Yeah, it’s a cheesy title, but we have made it this far. This semester has been an eye opener for me with this English course. I have always been “that guy” in class, the guy who doesn’t need to pay attention to lectures and never studies but still coasts by earning a B. But with this class I actually needed to open my book and pay attention. At first, I thought this was just a giant nuisance, especially with all the work that was required, but as the semester rolled on, I found that the work was not overbearing in nature; there is just a lot of work to be done in this class.
With the proper time management that I was able to figure out a few weeks in, the work became doable. And with the work that we did for the course came a sense of community with the other students as well as with Jennifer. We were instructed to comment on blogs and work together in groups on projects and correcting essays; and this brought a sense of community in the class that rivals and even surpasses “in class” classes at the college. The comments that were posted on the blogs were interesting. I never thought that people would actually want to read my rants on the topics at hand, but it turns out that many of the fellow students agreed with my opinions.
As I mentioned last week, I was never big on the self-confidence in my academic writing. But with all the positive feedback that I have received this semester with my blogs, essays, and group discussions, my confidence level has gone way up (falling somewhere just below overly-confident and cocky). I have learned that the weary felling that I feel as I write my essays and blogs does not show through to the reader, and the way that I present myself is actually confident with a strong view on many of the topics.
I have grown to like a few of my fellow students in an academic way. Many of them are in the same boat that I am; trying to get through the Associate’s Program here at AVC and possibly carrying on and continuing towards a Bachelor’s Degree in the future. Some of them seemed to have a firm understanding of how an online class normally works, but there were a few that had to learn on the fly. Fortunately, the students that have done this before were more than willing to help answer any tech questions relating to the layout of the course.
Some of the members of the class were able to show me some things about the music that I did not know before, and seeing different perspectives on a song or artist that I am already familiar with is always a good thing. With so much information being crammed in such a small window of time (which is normal for college courses), it was nice to be able to work together with other people and collaborate on the discussions and forums; get a new idea on an old topic. If the rest of my online classes were set up like this course, that would be fine by me. To all my fellow classmates for English 101- Congratulations, we made it to the other side!
PS- For all of those who wonder where I get my blog titles from, they are all song titles from my iTunes library. Most of them are even good songs.
Your blogs were always an interesting read! I'm not sure why you would feel self-conscious about them! You do present yourself in a very confident way. You know how you feel about your topic and you share your opinions.
ReplyDeleteI felt cautious about all of my writings, too, though; especially because there were some topics I had no previous opinions about or I really just wasn't familiar with the particular artist mentioned.
This was my first experience with Blackboard and at first, I was really stressed. I felt like I was the only one, but I'm realizing now that there were plenty of students who were confused, too.
I agree with you. The assignments really were not that crazy, but there was just a lot to do in the process of turning one in! The workload was a lot heavier than I had expected for an online class. I took this class thinking that it would be easy and doable for a busy schedule. Sometimes I felt just a little overwhelmed, though!
I liked your blog titles and I thought they were all very creative! That was a good idea!
Great job for sticking through it and congratulations! Enjoy your summer!
By the way, I saw your name on one of my friends' facebook posts and I was like "Hey, I recognize that guy!" We must have a mutual friend.
I commend you for making it this far, Michael. Without a doubt, we’ve all been struggling together through this course, and I’m proud that all of us here made it through. I’ve been following your blog since the start, I think, and it’s been a really interesting read- that’s the only reason I kept following your blog every week!
ReplyDeleteTime management was probably the biggest thing and I handled it really poorly the first 14 weeks (haha!). I have to agree the workload was pretty high in this class, but I’m not sure if it was because I kept procrastinating. I’m also really glad that you thought the blog was helpful, whether people responded to mine or not, I felt like it had its merits. I really liked the reading discussion forum above everything else, though.
It’s always important to respect other students’ opinions and perspectives on any subject, even more so when it’s something you share a passion in. I understand you have your own band; this course in English built upon music and its culture was sure to have been beneficial for you.
Once again, great job for hanging in there! I hope you have a great summer, Michael.
I definitely agree with you here! There was a lot of work to be done but it was all beneficial in the finish. I too have always been the girl that sits at the back of the class and can sleep through every lecture or just not show up and still get good grades. Everyone thinks I'm dumb because I am a cheerleader but I have really just never had to try but in this class was challenged. I couldn't guess through the reading question assignments and once I realized that the book had information I was interested in, I didn't WANT to skip through the reading, I was intrigued by the information provided in the text. I had never taken a full online class before so I ran into a few problems as far as how to get from place to place on the site itself but eventually I figured it all out. It was cool reading your opinions in your blogs. Congrats to all of us who made it all the way! Have a nice relaxing summer!
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