Connect Four: A Look Back
In looking back at my four "real" blog posts (discounting the post about my economists and the test post, of course), I haven't really noticed a lot in terms of themes. I like to tell stories, and I definitely like to infuse humor into those stories, but I've really tries to be varied in terms of the experiences and the settings of the blog posts. Outside of primarily involving organizations, there aren't a lot of recurring connections.
In terms of class material, however, I've noticed that the topic of management appears in most of them, and not just the one where the prompt specifically asks about it. In Transaction Costs and Organization in the World of Music, I discussed an RSO's free-form management style. Despite having an official president, virtually every single decision was done as a group of equals which had its own pros and cons. In Opportunism in the Workplace, I lamented my former boss's invisibility. In Sale Team Six, the week where we were to discuss hierarchies and structures, of course I discussed how my sales job was structured. Honestly, this was not intentional. I think that management is something I think about a lot, as someone who wants to go into project management after graduation, and so it appears a lot in the way I assess past experiences with organizations.
I don't think my process for writing these posts has evolved much. I like to do some writing in my free time, so I'm already familiar with my own processes for writing a story. I will say, however, that writing these blogposts has caused me to assess my experiences in a way that relates to the course even outside of writing blogposts. Sometimes I will tell a story and notice that concepts like opportunism and transaction costs make appearances, even though I did not intend it. This forms a sort of feedback loop where the blogging improves my ability to relate stories to course material, thus improving my blogs. I don't think it has been super noticeable in just the past four blogs, though.
If I were writing the prompts, I might want to make them a little bit more specific. Sometimes I have trouble deciphering what exactly is desired for a certain blogpost and then feel frustrated when I am told I did not properly respond to the prompt. I feel like this concern would be alleviated with a rubric for the blogging. Although this may appear to restrict creative freedom, I would feel more confident writing a creative blog if I already knew that I was properly assessing the prompt.
In terms of class material, however, I've noticed that the topic of management appears in most of them, and not just the one where the prompt specifically asks about it. In Transaction Costs and Organization in the World of Music, I discussed an RSO's free-form management style. Despite having an official president, virtually every single decision was done as a group of equals which had its own pros and cons. In Opportunism in the Workplace, I lamented my former boss's invisibility. In Sale Team Six, the week where we were to discuss hierarchies and structures, of course I discussed how my sales job was structured. Honestly, this was not intentional. I think that management is something I think about a lot, as someone who wants to go into project management after graduation, and so it appears a lot in the way I assess past experiences with organizations.
I don't think my process for writing these posts has evolved much. I like to do some writing in my free time, so I'm already familiar with my own processes for writing a story. I will say, however, that writing these blogposts has caused me to assess my experiences in a way that relates to the course even outside of writing blogposts. Sometimes I will tell a story and notice that concepts like opportunism and transaction costs make appearances, even though I did not intend it. This forms a sort of feedback loop where the blogging improves my ability to relate stories to course material, thus improving my blogs. I don't think it has been super noticeable in just the past four blogs, though.
If I were writing the prompts, I might want to make them a little bit more specific. Sometimes I have trouble deciphering what exactly is desired for a certain blogpost and then feel frustrated when I am told I did not properly respond to the prompt. I feel like this concern would be alleviated with a rubric for the blogging. Although this may appear to restrict creative freedom, I would feel more confident writing a creative blog if I already knew that I was properly assessing the prompt.
Let me reiterate to you, and if I remember I will do it to the class as a whole next week, that your are free to write to your own topic of choice as long as you can relate it to what the class is doing. So if you feel that the prompt is imprecise or overly constraining, try something else.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand I mean these to be exploratory - formative thinking about ideas we are considering. A little vagueness might be an advantage in this case. It gets you to ask the clarifying questions in the post, if you are willing to do so.
Your comment about rubrics is interesting. They are very popular in other writing classes. I resist them for a few reasons. They suffer from what is called a right censoring problem. To illustrate, let's that there are 5 rubric categories and each category is then rated on a 5 point scale with 1 the lowest performance and 5 the top performance. Now we have to ask what counts for a 5. Is it what a good student produces, what an expert on the subject produces, or something else? If you save it for an expert on the subject now you hardly give out any 5's at all and really what you have is a 4 point scale. If you make make it what a good student produces, then it really doesn't distinguish a great student effort. There is no reward for going beyond merely good. So I believe rubrics encourage mediocrity.
On the other hand, I think showcasing student posts that are well done is a good idea. If you feel one of your teammates has done a bang up job, you should note that. Likewise they should note the same if you've done something really excellent.
Maybe we should have a class "hall of fame" for posts that other students regarded as interesting and well done. It's a different way to give recognition for good performance than to give points for it. Recognition is usually a good thing, though sometimes it can embarrass the recipient.
I want to note one other thing, which I believe I said earlier in the semester. Your primary goal in writing these posts is to please yourself. You need to develop a sense of taste about these matters. If you're way off about the economics, of course I will comment about that. More than likely, that won't be the issue from here on out. A much bigger deal is whether you are making obvious connections between your experience and course topics of you go about these things as if you're right censored and aiming for a 4 on a 5-point scale. Aim for a 6 or 7, but have fun with it. That's where the learning really is.
I get what you mean about the rubrics, and it totally makes sense to not want to limit the quality and content of any given blog post with a point cap. However, when I write a post, I try to assess what is needed and go from there. The better an idea I have of what is needed, the more of the post I can devote to something creative. If I am very unclear about what I need to write to receive points, then I will write a lengthy, mediocre post that covers all the bases to ensure I fulfill the base requirements. This may not be the same for everyone, but this is how I personally tend to do posts in classes that use blogs.
DeleteI think it's funny how economics terms creep into areas outside of class. On one hand it's useful to have a wide arsenal of words have terms to describe situations, but on the other sometimes they sound a bit clunky. Overall though, they really transfer well into describing pretty much any situation.
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