Final Blog
In regards to the first rule, I only have two classes that does require attendance and they are Business and Technical Writing (BTW) 250 and ECON 198. BTW 250 is about professional writing as a “business analyst trainee” at a fictional consulting firm and assignments in BTW 250 are memos, business letters, and reports. ECON 198 meets only four times a semester, the first Wednesday of every month, and missing one class puts you at risk of failing the entire course. I despise both courses for different reasons. For BTW 250 lectures focuses entirely on explaining the layout of the next assignment that is due. Over the course of the lectures the feeling I get is similar to that of playing a game with a young child who keeps on making up rules as the game progresses. The assignments are unnecessarily complicated as I likely have multiple windows open to reference the notes for the assignment, the assignment email from my fictitious boss Alex Nazdrovia, the assignment’s Wiki page, google tabs, etc. The assignment notes, the boss’s email, and the Wiki page are inconsistent with each other hence the need to have all of them open. I dislike BTW 250 mandatory attendance because I think I will likely never use most of this class’ material after the course finishes. For ECON 198, I dislike the mandatory attendance for lectures because the lectures go over extremely basic topics like how to write a resume, LinkedIn, cover letter writing, it just feels like a waste of time to attend lectures. I think mandatory attendance is unnecessary in college courses because at this point in a student’s educational career they are old enough to understand their actions and should be able to make the decision of whether or not to attend class. I stopped attending class because the dialogue we had during lecture did not help me connect with the material in blog posts or excel homework. If anything, the dialogue only confused me more as it was very unclear to me how our discussions related to the material. I think this rule affected the class in a similar fashion as the majority of students stopped showing up to class shortly after the semester began.
For the second rule regarding soft deadlines, I really like this rule as it eases the amount of stress I have because of my courses. Sometimes I forget to check the calendar or mix up due dates. The soft deadlines gave me room for error and allows me to complete assignments at a more convenient time. For the concept quizzes and excel homework, I would attempt to complete them on the set deadline as they are relatively straightforward but would always leave the blog posts until Sunday because writing is very difficult for me. I do not know when my classmates complete their quizes or homework. I think the majority of blog posts are posted by Sunday afternoon. With this, I believe the class is appreciative of soft deadlines as they provide room for error.
If I were to modify these rules to produce better outcomes, for the first rule about non-mandatory attendance I would not make any changes to the rule itself. I believe the low attendance rate is due to the in class dialogue being unclear as to how it relates to the week’s material. I stopped showing up to class because the class dialogue was not helping me to understand the material better. I think a mix of the dialogue the class has now with how lectures are regularly taught at UIUC with a slide show will improve class attendance. The slideshow would remind students of what is being discussed/provide a point of reference to the material while the dialogue will keep the students engaged. For the second rule, I would make it more clear as to when the soft deadlines end or when an assignment absolutely has to be completed by. I like how the quizzes where completing them before the written deadline gives you five points extra credit otherwise you only get the points you earned. All college students like extra credit.
For the second rule regarding soft deadlines, I really like this rule as it eases the amount of stress I have because of my courses. Sometimes I forget to check the calendar or mix up due dates. The soft deadlines gave me room for error and allows me to complete assignments at a more convenient time. For the concept quizzes and excel homework, I would attempt to complete them on the set deadline as they are relatively straightforward but would always leave the blog posts until Sunday because writing is very difficult for me. I do not know when my classmates complete their quizes or homework. I think the majority of blog posts are posted by Sunday afternoon. With this, I believe the class is appreciative of soft deadlines as they provide room for error.
If I were to modify these rules to produce better outcomes, for the first rule about non-mandatory attendance I would not make any changes to the rule itself. I believe the low attendance rate is due to the in class dialogue being unclear as to how it relates to the week’s material. I stopped showing up to class because the class dialogue was not helping me to understand the material better. I think a mix of the dialogue the class has now with how lectures are regularly taught at UIUC with a slide show will improve class attendance. The slideshow would remind students of what is being discussed/provide a point of reference to the material while the dialogue will keep the students engaged. For the second rule, I would make it more clear as to when the soft deadlines end or when an assignment absolutely has to be completed by. I like how the quizzes where completing them before the written deadline gives you five points extra credit otherwise you only get the points you earned. All college students like extra credit.
I'm surprised that you are taking Econ 198. Is this your first semester on campus? If not, how were you able to put off taking it previously?
ReplyDeleteI wonder if in any of your classes, including ones you didn't mention in this post, you go beyond the required coursework and try to understand things at a deeper level, because the subject matter interests you. Likewise, I wonder if you study some things that are outside of any course you are taking, again because the subject matter interest you.
Then I should ask whether there are courses you are enjoying. The ones you mentioned in the post clearly don't fit that. Are there other courses you've taken or are taking now that do fit?
I am taking ECON 198 this semester because I transferred into UIUC my junior year Fall 2018 - Spring 2019 as a Math major and became a Econ major this semester Fall 2019. Prior to UIUC, I first attended Willamette University (WU) in Salem, OR then had to transfer to a community college in Chicago for me second year because of financial constraints. I am trying to graduate by Spring 2020 as UIUC is not for me.
DeleteI have only taken three courses that interested me. Calculus I, Calculus II, and this course on ancient Greek mythology where we read the Iliad and the Odyssey. All three of these courses were at my first college, WU, and I think part of the reason why I took an interest in these courses was because the professors were engaging and made the material interesting and understandable. They were difficult but I got enjoyment out of them.
At UIUC, I have not found a course that I became interested in. I think this has to do with the extremely large class sizes and instructors that seem to be detached and just going through the motions of teaching without interest or consideration for how the class is reacting to their style of teaching.