Friday, July 29, 2011
Week 8
Dr. Kemp’s last email about how we are all numbering our parts has made me wonder how conditioned most of us are to the idea that academic life is still to a certain extent “a game.” Even though we know that Dr. Kemp is interested in our thoughts and only wants us to show the knowledge we have gained we still feel the need to make sure that we all meet the basic requirements and emphasize that by the use of numbering. So how do we break this natural reflex? I am not sure there is a correct answer. You never know what kind of teacher you are going to get and part of the “game” is figuring out exactly what the teacher wants to see in order to pass. Graduate school has been more open to the development of personal thoughts and theories, but I still ran into one professor who only gave A’s to students who quoted her and reinforced her own personal research. I almost flunked that class, but fortunately after asking around I figured out what she wanted to see and managed to salvage my grade. Although I have chosen to number my posts through 4 I think that I will discontinue numbering them now that I have met the basic requirements, which I suppose means I am still trying to make sure that I can win the “game” by attempting to receive full credit for my participation. Is this sad or just a part of survival in the real world?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Elaine, I agree that some if it is "the game," but I think there's something more to it for our particular group, too. Since we're tech writers, we like things to be easily referenced. We've been trained to make things as easy as possible on our audience. But that, in itself, is also a game: making the audience do "less work" for our message means that they are more likely to respond positively. In the case of a class, that's probably a higher grade; in the case of a grant proposal, it could be an awarded grant. This is why I think it's important to acknowledge and embrace the games students play in class. If they learn the technique in one situation, they can learn to generalize it and apply it in other situations.
ReplyDeleteHi, Elaine,
ReplyDeleteLike Chalice, I think we have a natural tendency to compartmentalize and make things referenceable. I've also done a few audit-type engagements, and too many RFPs to count and I'm always referencing "stuff" just in case I get asked to produce "evidence" at a later time and to make it easier for my reader. In RFPs, referencing is indeed the difference between success or failure.
I think numbering the posts is a good thing...Dr. Kemp asked for a minimum 4 posts, and there are lots of us. As I see it, we're helping Dr. Kemp out by numbering...so he can see we've met the criteria easily.
After my 4th post, I'll also stop numbering....and just because we've made that 4th post doesn't mean we stop commenting altogether.