Reflections on Session 5

We are past the midpoint for this class. Aren't you glad there is no midterm? But it will be uphill from now on because major deliverables will be due in a few weeks.

I am getting a bit perturbed at how students are posting their contribution without looking at what has been posted before. I saw several duplicates in the discussion threads and among the mini-projects. Twice during this session, students even repeated something I had posted!

Hey, gang, this is not a correspondence class. It is supposed to be a graduate level course that emulates the exchanges in a real classroom. I would like students to come up with original submissions, thoughtful extensions to posted concepts or a critical analysis of what someone else has posted.

This is fair warning! Read the earlier posts before making your contribution. I really hate penalizing folks for this but I may have to resort to this.

Reflections on Sessions 3 and 4

Most of the students pulled through the first "hell week" for the course. Working on two sessions in one week is a major accomplishment! However, some students are slipping a bit -- not meeting the 100-word limit, duplicating current events postings, and not posting the article headline in the title. Fortunately, they posted early and were able to notice my feedback in time. They were able to correct their misdeed in time well before the 11:59 pm deadline. The morale is to check our site regularly.

There were very interesting next-generation telecommunications device. The trend was converged functionality, in a very small form factor, broadband wireless, and many students were intrigued with holographic image projection for some reason. Oh, yes, another trend was that many students are awful artists! I'm glad this is not an art class.

I remember when I was a kid there were matchbooks with offers to take drawing lessons by mail. I wonder if these companies are still around. Some of the students could use their services!

Reflections on Session 2

I am glad to see that we have an imaginative collection of students in the class. The diary assignment revealed that! Smart appliances, robots, flexible monitors, holographic classrooms, hydrogen-powered vehicles, automated climate control systems are just a few of the creative thoughts that came up.

One of my favorite sayings is "Imagination is more important than Knowledge." Reflect on that statement a few minutes because it is very profound. Without imagination, our society would not have advanced at all.

BTW, that saying came from Al...

P.S. Humor is also important!

Reflections on Session 1

This class seems to be really enthusiastic and knowledgeable. The students represent a broad spectrum of backgrounds --- from the military to high school educators. I like classes like these -- you get a wide range of perspectives. I predict a very stimulating class this semester!

I am glad that the students are cooperative about adhering to my plethora of rules (100-word limit, indicating who you are responding to, including the article heading in the current events posting title, etc.) I hate playing "gotcha!" but I have a reason behind my madness!

The postings look pretty good so far. Most of the students are applying critical thinking and analysis to the discussion question contributions. It's easy to copy and paste info, but graduate school is all about higher order thinking. The current events postings are on target! Feel free about posting podcast links.

As for the blogs, add a little more pizzazz with the addition of images, relevant links and (yes) even humor!