Traditional Final Prompt
Overall, I think I learned a lot through this course. The main thing I enjoyed about blogging and reflecting on material was that it required me to connect it to my own experiences. This was very different from other economics courses I have taken, including the foundational 102, 103, 202, 203, 302, and 303, and urban economics, the other 400-level course I have taken. By applying it to my own personal experiences, I think that the concepts and applications truly have stuck in my head in a more meaningful way. For example, in the beginning of the course, I reflected upon group dynamics in RSOs and other organizations, and I never really thought about what I was doing in that way. I hope this will make me a more effective group member and enable me to better understand these interpersonal connections. Personally, I found the triangle model prompt to be the hardest, for I felt that I did not have much experience with this layout. With the others, I think that I analyzed them in a much more in-depth version than I had before.
The class structure in this course was very different from other courses I have taken. Although lecture attendance is not mandatory for a lot of my classes, I think that students generally have higher incentives to go because lecture notes are not available in other places. In my statistics course, extra credit is randomly offered, so students really try to go to class more often. I think that not having mandatory attendance is not necessarily a bad thing. Students who have incentives to go will, and those who do not see value in class will not. For professors, this can be hard to plan around, but I think that this is not much different than other courses. For example, in my statistics course with 100 students enrolled, I think lectures have 20 people when attendance is not mandatory. I think that students are now adults and should make these choices of what they want out of their education.
Although I have done excel homework in other classes, blogging definitely was different from other courses. With economics classes, I usually have excel homework, and some form of a problem set or homework set due. This includes conceptual questions and math. Blogging was very different at first, and most of the time I felt that I was missing the main point or idea that the prompt was hinting towards. I think that we generally have set guidelines, and we know how to follow them. With blogging, there is much more room for error, but also much more room to apply the information in a creative way. After this semester, I feel that some of the concepts that I applied to my group dynamics truly stuck in my head, including gift exchange and future income risks. However, when I think back to macroeconomic theories, I truly do not remember ideas off of the top of my head like this.
For improving the course, I am not sure there is much to say. I do not think making attendance mandatory would necessary help with the structure; however, I do think it would help with a discussion-based course and more responses to socratic dialogue. I think this course introduces a lot of new ideas that are not only important with the theories and models we have seen, but also how one should act in multiple settings including the workplace and as a student. Also, I think if the blog posts had more structure, it would take away from the learning and understanding. Therefore, I think the general structure introduces the ideas well, but for more discussion, mandatory attendance would certainly help.
The class structure in this course was very different from other courses I have taken. Although lecture attendance is not mandatory for a lot of my classes, I think that students generally have higher incentives to go because lecture notes are not available in other places. In my statistics course, extra credit is randomly offered, so students really try to go to class more often. I think that not having mandatory attendance is not necessarily a bad thing. Students who have incentives to go will, and those who do not see value in class will not. For professors, this can be hard to plan around, but I think that this is not much different than other courses. For example, in my statistics course with 100 students enrolled, I think lectures have 20 people when attendance is not mandatory. I think that students are now adults and should make these choices of what they want out of their education.
Although I have done excel homework in other classes, blogging definitely was different from other courses. With economics classes, I usually have excel homework, and some form of a problem set or homework set due. This includes conceptual questions and math. Blogging was very different at first, and most of the time I felt that I was missing the main point or idea that the prompt was hinting towards. I think that we generally have set guidelines, and we know how to follow them. With blogging, there is much more room for error, but also much more room to apply the information in a creative way. After this semester, I feel that some of the concepts that I applied to my group dynamics truly stuck in my head, including gift exchange and future income risks. However, when I think back to macroeconomic theories, I truly do not remember ideas off of the top of my head like this.
For improving the course, I am not sure there is much to say. I do not think making attendance mandatory would necessary help with the structure; however, I do think it would help with a discussion-based course and more responses to socratic dialogue. I think this course introduces a lot of new ideas that are not only important with the theories and models we have seen, but also how one should act in multiple settings including the workplace and as a student. Also, I think if the blog posts had more structure, it would take away from the learning and understanding. Therefore, I think the general structure introduces the ideas well, but for more discussion, mandatory attendance would certainly help.
We talked about general human capital at the start of the semester. In that vein, I wonder if you might try making those personal connections in your other courses, whether you do that by writing a journal about a class, so imitate our blogging approach, or you simply spend some reflective time thinking to make those connections. It should make your learning deeper, as a general rule, and you might also enjoy it more as a result.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it surely will be the case that you won't have relevant experience in many instances. This is why you need to learn beyond your direct experience and why I was somewhat disappointed when you said in class one day that you don't do much pleasure reading. It is conceivable to me that watching serious movies can be a substitute and maybe serious discussion programming as well. (I'm not going to define what serious means in this context, but I hope you get my drift.) But I'm for taking a varied approach to these things rather than rely only on one medium. Clearly you can't know everything. There is too much information to master for that. But you can have your fingers in several different things and that way go well beyond your own direct experience.
I want to note one other thing. This is why we need both the math modeling and the the narrative story telling approaches. The math modeling alone gives a certain precision, which can provide elegant insights into situations but also abstracts from many things, which might prove important. The story telling enables some confrontation with complexity. Real word problem solving is messy. There typically aren't pure solutions. And if you're honest you have to compromise with whatever approach is taken. But you can make progress that way and it helps to have the story telling part consider both the complexity and the progress that is being made.
I think that is a good point. I definitely would learn my course materials in a much more meaningful way if I did something like blog or write in detail about what I am learning. Next semester I will be studying abroad in Spain, and although my semester will be very different from a typical one at Illinois, one personal goal I have is to journal every day to remember what I learned, in class and about the culture. I think this will be a good way for me to reflect on this experience and actually understand my own personal growth throughout the semester. Now, when I am looking back at Fall 2019, I remember some major parts including interviews or a particularly memorable day with friends, but when I think of what I did on a daily basis, it really is hard to reflect. I think this is in part due to how busy college students are, but also, I think it is important to reflect on all the lessons I learn in a semester.
DeleteI agree -- there are so many lessons and ideas that cannot be seen in our very own lives. My friends who love to read always tell me that when you read it just takes you to a different world. Every time I try to I have difficulty focusing and being engaged in the material, but maybe this break when I have more spare time I will try to find a book that genuinely interests me.
I think that is a good point: math modeling does not completely explain a situation, nor does the storytelling. I did like that this course emphasized the importance of both parts, the qualitative and quantitative aspects.