ineffective way for me to study, or personally engage with the material. That while I love the fact that it is a way for me to control 20% of my grade I don't think it helped me learn anything. What can be said is it motivated me to work harder and engage with my classmates, which perhaps is more important.
First off i just want to say that i think it's cool your an actor. I'm also interested in acting (but i'm not sure how good I am). Secondly, it's true that the blogs didn't have much to do with the exams, and was sort off time consuming, but it was a good way for us to express ourselves and apply some things that we learned in class in a different context. I think the fact that we controlled 20% of our grade was the best part. It's also always fun to see what other people are thinking.
ReplyDeleteKevin, I agree with you that the Blog by itself wouldn't make you get an higher grade on the exam. I think the blog is beyond it, it is not a tool for making you ready for the exam but just giving you a slight idea in the future what this class was all about. If you will go through the topics it will give you a genearal idea on what we have studied during the semester and I think it is as important as preparing us for the exam.
ReplyDeleteHave I ever told you I am an actor too? Yep, Stella Adler graduate 2007. Just thought I'll share, because I do relate to your way of thinking. On that note I think blogging is a good way to study people. I was trained to look around and wonder about peoples' background, their emotional state and predict behaviors of others based on my observations. Blog is a very good source of "watching" others and any actor can feed of this information and store it for future references. Could this be a new perspective about what one can learn even if it's no use for management class?
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you regarding the affectiveness of the blog with respect to exam preps. It is a generous 20% of our final grade, but probably provided less to our overall comprehension of the material. It's almost as though it was exactly what you said, a place to vent. And if indeed it was then it mission was accomplished for those who completed all blog posts.
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