What a great start to blogging and to our semester! Most everyone has figured out how to get their blog to me (check the sidebar to see if your blog is listed; if not, resend me the link). One benefit of communal blogging is the ability to look at other students' blogs as examples of what you might do in your own -- if you see something you want to learn to do, let me know and I can ask that student to share.
Sharing knowledge is one aspect of a successful learning community, and many of you noted that in your first in-class writings. In order to help the course progress, be a productive use of time, and not feel stagnant, many people noted the role of participation and communication. Many noted, also, how a classroom needs to facilitate a sense of openness and trust in order to encourage everyone to share their views without feeling judged. Here are a few guideline suggested by all of you for creating a positive classroom environment:
1. Agree that we can have productive debate and even disagreement about the concepts and ideas of the course, but resist targeting an individual or being dismissive of an individual's experience or perspective.
2. Agree to allow others to disagree with your ideas without feeling the need to shut down as an individual or even "win" the debate. Sometimes we can all learn simply through weighing various sides of an issue, without always agreeing.
3. Listen to others' perspectives, ideas, experiences -- try to learn from them as well as formulating your own response to them.
4. Keep a positive attitude, and show respect for all, even those you disagree with.
5. Keep discussion centered around relevant course topics instead of getting off topic and stalling the forward progress of the learning community -- wasting time in class is disrespectful to all who are here to learn.
In addition to these guidelines, I liked the ideas of what all of you intend to bring to the table in our learning community. Here is some of what you shared:
willingness to step out of comfort zone
patience
optimism
willingness to help others
honesty
empathy
enjoying working in groups
willingness to try new things
humor
collaborative spirit
willingness to ask questions
Week Two Blogging Assignments
(Complete in any order, but remember to label your entries 2A, 2B, 2I, 2V)
Blog A: What is most useful to you from this week's readings? What tips will you put into practice right away? What ideas were new to you or were most interesting to you and why? Use some direct quotes from this week's readings (and cite the articles they come from) and discuss what they mean to you and why they are important.
Blog B: College is very much about self-discovery, stretching yourself, trying new things, sometimes even reinventing yourself. This week, set one new goal for yourself that encourages you to try something different or work on something you want to change. For example, maybe you'd like to become a little less shy: set a goal for yourself to introduce yourself to someone new in each one of your classes this week. Or, maybe you have always thought about majoring in marine biology but aren't really sure about it: set a goal for yourself to find out a little about that major every day (go to the dept at scsu and talk to a faculty member there and get some info, talk to an junior or senior in that field, read up on that type of career, check out a marine biology book from the library and browse it, go to an aquarium or nature center or the beach and do some amateur marine biology on your own). Or, maybe you want to be more organized and on top of your homework: set a goal to put everything into your planner, set specific study times and stick with them, find a great place to study where you get a lot done, and finish everything at least the day before it's due.) In this Blog entry, write about your experience of trying something new. What did you decide to change and why? What goals did you set? How did it work out? What did you learn from this experience?
One last note: This week is New Student Convocation on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2013, at 1 p.m. in Lyman Center. I encourage you to attend, preferably with friends but by yourself is ok too. It can count as one of your Involvement Blogs, and is an easy way
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