What are your final impressions of the Colloquium?
Mostly, I am glad this class is over. There was an overwhelming amount of work and time spent on this course. This was a difficult course when you work fulltime and are taking additional classes as well. I still feel like this course is a bit paternalistic of the university system in that the school thinks it is best for me to know something and therefore, requires me to take this course, which is not directly related to my major or career field. I do feel like the course improved my critical thinking skills. I do feel that this course helped to revive my appreciation for the beauty and wonder of nature. I do feel like this course made me more aware of my personal responsibility and civic duty help preserve the environment. This course brought up a lot of problems that currently exist in the environment; but not very many solutions. It felt like the main purpose of this course was to make students aware of the current problems and then try to inspire them to want to work for change.
What changes would you make to the course?
I would not have assignments that require students to learn new computer skills in order to complete the course. It is reasonable to expect students to know how to maneuver Angel and to know basic computer programs such as Word, Excel, Power Point, etc. It is reasonable to expect students to know how to search articles and information on the World Wide Web. To me, it is not reasonable to expect students to know how to create a blog or a wiki site. I have never had an occasion to “zip” documents or make pictures “smaller” in order to upload them prior to taking this class (and this is my last semester at FGCU and all of my classes have been online). I did not know how to do this and had to get help in order to accomplish the task. There is a lot of pressure just to complete the assignments and do well on the projects without throwing in the added stress and confusion of trying to figure out how to “do” the assignment in a blog or a wiki site. There were many occasions where I spent hours of time trying to figure out how to upload a picture, or a video, or a sound clip and simply could not figure out how to do it. This is not a computer class.
Also, I do not think it is fair to “require” students to do service learning hours when they have already completed the number of service hours “required” by FGCU in order to graduate. I was told by the Legal Studies professor that I could only take this Colloquium class in the year that I planned to graduate – so this is the last semester. I had already completed all of the service learning hour requirements prior to taking this class. Then when I get this class – I learn I am required to work ten more service learning hours. If a student has already completed the number of service learning hours required by the university to graduate – then the requirement for ten additional service learning hours for this class should be waived for that student.
What assignments would you keep or discard?
I would keep the writing assignments (Papers 1 and 3) because they require critical thinking and organization and comprehension of the material presented. I do not agree with the “peer review” of the draft of the paper. I do not feel qualified to “judge” or “critique” another student’s paper – because I am a student myself. I would discard the peer review part of the writing assignment.
I think the field trips should be an option to choose and also have the option (if you cannot go on field trips) to write papers about nature preserves, swamps, farms, etc. Or, field trips could be “extra credit.” In my particular case – I had surgery on both of my feet and could not walk very much and could not drive – so in order to complete the field trip assignments, I had to arrange for someone to drive me there and had to walk the terrain (which was against my doctor’s orders). None of my previous classes had required field trips – so I was not concerned with scheduling the feet surgeries during a semester – actually thinking since I would be spending more time at home, I would have more time to do my schoolwork. Also, in order to go on the field trips and do the service learning hours for the final project – I had to cancel or change things in my schedule. When people work fulltime and have a family – it is not always easy to come up with the additional time to go on field trips and work volunteer hours.
I like the discussion board assignments. I always learn a lot from the other students from their ideas and postings.
I would keep the “journal” idea to chronicle things we have learned and experienced in this course, but I don’t think it should be required to be in a blog format. A written journal could be kept and uploaded instead of a blog.
I would discard the wiki assignment and the group work related to it. Group work is difficult unless everyone in the group works together and works hard. It is not fair for other people (in a group) to have an impact on my grade – when I have no control over the actions of the other people. I don’t understand why we need to create a wiki page. Most of my classes in Legal Studies caution us not to use wiki as a source for any assignments. I really did not understand the “point” of the wiki assignment.
I did not like the assignment to interview your grandparents. Not all college students are young people. I am 55 years old and my grandparents and parents are dead. I find it a little embarrassing at my age to have to interview someone for a school assignment.
What readings did you like or dislike and why?
I really liked reading A Land Remembered. It was an interesting book with a very good story. I feel like it helped me to learn a lot about the history of Florida and having been to the Everglades on previous occasions, it brought the Everglades to life in my mind. The State of the World book was interesting; however, it seemed biased to me in the way it was written. I thought that the articles by Dewey, Low and Orr were difficult to read and difficult to understand. I had to re-read them several times to get the “gist” of the message. The single spaced two column pages in landscape format made it hard to read.
What suggestions for activities or field trips do you have?
I think that finding and summarizing current newspaper or magazine articles about the environment or sustainability would be something that could be added. As far as field trips, I think there should be more inclusion of animals as part of the environment in the curriculum. Perhaps a visit to a sea turtle habitat or beach or zoo with “natural habitat” exhibits or animal sanctuary. I think it would be interesting to have people write about places in nature they visited in the past or as a child that they remember as special. Or, I think you could even write about national parks that people can visit and why you would like to go there.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Sense of Place Interview - Journal Entry No. 9
This assignment was to interview one of your grandparents or someone of their generation. I am 55 years old and all of my grandparents are dead and both of my parents are dead. I contacted the professor about the assignment and she suggested that I “turn it around” and interview my grandson instead. So that is what I did.
On June 29, 2010 I interviewed my grandson, Dane Coleman, age six, for the “Sense of Place Interview.” Dane just turned six on May 13th of his year, so when he was in school last year he was in kindergarten. Since I am his grandmother, I admit that I am pretty prejudiced, however, I do believe he is extremely intelligent for a child of his age.
Dane was not familiar with the words “sustainability” or “ecology” but he knew all about the words “environment” and “recycle.” I asked him what the environment was and he said it was “the world all around us.” He knew all about recycling because they do that at home and at church and at school. He said he was the winner in his class of the Recycle Project where they were supposed to make something useful out of trash (something that was being thrown away). For his project, Dane made a bird feeder out of a two liter plastic coke bottle by punching holes in the side, poking a stick through the bottle (for the bird to stand on), putting birdseed in the bottom, and tying a string to the top to hang it up. He cut holes in the middle of the bottle so the bird could fly in and he left the cap on the bottle so that rain would not get in and wet the birdseed. He has it hanging in a tree at his house and he says he has seen birds fly in there and get the birdseed.
Dane said they had discussions in his classroom about the importance of not wasting supplies, of turning out lights when you did not need them and picking up litter. Dane’s mother is the Children’s Director at Lakewood United Methodist Church and he said that he helps his mom at the church to put all the cans and plastic bottles in the recycle bins there. They also collect newspapers at his school that are to be recycled.
I told Dane about the different activities we had in the Colloquium class. He thinks it is pretty funny that grandma is still going to school. I told him about the field trips. He said he would not like to visit a school for a field trip. He has been to the Timucuan Nature Preserve before and liked going there. He said he would like to go to a swamp, especially if he could see snakes. He has been on a farm before and always likes that. He has been to downtown Jacksonville and did not think that was much fun, but he does go to the Museum of Science and History a lot and he always enjoys doing that.
Dane likes to read and he likes for people to read to him. He said he has not seen very many books about the environment. I had previously shown him the book National Autobon Society Field Guide to Florida which I purchased for this class. He enjoyed the book and he liked all of the pictures and he was pointing out the things in the book that he has seen before.
Dane really did not grasp the concept of sense of place, even though we talked about it a little. He said he likes to play outdoors. Dane is very lucky because his other grandparents have an 80 acre horse ranch in Kentucky and when he goes there he has his own horse to ride. He is also taking horse riding lessons in Jacksonville. Also in Kentucky his uncle has a farm – so Dane has been there on many occasions. Dane’s uncle is a game warden in South Florida, so when his uncle comes to town or they go to see the uncle to visit – his uncle takes him out fishing. Dane likes fishing from the land and fishing from a boat. He is very fortunate that he has been exposed to a lot of nature and a lot of animals.
Dane’s upbringing is quite different than mine was. He is exposed to a lot more technology and is learning things a lot faster than I. I grew up in the city and he has had the opportunity to visit farms and ranches for extended periods of time. He has had an opportunity to ride horses and experience that sense of freedom. He has been able to go fishing and boating. He does like to play on the computer and play video games; however, his parents are very careful to limit his time on these activities.
Dane thinks the world is very big and he does not think “we will run out of things.” He does understand the importance of saving and reusing and recycling things. He understands that it is not good to be wasteful. Dane spends time outdoors and he loves nature and animals. He has grown corn and tomatoes on his back porch. They grew individual plants at school this past school year.
Dane is very lucky because, despite living in the city, he is routinely exposed to nature. He does love and appreciate plants and animals. He is pretty young right now to entirely grasp the concept of sustainability; but he has a pretty good understanding of the importance of and the process of recycling. He also understands that we need to take care of animals, plants and the land and not do anything to hurt them.
(Photo of Dane Coleman taken by me with my camera)
On June 29, 2010 I interviewed my grandson, Dane Coleman, age six, for the “Sense of Place Interview.” Dane just turned six on May 13th of his year, so when he was in school last year he was in kindergarten. Since I am his grandmother, I admit that I am pretty prejudiced, however, I do believe he is extremely intelligent for a child of his age.
Dane was not familiar with the words “sustainability” or “ecology” but he knew all about the words “environment” and “recycle.” I asked him what the environment was and he said it was “the world all around us.” He knew all about recycling because they do that at home and at church and at school. He said he was the winner in his class of the Recycle Project where they were supposed to make something useful out of trash (something that was being thrown away). For his project, Dane made a bird feeder out of a two liter plastic coke bottle by punching holes in the side, poking a stick through the bottle (for the bird to stand on), putting birdseed in the bottom, and tying a string to the top to hang it up. He cut holes in the middle of the bottle so the bird could fly in and he left the cap on the bottle so that rain would not get in and wet the birdseed. He has it hanging in a tree at his house and he says he has seen birds fly in there and get the birdseed.
Dane said they had discussions in his classroom about the importance of not wasting supplies, of turning out lights when you did not need them and picking up litter. Dane’s mother is the Children’s Director at Lakewood United Methodist Church and he said that he helps his mom at the church to put all the cans and plastic bottles in the recycle bins there. They also collect newspapers at his school that are to be recycled.
I told Dane about the different activities we had in the Colloquium class. He thinks it is pretty funny that grandma is still going to school. I told him about the field trips. He said he would not like to visit a school for a field trip. He has been to the Timucuan Nature Preserve before and liked going there. He said he would like to go to a swamp, especially if he could see snakes. He has been on a farm before and always likes that. He has been to downtown Jacksonville and did not think that was much fun, but he does go to the Museum of Science and History a lot and he always enjoys doing that.
Dane likes to read and he likes for people to read to him. He said he has not seen very many books about the environment. I had previously shown him the book National Autobon Society Field Guide to Florida which I purchased for this class. He enjoyed the book and he liked all of the pictures and he was pointing out the things in the book that he has seen before.
Dane really did not grasp the concept of sense of place, even though we talked about it a little. He said he likes to play outdoors. Dane is very lucky because his other grandparents have an 80 acre horse ranch in Kentucky and when he goes there he has his own horse to ride. He is also taking horse riding lessons in Jacksonville. Also in Kentucky his uncle has a farm – so Dane has been there on many occasions. Dane’s uncle is a game warden in South Florida, so when his uncle comes to town or they go to see the uncle to visit – his uncle takes him out fishing. Dane likes fishing from the land and fishing from a boat. He is very fortunate that he has been exposed to a lot of nature and a lot of animals.
Dane’s upbringing is quite different than mine was. He is exposed to a lot more technology and is learning things a lot faster than I. I grew up in the city and he has had the opportunity to visit farms and ranches for extended periods of time. He has had an opportunity to ride horses and experience that sense of freedom. He has been able to go fishing and boating. He does like to play on the computer and play video games; however, his parents are very careful to limit his time on these activities.
Dane thinks the world is very big and he does not think “we will run out of things.” He does understand the importance of saving and reusing and recycling things. He understands that it is not good to be wasteful. Dane spends time outdoors and he loves nature and animals. He has grown corn and tomatoes on his back porch. They grew individual plants at school this past school year.
Dane is very lucky because, despite living in the city, he is routinely exposed to nature. He does love and appreciate plants and animals. He is pretty young right now to entirely grasp the concept of sustainability; but he has a pretty good understanding of the importance of and the process of recycling. He also understands that we need to take care of animals, plants and the land and not do anything to hurt them.
(Photo of Dane Coleman taken by me with my camera)
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