During the first day of the class, professor Kurpis told us that we will have to write a blog which is 20% of the grade. I didn't quite like the idea in the beginning, I thought that it would be a lot of writing assignments(which I do not enjoy doing). But, once I started using it, I realized that it wasn't that bad.
To answer if it helped me communicate with my classmates better, I'd say that I dont think blog assignments made my communication any easier, but the class activities did. However, blogs did help us know the thoughts and ideas of others better. There was no such right or wrong answers, so everyone was being expressive and sharing their thoughts in their own way. Most of the blogs were related to the class activities and it was interesting to read other's point of view regarding the same subject. There was a blog assignment about vision, and I must say that I was very inspired after reading other student's short/long term goals. It made me think what I really want to do in life and if I need to be more serious about things.
I think managing 20% of the grade via blog was very easy to me. In my case, the only thing i'd say is that there was a due date for each blog. Even though there was enough of time given in advance I used to complete them on time but like all my assignments, I have had a tendency to postpone it at the last moment, so that left me with little time to be more expressive. I don't think that writing a blog was a hassle but commenting on other's blog might have been at some point. I think the goal of replying to other's blog was to communicate with others and know other's point of view better. But, anyway it's a part of the assignment so no complaints!
In a nutshell, blog assignment should stay as a part of the course because it's easy, and a part of it could be like reading and commenting atleast 1 or 2 other blogs instead of 3 or 5 and I wish that the poem assignment was optional! ;)
I totally agree - at first I was a little iffy when he mentioned the blog assignment and it would be assigned so frequently as well as being worth so much but it turned out to be pretty fun and actually worth doing. Additionally, the blogs themselves didn't really help in the classroom when it came to communicating easily, like you said so I really agree with you on that one, but recognizing people from posts and then working with them in group activities definitely broke the ice a little more so that was good. :)
ReplyDeleteIt is great that professor did give us an easy and very attainable 20% of our grade through this blog, I do agree with you on the fact that there was a time restraint. This blog should have been a bit more easy by making no time restrictions.
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