Skip to main content

Final post



            Most of the 400 level economics classes I have taken, have not required attendance. Nearly all of them strongly encouraged it by reviewing the homework questions prior to the due date or limiting the slide shows posted on compass. The classes I have taken where attendance is required have almost exclusively been intro level classes, one hundred or two hundred level. I think the theory behind this is that intro level classes are needed to form a foundation of knowledge, but upper level classes are chosen and should fit your interests. In this system you are more or less forced to learn the intro material, even if it is in area you aren’t interested in. However, in later classes, attendance is expected to be higher because these classes aren’t specifically required, but rather chosen from a list. Although this is what would theoretically happen, in reality when attendance isn’t required not as many students show up to class regardless of the level of class.

            Attendance for all my four hundred level econ classes follow the same pattern, decent participation at the beginning of the semester, but it trends down the whole semester, with slight peaks prior to exams and project due dates. Personally, I always try and make it to my classes because I feel as though I can’t learn new material with out being in class. Even though I almost always go to class, I rarely ask questions, but like hearing other students. When attendance is required, there seems to be more participation, even though some of those participating wouldn’t go to class if it wasn’t required. I like when attendance is required because I was going to go regardless, and I get the benefit of hearing other people’s questions. Even though I am almost certainly in the minority, one change I would make to the design of this class is having required attendance. This would increase overall class attendance and I think it would promote more engagement in class. I would have come to more classes had it been required, not because it was required but because it would make the discussions in class better. With more people discussing topics and ideas in class, I think more people would also not be afraid to speak their ideas and share their questions.

             The other unique aspect of this class, having flexible deadlines, is something I have never experienced before. Personally, I really enjoyed this policy because it made it easier to plan out my homework. My other classes have a decent amount of homework due on Thursdays and Fridays, so having flexible deadlines allowed me to work on the blogs during the weekend, when I am usually freer. I almost always did the Excel homework on time, the one exception being the final one I forgot about and turned in late. I never had to use this policy for the excel homework, but for the blogging it was very helpful. This policy allowed me to alter the deadlines slightly to fit my schedule better. I feel as though overall this improved the quality of my work for the class. I’m sure some students used this policy to take far longer to submit their assignments, but overall, I feel that having flexible deadlines made it easier to truly focus on my assignments.



Comments

  1. Professor ArvanDecember 10, 2019 at 2:57 AM

    While you were in the minority about actually coming to class, you were in the majority of the class on the requiring attendance part. And I thought it interesting that you wanted that for others so you could hear their questions. I did think those who came near the end were unusually quiet, but might it be that most students are that way these days? If so, would you benefit from having a room full of students who were like you in not wanting to speak up?

    So, I wonder, if I had you work in small groups, which we did a couple of times this semester but it wasn't a regular thing, would you be more comfortable there? In class later today I'm going to push this hypothetical further. If you have a chance to read this before class, maybe you can think it through.

    On the soft deadlines, I have to say that being retired I can accommodate this but if I were working full time and had many other obligations I probably couldn't. So, in that sense soft deadlines were a gift to the class. I wonder if you or other students considered it from that perspective.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog Post 3

The summer after my freshman year I worked in a textbook warehouse as a warehouse associate. For the first week on the job, my sole responsibility was to stand near a conveyor belt and take totes with books off the line and sort the totes by the colored labels on them. This was at best mind numbing and monotonous, but it had to be done. Because this was early in the summer, the company was solely focused on buying used books to resell in the fall, so everyday hundreds of new books would be brought into the warehouse. The totes I took off would be picked up by other workers and the books inside would be placed in their appropriate location in the warehouse. This job, at least in my opinion, was far superior because it allowed you to walk around all day rather than being stuck along a conveyor belt for eight hours a day. However, after about a week and a half working the line, I was trained on the technology and began working as one of the people who put books away. I enjoyed this
3 comments
Read more

Blog Post 10

This summer when I was an intern there was a clear triangle arrangement between the company I worked for and the client. I worked for a consulting company, so each project employees had to answer to their project manager as well as the client. It is important to make the client happy because they ultimately hired the consulting firm, but in the long run it is also important to please the project manager. The project manager is someone who you work with from project to project and they ultimately decide your compensation and any possibility of promotions.  I was only an intern for ten weeks, and I never had any direct contact with the client; however, every week I sat in internal calls as well as weekly calls with the client. Most of these calls were simply status updates and nothing eventful happened. When I was first brought in, it was clear the client was very concerned with the security of their data. The client was a large insurance firm, so it is fitting that they
1 comment
Read more

Illinibucks

If the university gave each student an allocation of Illinibucks, it would incentivize students to use “pay” for what matters the most, also it would give the University  more information on what students want. Students would put their hypothetical money where their mouth is and in turn the university would be able to collect data on what students prefer.  Illinibucks would primarily be used to register for classes earlier than others. Registering for classes can be a pain, even as a senior who has priority registration. Classes fill up extremely quickly and if you must change your schedule later it can be very difficult to get into classes. Allowing the ability to use your Illinibucks to get even earlier registration would ameliorate this situation slightly. It would allow students who truly need or want a certain class to allocate their Illinibucks to ensure they have a better chance of getting a seat in the class. This would be beneficial to freshmen who may be interested in a
1 comment
Read more