Connecting the dots

Looking back through my blog posts, I find that they are unrelated to each other. While at least part of it can be attributed to my blog posts being incorrect about the topics at hand, the actual topics themselves seemed unrelated in the first place. No real connections to the course are present beyond just answering the prompts. The topics discussed in the posts are only brought up in class after the fact so any overlapping examples that might possibly exist in any of these posts or any future posts would be entirely coincidental. To my understanding, things like opportunism and management have nothing to do with each other. This is not the only way in which my blog posts feel disconnected.
The blog posts also feel disconnected from the themes of the course. This may be in part to my understanding of the themes and the lack thereof but the point still stands. Perhaps it is just due to the way I learn but for me, learning the fundamental principles and concepts of something through things like blog posts and outside reading just isn’t feasible.  I cannot form connections to any of it beyond just the prompt itself. If I did not know that all these posts were assigned for this class, I would not associate them with organizations. Thankfully and rather oddly, for all my difficulties understanding and connecting what I write about, I do not have any difficulty actually writing the posts themselves.
I figured out a simple and effective system for writing these blog posts that I have stuck to from the time the first post was due. I would take the time to write anywhere from one hundred to one hundred and fifty words a day on the blog post and then post it when it was done. The benefits of this method are twofold. The first is that it means I do not have to divert my attention from other course work for very long in order to type the posts. Additionally, the extended intervals of time I have between typing sessions means that my brain is free to rejuvenate itself on the topic and think about material to add to the post without active effort on my part. This is similar to how I will sometimes be really focused on a puzzle or question one day and then after giving up on it for the day I would wake up the next day and just understand it. With all of that said, while I have no issues completing the prompts on time or even early, I do have some criticism of the prompts themselves.
If I had control over the prompts, I would definitely make some changes. The first and foremost change would be to make the prompts related to what we have discussed in class. This way it avoids the possibility of people writing blog posts about a topic and being completely wrong with what they wrote. Just because you learned something outside of class does not mean that you learned it correctly. Second of all, have the blog posts related to the homework both in what topics they cover but also in the methodology used to solve them. It feels as if the excel homework and the blogposts are disconnected from each other. Finally there is the nature of the prompts themselves. At times I think the prompts are too vague and open ended, although this is only a minor complaint. It is just that sometimes I prefer having a clear conclusion which I am supposed to reach with my blog post, although I do understand how more open-ended prompts can be better for writing about certain topics.

Comments

  1. Professor ArvanOctober 11, 2019 at 2:02 PM

    You have been fighting the methodology I employ from the get go. I wonder why you stayed with the course under these circumstances. Is there something else that you think you are getting out of the course that didn't show up in your review post above? If so, I'd have liked to learn about that.

    Opportunism and management are intimately related. Opportunism is why transaction costs can be so devastating. Management is there to prevent that from happening, if it can.

    You didn't specifically mention the post about effective teams, based on the reading from Bolman and Deal. I wonder if that worked any better for you or not. Also, regarding the process you described with the writing, where would the reading of the Bolman and Deal chapter fit into the sequence? Also, would you ever go back and read some parts a second time, because some of it puzzled you?

    I do appreciate that you get these posts done in a timely fashion and that you are straightforward in your comments, but I find it odd that you don't seem willing to try to produce your own understanding first. After all, that is the life skill you will need after graduation. Why not practice it as a student?

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    Replies
    1. Tjalling koopmansOctober 13, 2019 at 8:56 AM

      I remain in this course partially out of obligation due to needing to meet requirements for an economics minor and partially because I want to learn the material and it seems interesting to me. As for why I do not try to produce my own understanding, It is because I feel that I could easily misinterpret what I am supposed to learn, like with opportunism, which can make it difficult to learn and understand the correct definitions and meanings of concepts. Additionally, sometimes I just cannot understand certain ideas, like transaction costs, nor can I make connections between the two ideas. While it may seem like I am disruptive due to constantly challenging your methodology, it is because I feel frustrated and suspect that many others do as well but just do not speak up. As for the methodology of my posts, the reading would be done on the first day I write the post, as well as referred back to if I needed to bring up more specific details.

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