My comments regarding the First Semester

First and foremost, I have to say that I am pleased with how this semester went. There were a lot of questions going into it and a lot of concern as to how this would all work. I think that it worked out well.

Because this is the first semester I am sure that feedback from the students is desired, and this is my attempt to offer up suggestions to help further refine the progam.

1. The blog is a fantastic way to post/review work and conduct a dialogue. It is flexible, and enables us all to communicate without having dozens of emails to keep track of every week.
2. Instructor’s blogs were very helpful. This is where we could go to find the latest assignment and perhaps comment on issues raised by the instructor.
3. The blackboard was marginally helpful, in particular for sending emails to the class and for accessing posted reading material. There was the potential for things to get confusing there in the beginning with information being posted in so many places. I think that once things smoothed out, the format was pretty simple;
-Maintain your own blog
-Check each instructors blog for assignments for their respective courses
-Access the blackboard to send emails or to download information posted by the instructors.

If there was anyplace else to go to access information it might have gotten quite confusing and frustrating. I would try to simplify it further if possible, but definitely would not let it get any more in depth than the above. The fewer websites we have to worry about checking every day, the better.
The Intensive was great. We were forced to get to know each other so well in that week that it created a fantastic group dynamic. Exhausting, but great!
Affinity groups are a very good idea. Having to maintain dialogues with the entire group at a distance is kind of cumbersome. Breaking it down into more manageable pieces worked out great.

All of that being said, my biggest suggestion would be finding a way to use “Skype” or a similar program on a regular basis. I just found out about this program within the past few weeks in preparation for this mornings final review. The ability to be conferencing with the instructor as well as other members of the class is amazing. In my opinion, it should be the preferred way to maintain a dialogue. Once per week, the affinity group and the instructor should block out 30 minutes to an hour to go over their posts for that week and talk about the next assignment. They could migrate from blog to blog with everyone having the ability to offer their input and the instructor directing the discussion. Comments and discussions on the individual blogs should continue, but the conference call should be the primary forum. I think that this would make the experience that much better and provide more regular contact with the instructor. It gets difficult to post your work and wait for days before getting the kind of feedback you are looking for, meanwhile you may have been taking your project in the wrong direction. This could almost simulate a formal class meeting atmosphere. I post my work by Monday, and on Tuesday night my affinity group and the instructor meet online to talk about it briefly and get ready for the next weeks assignment. I truly believe that this, in conjunction with the blogs, the blackboard, and the intensive, could be the foundation for an excellent way to deliver this new program!!!

Last but not least, I think that I probably speak for the entire class when I say this, I can’t imagine two better people to have picked to instruct this first semester. Both Herb and Chris have been excellent to work with and I am privileged to have had them as Instructors.

I am proud to be a part of this first class and look forward to next semester!!!