Weekly Writing & Blogs

https://docs.google.com/document/d/17Ixx3Z2fxy7q4jsGYN3zgQ4BaT6bfz-WT17rtJi-nNU/edit?usp=sharing

Students don’t spend enough time preparing for their classes, requiring students to study outside the classroom will overall benefit their academic quality at college. Students using online resources, starting studying groups, using other resources, and just overall studying will preform better in their classes.

Problem: A problem at I see occurring a lot at WCU is the extreme variation in classes. I understand that professors have different ways of teaching materials but the amount of out of projects/ homework given in a class should reflect that amount of work. Too many professors at WCU give too much or not enough assignments that don’t justifice the material talked about in class. 

Solution: Classes that are not directly impacts the students major should not exceed the amount of out of class work than the classes that do. Also classes that do impact the major should be giving the student more opportunities to learn and research the material in class by giving more work.

1. This will relieve stress on students that worry so much about classes that they do not even care about.
2. This will make students focus more on their major of choice and the topics they are interested in. 
3. This will help the professors as well because now they do not have to worry about assigning pointless work to students who are not even interested in the materials. 
4. It is also no longer taking away from the students who want to learn and from students whose is that  major

Sean Redding

WRT120

                                                                                Project #3 Proposal

Problem: Too often students have to sit through classes that they don’t care about, and or pay attention when not in the mood to learn. Students with ADD and ADHD suffer the most, not being able to sit through lectures without spacing out. AT WCU students are expected to sit through lectures and try to retain everything a professor says, then get tested on if they were paying attention during those lectures.

Solution: I believe that if WCU were to enforce more interactive classes and have students take part in the reverse classroom concept. This will allow students to be invested in the class rather than spacing out and missing information. Student will learn/teach in their own ways and get graded accordingly.

1. Allow students to teach themselves in a way that is beneficial to them since every person is different.
2. This would support both Percy and Freire theories on letting students take charge of their education
3. Having more interactive classes rather than lectures would keep students involved rather than zoning out and not retaining information just being told to them.
4. Students with mental health issues retaining to attention will allow students to learn and grasp more concepts hands on.

Problem: Education is evolving at a faster rate than professors can keep up with. As new curriculum and methods are being created and implemented, long time professors struggle to keep up with or adapt to the new methodologies, rather than the traditional lecturing towards a passive audience.

Solution: Have younger and newer professors help the older and more long time professors learn the new methodologies and help them to implement them into the classroom.

Effects:

• This will create a more open and inclusive classroom environment where students will feel more free to express their opinions in a way that contributes to the learning, instead of allowing themselves to simply be lectured at.
• Education will be more uniform across the University because professors will all be using very similar methods in their classrooms
• Both younger and older professors will benefit and have a learning experience of their own learning the new methods from younger professors and a more classical approach from the older ones
• Students will want to be more engaged in classroom discussions because the professors are no longer just lecturing towards the students and are rather more open to student ideas

Sean R, tim D, Jake D, Jake H, Rabi, 

Topic: experience with the previous discussion group

The location for the discussion groups were not always convenient. People talk because sometimes people do not talk in the classrooms. It makes it more comfortable for people talk. Sometimes topics were lame but if they were interesting people would actually relate to them. These discussion groups really helped with writing the projects. It was a different environment than the class so it was more interesting. The discussion groups were not just like the other classes so it was interesting. Students were able to talk to each other even the students who are shy to talk in the classrooms talked during the discussion groups. The reflection for the discussion groups were also beneficial because writing about the discussion groups later made it more sense. These discussion groups also helped with the writing projects. They gave more ideas and people shared their ideas with each other. Students could work on the writing projects during the class time on friday.

Members: Bella B & Michael T

I lead this week’s discussion group and we talked about whether the discussion groups helped enhance our learning experience outside of the classroom or not. We all agreed that the discussion groups did help enhance our learning outside the classroom, but that there’s ways we could improve upon the effectiveness of how groups are run.

We said that the groups should have more structure than they do now, because not everyone leads groups the same way. Because no one leads groups the same, not everyone might be getting the most out of these discussion groups as they should. Some groups don’t discuss the topics in depth as much as they could or should, so having a more structured guideline to follow on how to lead groups would be helpful to make the time spent outside of class more effective. Overall, we felt that group discussions were helpful to our learning experience if they were done right, but having it set up in a way to ensure the learning experience is maximized would make them more worthwhile.

Jake x2, Tim, Sean, David, Rabi, Jason

Discussion groups have been hit or miss. Some are interesting, some are not. The biggest thing that impacts the discussion groups are the amount of people that actually share. I believe that sometimes people made it incredibly short as in the leaders only having the discussions for about 5 minutes or less. Good leaders are a vital for the discussion groups. Most of the time people never talk or share anything which I find very disappointing. I always do my best to try and get people to talk and I feel as if times I talk too much during them due to the lack of communication that occurs. The topic of the discussion is also incredibly important. It needs to be a topic that people feel comfortable in talking about. Topics that are more relatable or engaging allow students to be able to give more input. I have really enjoyed the process of these discussion groups. I feel with some more tweaks they could be such a huge benefit to learning in future classes.

My overall experience with the discussion group was positive and helpful. Being able to converse with other students was definitely a positive aspect to discussion groups, as I was able to hear other student’s input and thoughts on the topics. Hearing others opinions and feelings on certain topics was enlightening and allowed me to see things from another perspective. While I did enjoy the overall experience of the discussion group, I would like to add that some of the topics were not as interesting as others, therefor there were times where it would be hard to connect to others and hold a conversation about said topics. Other than that, my overall experience with these discussion groups has been positive and I believe that the concept of a discussion group is extremely enlightening and helpful to all that take part in it due to the fact that everyone is able to hear other opinions and viewpoints of important topics.

Group Members: John, Emily, Mikayla, Julia, Haley, Mimi, Maura 

In this discussion group we discussed whether discussion groups are a waste of time or not. I think that they are a waste of time, but with more structure they could be more beneficial. The discussion groups are not led properly sometimes. Also, there is a lack of participation and when there is it is usually something that was already discussed. The discussion groups have the potential to become better than they are. Although the discussion groups allow for a change of scenery and make it so that you are not just stuck in a classroom, they are not as organized and put together as they could be. We talked about how students do not seem to try their best and put forth effort when it comes to these discussion groups. Sometimes the leader will not talk as much as they should, which leads to others taking charge. Also, sometimes the discussions are too short and end in like 5 minutes. 

Kira A, Mike T, and Bella B

In our discussion group, we discussed how the groups are very beneficial to learning outside of the classroom. These discussions allow students to really develop a better understanding of the content material and challenge their own ideas. It also allows students to meet other students and get to engage with their peers in a comfortable setting.  The one thing I would change, if anything, is the organization of the entire process. The blog site was a very helpful way for every class to communicate with each other. However, when leaders posted their what they wanted to discuss and when, they usually didn’t do it until late Wednesday night and that made it difficult to plan which group you would be attending. In addition to that, when people would go to groups, they wouldn’t actually discuss. They would go collect the names and then leave. In theory, these groups work really well. However, in practice, they are a waste of time and a thing that makes me wake up early. 

Leader: Timothy

Followers: Sean, Rabbi, Jake D, Jake H, Jason,

In this weeks discussion group, we talked about our experiences with past discussion groups and what could be changed to better them. We also talked about what puts a negative or incomplete feel to them. Honestly this weeks discussion group was the most interesting because for once everyone could actually be honest with their own opinions and not have to talk about a topic or essay they really didn’t understand or care for. I believe this to be true and we can all gain something from this. The discussion groups are a great way for students to control their own grades by their efforts and their own time to become more mature and connect with other students out of class. But the topics and material discussed had very little connection to the students and therefore was hard to actually hold a conversation or debate to where everyone felt the need to be engaged. I do believe discussion groups are a good idea for students to continue to better themselves and push each other but the material discussed needs to change in order for true learning.

Sean R

David H

Jake D

Jake H

Jason R

Rabi

Timothy

              In our discussion group we talked about our experiences with our past discussion groups, the good and also the bad ones; and also what made them good and bad. Some things that made them good discussion groups are when everyone joins in on the conversation, so it makes it easier to write about, also when the topic is interesting to everyone, this makes for a more comfortable setting and also makes it easier to write about. Some things that make it bad is when people show up and no one really talks and it is just awkward; this makes it hard to write and it just turns into my own thoughts rather then the thoughts that went around in our discussion group. Some people talked about bad experiences they had where the location of the group was a bit un clear and so it was hard for them to find the group so maybe students can be a little more clear on where the group will be held.

Group: Sean R, David H, Jake D, Jake H, Jason R, Rabi, Timothy

In this discussion group we talked about our experiences with the discussion groups to see what was the best ways of conducting a discussion group and what were ways which negatively impacted the purpose of the discussion group. We talked about how the topics were always lame. I don’t really agree with this point but the other members did. We talked about how awkward silences kind of kill the discussion group and is very discouraging for the leader. It makes them feel like people don’t care about it. We also talked about how if you have a good discussion group then it allows for everyone to interact and become friendly with one another. It allows for friends to be made all while doing something easy in order to get an A. We all believe that this is the easiest thing that we have done in college. The only down side that I see is actually going to it. Outside of that, its good to interact. We all enjoy how the semester went with these discussion groups because it is also a big part of their grade and it’s simple enough to not have to think about what is going to happen.

I tried to attend the 1:00pm discussion group with Adam Griffin. No one was there and the leader did not attend the discussion.

Topic: Have the discussion groups helped you get a better understanding of what we we’ve learned in the classroom? 

In me and Seamus’s discussion on the topic “have the discussion groups helped you get a better understanding of what we have learned in the classroom. Our opinions were very similar, we both agreed that the discussion groups are a very good idea because they give the students a chance to interact with other classmates to analyze and discuss the readings we have done in class to better understand what the true meaning of what the readings are. But we also agreed this is only acquirable if everyone in the group participates in the discussion and gives an opinion. Without good statements and opinions there is nothing to discuss and obtain information from. So in order for these discussion groups to be beneficial we have to start participating much more in them and not just attend them.

Group:Seamus Corkery, David MacMullen

Topic: Did you think the discussion groups helped enhance your learning experience outside the classroom? If so why and if not, what are some ways you think we could improve upon the way group discussions are run?

When and where: Friday 11/22 @ 11 am at Sykes Lobby
*I’m stupid and didn’t put the day of the week in my other post so this is the actual one I’m hosting!