Discharge Report

Community-Classroom

Spring 1980

Discharge Report @ B

Lynn Choy #23

I. Individual

When I first entered the community-classroom, I was looking forward to a new experience in learning. I had hoped to succeed in this new type of class structure and perhaps get to know more people. I have always felt somewhat uncomfortable in the traditional class, where there are about 400 students to one professor and occasionally, a few lab TA's. In most cases, there is a lack of communication between students and professors as well as between students and students. When I heard that Psy 222 had a format where there is a breakdown into groups and a lot of interaction, I felt this would be a great opportunity. Throughout the semester, I kept an open mind regarding the format of the course and tried to apply the terms to my personal life experiences so that I would gain a better understanding of them. At times, I had some doubts about the knowledge that I was supposed to be learning compared to the-education I would be receiving in a traditionally structured class. I feel, however, that I have gained much more personal insight towards my life and the SP forces around me. Now at the close of the semester I feel the close-knit, non-competitive atmosphere offers so much more than the traditional class. It all depends on the individual--for me, it is much easier for me to learn where I am free from the anxiety of competing with others.

II. Skills I Have Gained Through the various projects done in this class, I feel I was indirectly influenced to become more aware of the social forces that affect my life. I became conscious of factors such as my Interior Dialog, Standardized Imaginings, the significance of being a Society's Witness, the discreteness behind Facework and one concept I could really relate with was Territoriality. I can't list all of my achievements and gains in insight , but the projects are what brought these to my view. The DFF's also helped me in becoming more aware of the concepts we learned in the lectures. By reviewing the lecture and paraphrasing, I was able to get a clearer understanding of the terms. I do feel, however, that at times it was difficult to complete all the DFF's by their deadline and found it very difficult to make-up a lecture that I had missed. Also, in my opinion, the personal evaluations should not have been excluded from the criteria of an advanced DFF. In the beginning of class, I thought the DFF's were for the purpose of letting the profs and CM's know how the students feel as we move along in the course. This would enable them to make further improvements as they can evaluate the community's judgments. There was not enough room available in the course for student evaluation. III. Structure of the Courses

As I stated earlier, I enjoyed the class structure of the community-classroom much more than that of the traditional setting. The grading system provided a very non-competitive atmosphere, where the collective points acted as a key incentive to progress. The time involved and expected of each student was a bit frustrating and tedious at times and towards the end of the semester, I began to fall behind in DFF's and projects. In my opinion, all of the projects are significant in the development of one's awareness, however, the Progress Report may be substituted by an evaluation form to save some time and serve the same purpose. The Mystery Play offered the class an opportunity to observe each other as they worked in their groups, and gave us the chance to try to organize ourselves. As for the organization of the course, I feel that the CM's and professors knew their subject matter to the highest degree, but the organization of class activities and knowledge of class deadlines were a bit unorganized. Several times students in the class were vague as to the contents and procedure of the reports. In the future, this may be more clarified. I did, however, make use of the DRA to obtain the information I needed.

IV. Conclusions and Recommendations: I have enjoyed this new learning experience and feel that it would be effective in other courses depending of the subject matter that is to be learned. I don't think I could apply this type of course to a mathematics or chemistry oriented class, but in my opinion, it is appropriate where the individual is concerned. This type of class structure would not be appropriate for competitive-minded people who work at higher levels under stress. The overall format where everyone helps each other out (as in the mired quartile teams) is an effective way of bringing people together in achieving the same goal.

Lynn Choy #23

Through my peer annotations of my Discharge Report, I have gained more awareness regarding other people's feelings towards the community-classroom.

One individual mentioned that she felt there is a lack of communication between students and professor. As I review the past semester, I can't fully agree with her. In my opinion, compared to the traditionally structured course, there was much more student-professor interaction. The communication was not always agreeable between the two parties, but each exchanged their personal views towards a certain matter they thought were significant. If someone disagreed, they were able to try to back up their point.

In my report I made a comment that I didn't think the community-classroom would be very effective for competitive minded people. One peer noted that she feels the course is "appropriate for all types of people regardless of how they approached life, PROVIDING it was offered in an organized fashion." In order for her to be able to function at her best and feel the course is worthwhile, she must know exactly what is expected of her. After reading her comments, I still feel that non-competitive individuals would gain more out of the community-classroom. The difference between the two of us is a clear example of what I'm saying. I have tried to be very open-minded towards the semester regarding this class. When there is some type of misunderstanding regarding the structure or organization of the course, I went to one of the profs or CI's to try to get a better understanding of what I had to do. There were times, however, where I thought I knew what was expected of me and I was wrong.

Another peer stated that he, too, felt much confusion at times within the semester and wasn't sure exactly what was expected of him. He found the course to be unique but he didn't gain much from it. The assignments weren't clearly explained and this caused him to fall behind.

In conclusion, I still feel that I gained a lot from the community-classroom. At times it was difficult, but we were given several opportunities to achieve our goals. We won't be sure if we did until later, but those who put forth the effort know they did and will probably accomplish what they have strived for.

Discharge Report

By #39

April 29, 1980

Lynn,

I also agree with you that this type of class would be effective in other types of classes. However, I don't think it is effective in it's present use. I disagree with the opinion that you expressed (that his class structure wouldn't be appropriate for competitive minded people ). I think it would be appropriate for all types of people regardless of how they approached life PROVIDING it was offered in an organized fashion; I myself am the type of person that has to know exactly what is expected of me before I feel any course is worth taking. I'm better organized in the work turned in and with what I expect out of the course. In addition I know what is expected ,of me and I know what I have to do to live up to those expectations I can say that I work better under stress because I like to know what is going to happen. I think I could be in a better position to know what was happening in this course had they had more organization. My main opinion about the course is that if has a lot of potential. Perhaps if I had taken the course with better preparation on the prof's behalf I would not have come out of it with the opinions I have. I don't feel the amount of work to do is too much I do think that it's worth should be spelled out better. What I think I would recommend is preparation. The system inherently is fine.

FOR ID #23

I agree with your feelings in how this type of classroom is better than the traditional one. I too do not like classes with 400 students for one professor. However, I do believe that there is a lack of communication between students and professor.

You can't always count on the class managers because, I've found that many times they too don't know. Possibly because there is still disorganization. I agree with you in that the projects have been very helpful in making us more aware Of the social forces that are constantly around us. I also agree with you in that personal evaluations should not have been excluded from our DFF's. They had to be done on another paper and I think that is why many people never bothered to write any. How can you do extra if you can't quite keep up with what is required? I think everyone is waiting for the last day on our ballots etc. It's too bad because at that time, we may not remember some things we would have wanted to say. Therefore, it wouldn't be an accurate account.

Part I: List the skills you've acquired; assess the knowledge you've obtained; evaluate the importance of your learnings; project their potential values into the next few months and years.

Part II: Discuss the above with other class members, face -to face or by phone. Summarize your discussion. State conclusions. Give recommendations.

Part III: "Open Messages": to the instructor, to the staff, to other students, to the future .....

On to part 2