I’m in this IET class with a long history of writing many essays — some were successful, some not so successful. For me, the success wasn’t just in the grade or having the professor understand my level of comprehension and critical thinking around a topic. The success was me being able to organize existing ideas, combine them with my own, and produce a piece that was thought provoking to my audience. At times, this audience was small, but at others, it was quite large. Those essays that were not successful were generally on topics that I was not invested or interested in. My point is that I think there are a variety of educational activities (from essays to podcasts to youtube videos) that are in the hands of the learner, regardless of what an instructor’s intentions are. What is sometimes difficult for a learner is finding and utlitizing the flexibility in any assignment that allows him/her learn best.

When I have spoken to past professors about taking this course, I have explained the community, teaching styles of you and George, the assignments and the structure of the course and have, in response, gotten a lot of, “You? Really? Taking a course like that? How’s that going for you?” I must have a reputation for needing lots of definition in my learning. (In college, having readings TBD would have made me incredibly anxious — not so much now, however.) I will be the first to admit that I have been challenged in this course and though I expected a challenge in a lot of areas, I wasn’t expecting my learning style to be challenged quite as much as it has been and that has been a really refreshing thing.