Semester Overview and Critique

What did you think about the blog assignment? Should I keep it, modify it, or get rid of it? Did you like writing papers in this format rather than the traditional way? Anything you would change, expand or reduce about the class?

I really enjoyed the blog assignment this semester in Organizational Communication. I thought that it was a more casual way to approach the class. For me it was easier to write the assignments without rigid guidelines and topics. The format of the questions made it more about expressing and applying what I have learned rather then restating it out of the textbook.

For future semesters, I would recommend keeping the blog because this was the first time I had ever been forced to work with Blogger. I learned a lot about posting on blogger and how to use other people’s sites as sources for additional information. I would modify some of the expectations though. For example, in my opinion, having an RSS feed is unnecessary for this type of site. If students are simply using it for a class, like we were, then there are probably not enough visitors to make having an RSS feed useful. However, this is a minor detail in the assignment. Overall, I the blog was a fun way to write the papers rather then turning them in following the traditional format.

For the class as a whole, I would change the structure of the classroom discussion. When everyone talked about various topics and points of interest, it was hard for me to always follow what was going on. The way I learn the best is through a bit more structure of the main points. However, it was interesting to hear what other people viewed as important points from the readings as compared to what I thought was important. The amount of readings and the blog questions were always very reasonable and neither overwhelming or too easy.

Overall, I really enjoyed Organizational Communication and the blog assignment throughout the semester. As I mentioned before, I would suggest keeping the blogs and changing only a few parts of the class including the discussion structure and the blog expectations. I hope to use some of the information I learned this semester as I begin working on my senior comprehensive project over the next few semesters.