I will address the first option for
this week’s prompt. To begin with, I didn’t really know what to expect when
taking this course. This was my fourth 400-level Economics course taken for my
major, so I had built some expectations on this previous experience. Also, a
good friend of mine had taken this course a few semesters ago that was able to
provide a little information as to what I would expect from the class. I
understand that there have been some changes, but my guess is these changes
didn’t have too large of an effect on the overall outcomes of the course.
With that being said, I would have
liked the in class session to be a little different. I understand that
attendance was not mandatory and I didn’t attend on a regular basis. I think I
would have attended more if there were more of a set topic with a powerpoint or
slides. The classes I did attend I often felt confused on what was being talked
about most likely due to there not being a powerpoint to follow along with.
This isn’t a large issue, though. I personally really liked the excel
assignments we had for the class. I have had previous excel experience from
other courses I have taken, but I believe the assignments in this class showed
different ways that excel can be used and how it can be helpful in the business
world. Some of these assignments were quite tough and at times I was confused
on what exactly I should be doing. But for the most part I looked forward to
working on these when they were due. I also really enjoyed the quizzes that we
had. I was expecting to take in class exams, so it was a little bit different
to adjust to the quizzes. However, I think that the quizzes were effective in
testing what we have learned in the class as well as provided insight to areas
that we should have learned more. Some of the blogs I found to be an annoyance
at times. I don’t think this is because of the actual nature of the blogging,
but rather I ran into mental roadblocks while writing some of the blogs where I
didn’t really know what to write about. I do think that having us comment on
our classmate’s blogs was a great way to get more insight on the topic and
receive feedback for the work we had already done ourselves.
To add to my outlook on the
homeworks, I preferred working on the excel assignments as compared to the blog
posts. I usually worked on the excels days in advance where as it would take me
more time to get the blogs done. This could be in part to myself being more
inclined to do math problems over writing assignments.
I also think that the things we
learned about organizations in the class will be very beneficial once we join
the workforce. For example the last couple of blogs we have done have forced us
to learn and think about specific parts of an organization. From the topic on
group dynamics to personal reputation within an organization, these blogs while
looking at individual parts of an organization will really help when trying to
be successful in an organization in a few years. I also really liked the blog
on the principle-agent model. This is a model I have had a lot of work with in
previous courses, but haven’t learned about in the same context. As my college
career has progressed, I have learned more of how what I will more than likely
be doing in a few years directly relates to this model. All in all I enjoyed
the content we learned in this class. I personally wasn’t the biggest fan of
the way the in class sessions went.
Here is the dilemma. If you have an answer to it, I would be all ears. There are several pieces to this.
ReplyDelete1) At the beginning of the semester there were PowerPoints that I expected students to view ahead of class, so they would be ready for the discussion in class. The access stats show, however, that these PowerPoints were not viewed or downloaded in large numbers.
2) If I lecture then students, in turn, tend to memorize what I say. But that is not learning. So the idea is to build connection between what students already know and the topic the class is considering. As awkward as those in class discussion were, and they were awkward, they were directed toward the building of those connections.
3. You didn't come to class regularly. I am not sure why. As the course was not meant to be totally online, this presents it s own issue. One of the key models in the course was gift exchange, and the underlying aspect that makes it work is reciprocation. I didn't just want to talk to the talk on that. I wanted you to walk the walk. You should ask whether I reciprocated on your efforts in the class. Likewise, you should ask whether you reciprocated on my efforts.
I'm afraid the class failed that way. If you see some way that it my have succeeded if done differently, I'd be very interested. But memorizing what lecture on is not the sort of reciprocation I have in mind. How might I get you and your classmates to think it through?
Professor,
ReplyDeleteI really liked the feedback given in your comment on my post. It really made me think about what I have overall taken away from this course as well as what I could have additionally taken away from it. I will try to provide some more feedback aimed towards the questions you have towards some parts of the class. I will try to get at the point
1) I recommend making the slides easier to find either by sending out a link each week or make a specific tab for them on the page. I do remember you stating in the first email to the class that you wanted us to review powerpoint slides before attending the lecture. I know that I read the first set of slides a few times. However, after this week I found it difficult to find the slides on a weekly basis. During the second week of class I remember looking forward to reading them, but I couldn't find them. I thought to myself that I might have imagined there being slides in the first place. About 6 or 7 weeks into the class I fumbled across them again and read over a few. From the slides standpoint I found they offered an interesting explanation of the material.
2) I also realize why you would be more inclined to not lecture during this class. I can't think of a more constructive way you could run the class. Although I felt some of the in class sessions to be kind of awkward and necessary, I now realize how the class was ran was for specific reason that I didn't realize earlier on.
3) This is a topic that I do regret now towards the end of the class. I remember at the beginning of the semester I was very excited to take the class and had planned on attending regularly. After a few weeks, I started to have conflicts with career fairs, job applications, other exams, etc. There were times I felt that I wasn't really missing anything in the class session and that I could get more out of that hour and a half by working on something else. After a few weeks I realized more time had passed than I originally thought. As a graduating senior, it always seems like I had something better I could be doing with my time. I regret this now and think I could have gotten more out of the class had I attended more. I don't know that making the class attendance mandatory is the answer. I do think that it could increase attendance, but it might cause some other issues. Perhaps run multiple smaller projects throughout the semester that groups would work on in class. For example, half of the lecture you run like you originally do, while the other half the students break up into their groups and work on a little project. As this class is about organizations, perhaps the projects could be little projects that could resemble something resent college students would be working on in entry level positions. This could provide some real world work within an organization.I do think that I would have benefited more from attending regularly and hope you have better results with attendance in the future. This is all I can think of right now.