Welcome to the BIOL 2103H, Concepts in Biology, a course taught by Dr. Peggy Brickman in Spring 2018. Course Syllabus (PDF).
Blog Posts (Reflections Related to Field Trips & Activities)
Almost every week during the semester, you’ll create and publish a blog post as a response to one of our field trips or your research activities (~100-300 words). I want to use these reflections to help inform me about what worked and didn’t. So I really want your honest appraisal of the experience. This includes your describing your initial expectations, your experiences, and any impact this had on your learning. I will help provide prompts, but the general structure will be answering four questions:
- What: Described the experience: What happened? What did you do, see, hear, touch, say? Who was there? What was your role? What was expected?
- Gut: What was your emotional response? What surprised, pleased, frustrated, angered you?
- So What: What was useful about the experience? What skills did you apply, or new skills did you acquire? What skills or knowledge did you lack? How does what you learned relate to your prior ideas?
- Now What: What will you do or not do as a result of your experience? What were your insights? What did you learn? How can you best use/apply what you’ve learned in the future?
(TIP! I find it helpful to write my posts in a word processing program, edit them there, and then paste them into the “add new posts” screen on the class blog.)
Characteristics of a great class blog post
- Strong class blog posts focus on a specific problem, issue, connection, or question. They offer and analyze examples, going beyond what we’d get from a superficial reading or examination. They consider the possible implications of what they have found, making it clear why their topic deserves our attention. They represent significant thought, but they also solicit further thought and engagement.
Characteristics of a useful blog comment
- A useful comment engages with the content of a classmate’s post intelligently. It can be short, but shouldn’t be dismissive or flippant—or offer empty praise. What did you find compelling in the original post (and why)? What seems useful? What raised further questions for you? How would you add to, enrich, or modify some of the points made by your colleague’s post.
(Blog characteristics lifted from Richard Menke, UGA English Professor extraordinaire!)