eflection-ray (ahaha PIG LATIN)

Haha. Okay so I lied. One more little bit about what I learned through this wonderful blogging experience...

As a bit of background information, this blog was assigned to me as part of my summer school economics class (hence the whole economics&music shtuff). This blog was designed to connect the economic concepts of the course to a certain interest of ours. Through this connection, we were able to better understand economics through the application to something we know and love.

By applying the given economic terms and principles to one of my favorite things (music), I was able to learn in a way that was different than just copying and memorizing and quizzing and repetitively drilling the terms into my poor, unfocused mind that kicked into summer mode around June 25th only to recalibrate around September 7th or so. This was a totally new experience for me and yeah, I'll admit it, I was skeptical at first. To be quite honest, I've become so accustomed to the "old skool" way of learning through the textbook and lectures, taking tests, and writing essays, that it's just how I learn the easiest. It's all I've known. How is this blogging thing gonna really help me? How am I even gonna know what to do? What does my teacher expect from me and how will I be able to meet those expectations? That was the main question right there. I've found that I learn in a way that requires a lot of structure. Someone tells me what to do and how they want it done and, like the mindless little nerd-monkey that I am, I do it. But by using this blog, I've been exposed to a new way of thinking and learning which has really been of benefit to myself. I've learned to think outside of the box and learn how I want to learn. I'm no expert, but it's safe to say that I know quite a bit about music. At the beginning of this course, it was most definitely safe to say that I knew a heck of a lot more about music than economics. By using this knowledge and my interest in music, I was able to learn the topics in this course in a way that was convenient and understandable for me. While everyone else is able to learn by tapping into their interests such as reading and storytelling and computers and libraries and whatever, here I am, sitting at this computer in the sometimes 90 degree heat learning in my own way through something I'm interested in. How cool is that?

This is definitely a tool for learning that I hope that teachers will use and further develop in the future. As far as grading certain assignments through the blog...that's where it might get tricky. I'm not a teacher, so I can't say I quite understand how it's done. But I'm guessing that this might be an area to focus on developing. With every student working on a different topic and learning in their own way, is it possible to use the same grading system to fit each and every blog? I dunno...just a thought. But overall, this seems like something that would be of benefit to someone who doesn't learn well through the traditional textbook/lecture/notes learning style. How can you expect everyone to learn the same way when each and every person is so different? The phrase "deal with it" first came to mind when I was presented with this idea. But the more I got into this, the more I understood how this could help someone if they really wanted to learn and put the work into it. That's the key there...they have to want to learn and have to want to put the work into this. It would definitely be a whole lot easier to just sit here and take notes and memorize them for a test every week. But this assignment took some thought. And while it is a lot more laid-back and open, it still requires a lot of work. For someone who doesn't learn well in the traditional setting, this may be even more of a challenge for them. But in the end, I think it would be worth it. Instead of just setting the whole class free to blog about a given set of terms every day (which can get a tad monotonous...not gonna lie), I think engaging the students in a discussion about each other's blog (rather than just the "hey great job!" comments being left on a friend's blog) would be more productive and would really get the students to understand how they learn as well as how others are learning. Coming into a class, sitting down at a computer, and typing for an hour isn't really my idea of a class. I could do that at home. But it's what we do in class as a class that will tie this whole thing together.

So yay. That's my feedback/reflection/constructive comment/whatever. Hopefully this will inspire someone to get out there and start their own blog. It doesn't necessarily have to be for school or about economics. Just do whatever is of greatest interest to you. Who knows who you'll have commenting? But let's not be naive...no one may even comment at all. Think about how big the internet is and where your tiny itty bitty little blog fits into the big picture. The key is to get the word out...tell your friends! Get them to comment. You may not have some uber-genius-expert commenting on your topic of discussion, but maybe you'll have a few good friends offering their advice.

That is all :]