Eco-Human Experience (Fall)

 

 Course Evaluation

    Course subjects

    The assignments in this course were not at all challenging. I got to rewatch documentaries and reflect off of what I thought when I first watched the video. Usually, seeing something twice, viewers can pick up details that didn't make sense or weren't seen before. In my opinion, God Loves Uganda was still hard to sit through. Not just the fact gay people couldn't live comfortably in Uganda, but from the perspective of someone with a Catholic background, it's hard to fathom how communities that are also Christian can create such an ugly divide between people. Even out of their home country.

    The easiest assignment in my opinion was when students were assigned a chapter to make a discussion about. Reflecting on my first attempt at making a discussion, I failed to make a conversation that doesn't directly rip off from the book. Since I was struggling to remember the story's timeline verbatim, I panicked and ran out of time. This time, I talked less about the story. The most I brought up was a theme, a quote, and a few vocabulary words. I also compared a piece of the story to a real-life, secondhand story. If there was something I could have improvised, I should have counted the donuts primarily and brought two bags for each donut. I believe my metaphor for REC Identity Parents at playgrounds made sense to my peers, but based on their initial ideas they may feel conflicted about the approach.

    Classmates/Peers

    For the most part, students were able to collaborate and share their ideas. In most groups I was paired with, people got along. In some instances, there would be one who doesn't say anything and selectively listens to the group conversation. When someone was speaking, people seemed engaged and allowed the person to finish his or her sentence. When two people tried to speak at once, it was never a race to see who could finish their sentence first. Neither of them tries to raise their voice over the other. Both of them would stop, and decide who would talk first. That's the way it should be. It was great seeing this selfless behavior happen firsthand.

 Contrary to that, I felt flabbergasted by one student who passive-aggressively made comments about Christians, Americans, and Right-Wingers out loud. It didn't make the environment feel welcoming every time comments like that were exchanged. Besides that, everyone else was very open-minded and accepting of each other's differences and wanted to learn about each other's backgrounds. If everyone equally participated in group assignments and accepted each others' differences the same way they wanted everyone else to, that would formulate an effective learning environment.

    Personal Reflection

      Retaking this class has proven a few things. For one, I had to eat my words when I said that I wouldn't mind taking this class again. I wasn't expecting that I actually had to retake it due to my grade not meeting the standards. Secondly, it showed how much I improved from my first time in Eco-Human Experience. I went from a C+ to an A- by mentally preparing myself for reading assignments and taking notes. I couldn't imagine letting myself fail a second time, so I needed to make this attempt count. As frustrated as I was to the realization I would come back, just because I was 5 GPA points under from passing, it doesn't mean I get an exception. If I got to pass, that opens the door to more students asking to pass who shouldn't. It was necessary that I had to start over.

    Final thoughts

    In a sense, I am glad to come back. I came back more prepared, I developed more as a thinker, and my retake paid off. Even though most of the original students have already moved on to other courses, I got to meet some great people. It was also great to reunite with familiar faces. I wish them the best. Two times is plenty. Even though I'm still conflicted with the idea of not having homework on the Dashboard, in return, it made me accountable for remembering what I had to do. It got me into the habit of taking notes, so I can't say it necessarily sabotaged me. It more or less prepared me for the real world.