Reflection -- All's Well that Ends Well

I feel that this blog gives a very honest, “right down to it” impression of our class. It is not riddled with our “scholarly personas” and really allowed us to evaluate the aspects of the class that were most meaningful to us on an individual level. I have never had to blog for a class before but seeing and hearing everyone’s interpretations put a whole new face on the writing process. Instead of sitting with only my thoughts before writing a paper, I had the thoughts of fifteen other students to help inspire me. Our real-life, unfiltered experiences with Project Angel Heart and the material are extremely significant. Again, we got “right down to it.” Our blog is completely unique to our course and a lasting reminder of what sixteen freshmen at the University of Denver learned about illness, service, and the public good one winter back in 2008…

Blogging Reflection

I’ll admit that this blogging assignment was initially a bit of a stretch for me: the idea of writing “publicly” was a little hard to swallow. However, I think that throughout the past few weeks, this blog has provided a wonderful opportunity for us to learn more about each other as a class. I enjoyed reading about the various events that have impacted other students’ lives and understanding of illness (the very first post); it certainly provided new insights that added depth to our in-class discussions.

Overall, I think that this blog does an excellent job at reflecting the dynamic and passionate nature of our class: no one hesitated to speak freely in their posts, and the online discussions often paralleled the arguments and discussions we had in class. Moreover, this blog could be a great way for students in future service-learning to gain insight into what lies ahead in the quarter. Perhaps this blog would also be helpful to Project Angel Heart staff if they are interested in learning more about the mindset with which volunteers approach their organization and the experiences that they take away from volunteer shifts. Although there are many different ways in which the blog could be used, I think it should, above all, be used as a resource for other people to use and apply in their own lives, teaching, or service opportunities.

New Perspectives

A Final Blog Post

Considering the blog assignment, I really appreciated the opportunity it gave the class to be more candid about our thoughts. I personally believe that I express myself better in writing than in speech (though I am attempting to find a balance here). Overall, I think this blog serves as an archive of our thoughts as the course progressed, for it is not very realistic to think that we can preserve what we talked about during lectures and discussions. Looking back, this blog is able to preserve the topics of discussion, points of contention, etc. that arose during class time, especially because its timeline followed so closely to our reading and writing assignments. I am personally grateful for the opportunity to have a class-related blog, not only because it allowed us to expand upon our thoughts, but also to go off on tangents that were not necessarily discussed in class. Overall, I think it was an effective teaching tool, and while we did tend to get hung up on some topics, I believe the class had very well-developed responses, especially those that were-student led. It gave us the opportunity to direct our discussions, which I especially enjoyed. I believe this blog assignment portrays us as a mature, open-minded audience, and though most of us are very opinionated, we did enjoy discussion (and at times, contentions) with our peers.

This blog was a little different for me. I don't know about you guys, but I have never been one for post my ideas all over the internet. Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer a good-ol' face-to-face chat with people when I discuss issues close to home. Now, this is not to say that I found this blog to be a waste of time. In fact, it actually helped me become more relaxed in my writing and forced me to realize that when you are composing something you don't always have to treat it as a piece of art. Sometimes, the best writing is when you don't try to hide it behind intricate phrases. Some of my favorite posts on this blog avoided a pedantic tone that made me feel as though I was being talked to, not at. And it is this concept that I think is essential. Furthermore, the more I look over this blog, the easier it is to see who these bloggers really are, and see past the face they portray as they write. Call me crazy, but I found way more value in the pieces that had some history, some personal weight, behind them, because to me that what matters most: connecting to people through shared experiences, the bridge to what is intrinsically us, rather than merely to the extrinsic mask we create when we write for a specific audience.

Blog Culmination

I found our blog to be a helpful place for disscussion on topics introduced in class. It is always easier to write about things and the online environment provided an arena in which everyone could share opinions and thoughts. I found this to be beneficial to my understanding of the course topics as well as a good way to observe the remarkable insight and talent of my classmates.

There were a few blogs that I particularly enjoyed. The first posts related to AIDS provided an effective method of viewing the disease through several different lenses. Also, the blogs relating to Project Angel Heart were interesting to read. I enjoyed learning about other students' shifts with the organization, since we did not all volunteer together. And it is always inspiring to hear the testimonials of fellow volunteers and what they got out of the experience we all shared.

Overall, I feel this blog was an effective technique to include in the course, as it instigated thoughful reflections and in-depth consideration of class topics. I enjoyed the opportunity to be open and honest and to hear the candid opinions of others in my class. Thanks to everyone for the additional education that the posts and comments provided.

I have thruoughly enjoyed this blog, simply because it has given me a new avenue to get to understand my classmates. I feel like I know some of the students better because I have been able to read their thoughts on sincere issues. Much of the writing gives me access to more develpoed thoughts than typically come out during class. I am able to read others' posts and bounce ideas of of them with ample time to reflect and articulate well what I really feel. Reading the blog, it is obvious that the class is filed with smart motivated students interested in many types of civic engagements. It is clear that we have come from many different backgrounds and have highly varied lifew experiences but that we are all interested in similar aspects of the human condition. We think very different thoughts but I can see that the thought processes are are related. We come to different conclusions but there is very little animosity among the class which speaks to our openmindedness as a whole. While the blog added amny aspects to the class, the most important for me was the lens that it gave me to magnify my understanding of my classmates through.