Williamson-like critique
Reflection on blogging:
I must say that it has been a great learning experience writing all the blog poss. Prior to this class, I didn't own a blogging account, either have I ever written a blog post. In the past, my friend had asked me to feature on her blog. She blogs about the different food she has eaten in the different countries she has visited. So, she wanted me to write a post about how to make this famous Nigerian stew called Ayamashe. I told her I was not sure I wanted to publish something where all her followers were going to have access to, so I kept sliding the conversation till she stopped asking.
This has changed because I am more confident about writing, and I wouldn't mind sharing my writing for her follower to read. I am going to surprise her before the end of the year (After finals!!!), and send her my submission so she can post it on her blog.
Like they say, practice makes perfect! I hope to challenge myself to read more and keep writing.
This week's prompt:
For the last blog post, I would be using the Williamson-like critique approach to review the class. For me, attendance is mandatory, even when the professor says it is optional. I feel it is one of my duties of being a student to actually go to class. My theory is that there would always be an important information sent out in class that I would miss if I do not go to class. In all, my behavior wouldn't have changed if the 5 points bonus was not offered. in respect to coming to class. The 5 point bonus made me happy because it felt like I was being rewarded for an act I would usually do. That is why it is always a plus for me when professors give extra credit for attendance or use attendance point as part of the grade. On the other hand, if we consider the other clause with the 5 point bonus, that is writing evaluations after class, my actions changed then. I am usually not the type of students to critique a class from the get-go unless I am required to it. That is, my behavior changed when we no longer received 5 points for class evaluation after a while. If I recall correctly, I did not write any more class evaluations. I made a comment on the excel homework, even though there was no bonus point involved. Although, I don't know how much impact my comment about how hard the excel homework was, I thought it would have been helpful to state it. People are motivated to work harder or take the extra step when there is an incentive involved. I believe this explains my attitude about not commenting on the class evaluation after the points were no longer offered. I still came to class regularly despite knowing that my absence or presence was not going to impact my grade in terms of attendance points.
Regarding using electronic device, I do not take notes on my laptop because I prefer handwritten notes. I tend not to take my laptop with me to class because it is a little tempting to read emails or browse through my upcoming homework in class if I have my laptop. I also think I have a guilty facial expression when I am not paying utmost attention to class materials when I have my laptop on. Generally, I think using electronic device during class can be distracting especially if one is finding it hard to understand the class discussion for the day. Yet, there are also students I know that strictly take notes on their laptops without doing anything else. Therefore, the use of electronic device among students is different.
In my opinion, discussion mode was more interesting and engaging than lecture mode. Sometimes, just listening to everyone share their opinions lightened up the class for a laugh which made it fun. Most of my other classes are discussion-heavy, so it was definitely nice using the horseshoe mode for discussions. I believe that discussion opens up for the freedom of sharing one's thoughts.
If I were to speculate what the class thought about not having electronic device throughout class, I would say that they did not like the restriction at first. Yet, after engaging in discussion mode, the electronic device no longer felt like a restriction. I would say people enjoyed fully participating especially when it is an interesting topic or something that we can all relate to. Considering that discussions were not for the entire 1 hour 20 minutes, it was not much of a big deal to pack up an electronic device and pay full attention for 30-45 minutes.
Above all, I dislike restrictions, and I did not feel like that for this class. I like that Professor Arvan gave the layaway time with soft deadlines and accessibility to electronic devices during lecture mode. 99.9% of my classes have strict deadlines, so this class was definitely very different in that aspect. I specifically took this class instead of Econ of the workplace because I felt like the concepts I would learn would be applicable in the workplace, and also for an MBA degree.
PS: I googled Economics of Organization, and one of the google searches that popped up was Organizational Economics organization at MIT, which happens to be a graduate course. Here is the Link
I must say that it has been a great learning experience writing all the blog poss. Prior to this class, I didn't own a blogging account, either have I ever written a blog post. In the past, my friend had asked me to feature on her blog. She blogs about the different food she has eaten in the different countries she has visited. So, she wanted me to write a post about how to make this famous Nigerian stew called Ayamashe. I told her I was not sure I wanted to publish something where all her followers were going to have access to, so I kept sliding the conversation till she stopped asking.
This has changed because I am more confident about writing, and I wouldn't mind sharing my writing for her follower to read. I am going to surprise her before the end of the year (After finals!!!), and send her my submission so she can post it on her blog.
Like they say, practice makes perfect! I hope to challenge myself to read more and keep writing.
This week's prompt:
For the last blog post, I would be using the Williamson-like critique approach to review the class. For me, attendance is mandatory, even when the professor says it is optional. I feel it is one of my duties of being a student to actually go to class. My theory is that there would always be an important information sent out in class that I would miss if I do not go to class. In all, my behavior wouldn't have changed if the 5 points bonus was not offered. in respect to coming to class. The 5 point bonus made me happy because it felt like I was being rewarded for an act I would usually do. That is why it is always a plus for me when professors give extra credit for attendance or use attendance point as part of the grade. On the other hand, if we consider the other clause with the 5 point bonus, that is writing evaluations after class, my actions changed then. I am usually not the type of students to critique a class from the get-go unless I am required to it. That is, my behavior changed when we no longer received 5 points for class evaluation after a while. If I recall correctly, I did not write any more class evaluations. I made a comment on the excel homework, even though there was no bonus point involved. Although, I don't know how much impact my comment about how hard the excel homework was, I thought it would have been helpful to state it. People are motivated to work harder or take the extra step when there is an incentive involved. I believe this explains my attitude about not commenting on the class evaluation after the points were no longer offered. I still came to class regularly despite knowing that my absence or presence was not going to impact my grade in terms of attendance points.
Regarding using electronic device, I do not take notes on my laptop because I prefer handwritten notes. I tend not to take my laptop with me to class because it is a little tempting to read emails or browse through my upcoming homework in class if I have my laptop. I also think I have a guilty facial expression when I am not paying utmost attention to class materials when I have my laptop on. Generally, I think using electronic device during class can be distracting especially if one is finding it hard to understand the class discussion for the day. Yet, there are also students I know that strictly take notes on their laptops without doing anything else. Therefore, the use of electronic device among students is different.
In my opinion, discussion mode was more interesting and engaging than lecture mode. Sometimes, just listening to everyone share their opinions lightened up the class for a laugh which made it fun. Most of my other classes are discussion-heavy, so it was definitely nice using the horseshoe mode for discussions. I believe that discussion opens up for the freedom of sharing one's thoughts.
If I were to speculate what the class thought about not having electronic device throughout class, I would say that they did not like the restriction at first. Yet, after engaging in discussion mode, the electronic device no longer felt like a restriction. I would say people enjoyed fully participating especially when it is an interesting topic or something that we can all relate to. Considering that discussions were not for the entire 1 hour 20 minutes, it was not much of a big deal to pack up an electronic device and pay full attention for 30-45 minutes.
Above all, I dislike restrictions, and I did not feel like that for this class. I like that Professor Arvan gave the layaway time with soft deadlines and accessibility to electronic devices during lecture mode. 99.9% of my classes have strict deadlines, so this class was definitely very different in that aspect. I specifically took this class instead of Econ of the workplace because I felt like the concepts I would learn would be applicable in the workplace, and also for an MBA degree.
PS: I googled Economics of Organization, and one of the google searches that popped up was Organizational Economics organization at MIT, which happens to be a graduate course. Here is the Link
In reverse order, thanks for the link. Yes, this could readily be a graduate class at the PhD level. And our textbook was for an MBA course. It is unusual to teach this as an undergrad class. In that regard it is outside the mainstream.
ReplyDeleteI don' know how much practical knowledge you will take away from this class for when you enter the world of work. My hope is that the class impacts your mindset more than that it gives you specific skills. So, for example, if your manager at work does something that you view as puzzling, now you may have some ways to work through why the action makes sense.
You are very diligent regarding attendance and doing the course, more so than your teammates. I would be interested to learn where that diligence comes from. For example, did your parents teach you this and require that of you. Elsewhere in the post you wrote that you dislike restrictions. For many students college is a time of rebellion of some sort, because before that there were so many restrictions. So not attending class might be done as an act of rebellion - not against the instructor in the class, but against the previous authority that the student experienced, either at home or at school. I don't know that, I'm just guessing here. But you seemed not to need that, at least as far as coursework in my class is concerned.
Regarding you comments about the class session evaluations, it is interesting to me because the activity is so minimal, especially if you are already online doing other things. It's just a couple of clicks away, and a sentence or two to type. That incentives do matter here reveals something, though I am not sure what. I will contrast this with the volunteer activities that I know you do. There is much more effort in that. So on the one hand, you are very generous with your time in participating as a volunteer, which on the other hand, as you said, you stopped commenting. Indeed, only one comment came in from the entire class after I dropped the bonus points for the surveys.
Your comments about electronic devices parallel what I've heard from other students. It seems that students didn't feel they missed something when we were in discussion mode.
I am glad I bought the class textbook because I know it is going to be a great reference. I enjoyed reading the Reframing Organizations by B&D a lot especially since its has a big content on teamwork and leadership. It was a great complement as class materials.
DeleteThis class has definitely given me real scenarios that i can apply to a job. Real life experiences are always great in helping one connect the dots to understand things well. I must say that I enjoyed you sharing your experiences as an administrative in the business department, as well as your experiences as a grad school at Northwestern.
Thank you. Most of it comes from my background while growing up. I attended a boarding school throughout my high school, and we had a scheduled timetable for each day. For example, we had to be out of the dormitory by 7am to eat breakfast, then attend classes by 8:30. We also had to be back in the dorm by 3pm to eat lunch and observe siesta. Then, we had free time for working out and leisure, till dinner. The last activity for the day was studying, and we had to be there at 7pm which was deemed as quite hours. I would say I learned a lot about myself; learning style and independence from boarding school. Violating these rules led to punishment from our matron who was responsible for taking care of us. After a while, following this timetable became a norm which I have carried on till today.
Thinking about it now, I agree the activity was so minimal. I think my main reason for not filling the class evaluations was because I wasn't sure how much my evaluations were going to matter since I probably wasn't going to add comments in the section. Even when we had bonus points, I rarely added additional comments unless something different happened in class. So, I think that was my reasoning behind it.
You have put many of the points I was trying to make in my blog post so eloquently and concise, unlike by regurgitating of words it takes for me to get a point across. I wish I was the type of student you are in regards to diligently attending class! You're also a very reliable classmate and I really have enjoyed getting to know you more from working together in class. When you read my blog post, you'll see that I'm not as diligent with attending class because it is so much more difficult for me to get out of bed, and I don't have the same drive you do. The extra credit for course evaluations and attending class would've definitely benefitted me if that was still offered for the entirety of the course.
ReplyDeleteRegarding taking notes, I prefer using the laptop if it is in class because I type faster than I write and I can more easily focus on absorbing the material. On the other hand, when it comes to studying for exams, I handwrite my notes quite extensively, so much so that for my last exam, I slept 13 hours continuously writing that after my exam and after the adrenaline wore off, my entire right side (hand/wrist/forarm/even my chest) was in pain for the rest of that night and the following day. But laptop and cellphone use in class is definitely distracting, even when it's other people so I agree with you there.
I also thoroughly enjoyed the discussion portion of the class and felt that it gave freedom to share and express thoughts and ideas. When I'm immersed in conversations like that, I too don't feel the need to go on my phone.
Lastly, I agree with you wholeheartedly that imposing restrictions in class takes away agency we have as adults to be responsibly for our own education. I think the soft deadlines this class gave us was one of the best ideas I've seen implemented in a learning environment because it puts emphasis on the actual learning part of our education rather than just making the points. In the real world, not everything is a hard deadline and there are plenty of situations that could arise where we need to be trusted as adults to get things done when they need to be done.