1.--I thought that the assignment "The Holy Land" was a very interesting topic. Even after reading and completing the course material for week 13, I chose to take another look at the provided material and what I had dug up myself on the issue. I was fascinated at how long the "Holy" war went on for. I was taken a back even more that the conflict between the two (Israelis and Palestinians) still has not come to a compromise with the land that they each share. The assignment opened my eyes to the seriousness of the situation. I didn't realize how small the piece of land set aside for the Jewish population was, or by how much they were outnumbered by Arabs.
2.-- I haven't been in college for a long time. Its been almost been 18 years since I took a college level course and a lot has changed. When I read the course syllabus back in September, I was a little nervous because I really didn't know what a blog was. After some research I realized that it wasn't as bad as I had originally thought. I set up an account with Blogger and slowly began to learn how to navigate through the Blogosphere. It is important to me that I learn how to express myself through blogs. Knowing how to sign on to Blogger and use the Internet and social media to share my beliefs, opinions, and express myself is a tool that I now have in my toolbox. I intend on using this tool as I move forward in school and life.
3.--The first thing that I learned about myself was that other educated, level headed people thought like me. For the longest time, as a teenager and well into my twenties, I felt as if I was misunderstood. Because I felt that way, I kept most of my opinions and beliefs to myself. As this class moved from week to week, my confidence and self-esteem grew. I realized, while answering the questions and reading other students replies in the discussion forum, that my opinions and thoughts didn't sound so different or off base. The second thing that I learned about myself while taking this class was that I wasn't so sure of my political identity anymore. My stance on some political issues were changing. For years I considered myself an Independent. If I was to lean any way it would've been to the liberal side of things on certain issues. But after reading the material on a few assignments and doing some of my own research, I found that I was more of a conservative independent.
4.--I enjoyed this class. I thought that every one of the topics were extremely interesting and always looked forward to the next assignment. Although this reason may seem selfish of me, the only thing that I would change about this class would be that the assignments be due during the week. Fridays would be a good due day. I get the assignments on Tuesdays and because of other classes, I don't get to the material until the weekend. I spend almost every weekend with my family (daughter) because we are busy all week. And this time of year there's a ton of sports (football, hockey, and basketball) going on. Again, I know that my reasons may come off petty and selfish, but thats the only thing that I would change about this class if given the chance.
5.--I learned so much about whats going on in this ever-changing world that we live in. The knowledge that I absorbed like a sponge from this class has already helped me in some of my current courses (Govt, Eng) that I'm taking this semester. I also think that learning how to navigate Blogger will assist me in future courses that I take.
6.--I enjoyed writing about many of the topics this past semester. My favorite assignment that we covered was on week 11, Crime and Punishment. The Crime and Punishment assignment was the one topic that I felt the closest to. I have a history with the prison systems and have experienced how barbaric and backwards it can be. I have first-hand knowledge of what goes on behind the wall. The prison system in the United States is broken. Whether its putting someone in prison for a non-violent crime or sentencing a murderer to death, something must be done. There is too much of our (the taxpayer) money being wasted and it is only getting worse.
No comments:
Post a Comment