Mid-Semester Evaluation

so, this is my fourth semester using serendip, and while i have to admit that i havent been as loyal to posting regularly these past weeks as i have been before, i still think that its a great space to get your thoughts, ideas and emotions out - regardless of whether we are together in a classroom. and i guess that works for me because classes like these are classes that keep you thinking after the typical class hours.

what is really working for me is the fact that i look forward to and love coming to class - i thought that the class size would be an obstruction, but it seems to be doing well - we have so many people with so many different ideas and perspectives. i think this is added to by the fact that the class has a mix of science and humanities oriented people - its made the discussions about evolution more interesting than i anticipated, and has allowed me to look at darwin and what he did in an entirely different manner.

what im excited about is to see how we bring together universal, biological and literary evolution - i see the parallels between them but i also see the boundaries that prevent them from being recognized, and i would love to see what we are faced with and what dimensions we begin to explore when we begin the journey of breaking those down.

the part of the class that i am not enjoying as much as i enjoy the rest is the readings, i agree with rachelr when she says that the readings just dont seem to be captivating me, and i usually depend on the class discussions to bring life to them, when i would much rather come to class excited about something i read. another thing (this is not a problem, just something lead by my curiosity), i cannot help but be curious as to what's happening in anne's thursday small group discussion. while i love ours with professor grobstein, it occurs to me on tuesdays that both the groups talk about different things, and while this is just me being greedy, i would love to know and engage in whats happening in the other room. the forum definitely helps with this though, it allows me to read and keep updated with whats going on a few doors down.

all in all, im curious about where this class will take me, and us, and where we will find ourselves a few months from now. im not looking to be convinced of one argument over another, instead, i want to see how my mind processes everything that we cram into it and what it makes of it at the end.

 More than anything, i'm always excited for this class. Upon walking into the class the first day and hearing about the objectives of the course, the very first thing that I thought was, "how do they plan to pull this off?" and then other thoughts like, "even if they do, will it seem contrived? Will the course focus on fitting into the category of 'evolution' so much that they lose sight of what they really want to say?" However, i've found this not to be the case. I've actually found that the definitions of evolution have been stretched quite far in my mind to new and interesting planes. Overall with this class, im pleasantly surprised. :)

I'm not much a fan of the "Generosity" writing style, but it is quite nice to see something fresh and new. It may not be extremely scientific, but it is positively dripping with adjectives and complex sentence structures which offers a colorful new dynamic to this ever-changing course. 

As for "what's not working" there's nothing big, really. One thing I wish we had went into deeper was the concept of free will, randomness and choice. I think these terms are very nuanced, and they should be discussed at length to help understand the difference between randomness and lack of a choice. They are very interesting concepts, but I couldnt help but feel that I had garbled marbles in my mouth when using those words. I felt like I was probably too liberal in their definition. I know it gets more into philosophy and physics and is a whole other can of worms however. Oh well. I'll learn about it later.

I'm loving the references to old tales and painting and allegories. It's quite wonderful and refreshing after a long spell of science.

Thus far I have really enjoyed this course, I really enjoy how it unites social sciences/humanities, philosophy and science. I feel like the class is a self exploration of our beliefs and our knowledge, pushing our understanding and believes outside of our comfort zones, to make us re-evaluate what we value and believe in, while at the same time analyzing textual references, but rather than the textual references be the end point it is trampoline that helps us explore new galaxies.  I have really enjoyed how the class doesn’t only focus on the analysis of evolution as a science but also of subjects outside of the realm of science. Honestly, I am not a huge fan of the online discussion; it is simply not my learning style. In general I am not big on online discussions in academic settings, I feel like a lot is left unsaid, I feel like we can and are more prone to dig a deeper hole in classroom discussions in comparison to online conversations. But I am fully aware that this activity might be a better learning style for someone else, so I am glad that the option exists. Collectively, we are learning that there is a lot more outside of evolution as a science than we might have originally thought. We are learning to push outside of our comfort zone and be okay with questioning, I like the idea that we are not exactly learning one exact material, but rather taking and modifying as we individually see fit. We are learning and accepting to blur (or not) the line between the social sciences/humanities and the sciences. Currently the edges of my learning have been stretched out to an unconceivable shape, they have stretched outside of the comfort zone, becoming more accepting and understanding of new ideas, and accepting that I can pick and choose and even make my own from the ideas presented to me. I would really like to see our feelings as a class about the present forms of evolution, and the human involvement in the process. What about this genetic modification? Are we moving in the right direction as a society? Should we be intervening, especially at the level that we have? Or are we just opening the doors for the extinction of our species? To some extent I am still willing to explore, it is a bit like opening the forbidden door, but at the same time I really like the idea of things left unknown, after all ignorance is bliss. But in reality I rather leave things unknown because it leaves the mystery in life, much like children’s naiveté, it makes life interesting, and somewhat light-hearted, and life is too short to make things more complicated than they already are, let’s enjoy the current mystery, why unwrap the present when it packing is just so beautiful.

 The web papers give us the ability to explore what we are truly interested in, which I greatly enjoy and appreciate. There is more of a freedom in this class than there is in any other class I have taken. This can be a little tough at times because there are so many different ideas that can be explored, and the topic of evolution itself has only lead to more questions than answers.   Once I feel that I have an understanding of how the world may work, a wrench is thrown into my thinking that makes me completely change the way I view the world. Going into this class, I thought of science as truth. Then I didn’t believe in truth at all, let alone free will. Now I’m content with the idea that it doesn’t matter whether there is truth or free will, it only matters how I decide to use this information as a tool to live a life that makes me content. I may not be able to change my environment, but I can change the way I view it. I’m excited to see how the second semester may change my philosophy, or if my world view at the moment will withstand the stones thrown at it. 

            I also like that the class is structured as a lecture on Tuesdays and a smaller group discussion on Thursdays. It’s helpful because we get to lead the discussion, and we can go on tangents to explore what really interests us about the topic of evolution. 

I was kind of intimidated at first being (I believe the only) political science major in the class. But I really enjoy the class. I was surprised I actually enjoyed reading Darwin, and I have found Dennett to be interesting as well.

I like the small group discussions better because I find it easier to talk. I would also find it useful to be given some things to think about, or discussion questions before Thursday's discussions. The lectures seem to go on and on, especially when a question is asked and either it takes a long time for someone to answer, or there are a lot of answers but none of them are "the" answer. I look forward to the second half of the semester when we focus more on literature.

I'm generally not a big fan of blogs or online postings for classes. I think I'm just used to more formal writing. I do find it useful in that if I'm having trouble understanding something or can't think of something to discuss, looking at what other people have written gives me something to think about.

I have really enjoyed this class for the past quarter and the unique elements of the structure.  I look forward to our lectures and small group discussions each week and think that posting online is a very beneficial way to participate and reflect.  We have been talking about so many “big ideas” it often takes me a while to really soak it all in, so I think that Serendip has had a very positive influence on my understanding.  By giving me the space to express myself, clarify any comments I make in class, and reflect on what others say and questions we bring up, the online tool has helped me to learn a lot about things I could easily miss and concepts I would otherwise fail to recognize.  My understanding of evolution has changed immensely from a basic definition central to life, to a much more complex and significant concept, and I’m seeing it more as I look around every day. 

So far, I think that our readings have been very interesting and although I enjoy our conversations, I think it would be more beneficial if we had a few prompts/ pre reading questions to use as a guideline to help focus our thoughts.  It could also give us something new to write about in our blog posts and help provoke more discussions on the readings when in class. 

I am looking forward to the next half of the class.  I think that one of the reasons I like the course so much is because I can see connections to it every day whether in discussions in my other classes or articles in the New York Times, etc.  I hope that in the next half our discussions continue to provoke me to think in a new way and spark a new interest and motivation for my studies.  I am curious to see how the class dynamic shifts with the shift in story telling and I’m excited to watch our discussions evolve.

Overall I think that this class is working very well.  I was a little skeptical the first day of class when I walked into a class of 40.  I was confused as to how conversations would happen with so many people.  I think that the small discussion groups solve that problem.  It gives a chance to hear more perspectives, because not only is it impossible for everyone to talk in the larger group, but there are also people who are just more comfortable talking in a small class setting.  That being said, the one problem I'm finding with the smaller groups is that I want to know what's going on in the other section.  While you can pick up on the major themes that are being discussed from Serendip, and for Anne's summaries during class, I feel like I'm still missing out because I'm not hearing the details of the discussion.  I'm not sure exactly how important this is in the whole scheme of the class, but I still feel like I'm missing out on a small piece.  

I've had to write blogs for other classes, and in the past it's always been something I didn't like to do, because I felt that there was going to be a right or wrong answer, and I didn't really want to put my thoughts out there.  Serendip has really changed that for me, because this method seems more relaxed to me.  It's more of a conversation, that I can go back and clarify an idea or ask a question.  For me the one drawback is not having enough time to go through all of the posts.  I tell myself every week that I'm going to go and read what other people have posted, but thus far I've mainly gotten to know what's been posted through Anne's trolling.

For me, so far the biggest thing I've learned is this new perspective on evolution, and on science in general.  Before this class I had a very concrete, scientific view of evolution.  Evolution meant biological evolution, and when people referred to other things evolving I decided that they were just using the word incorrectly, and they really just meant change, but that evolution wasn't just any change.  So far I've come away with the fact that there doesn't have to be just one definition.  While I still define biological evolution in the same way, I've come to understand that there are other types of evolution, that really do follow the "pattern" of evolution.  I'm excited now to move on to the second half of the class to really see how evolution can be though of in even more ways.  

I look forward to our small discussion groups on Thursdays. I feel on those days, we really take our readings apart and are able to collect all of our thoughts together. By doing this, the whole class is engaged and more enthusiastic to participate. Posting comments and papers online is something that is also working well for me. I try and take advantage of this by looking through other students' comments and by reading other students' papers. Usually in English classes papers are more confidential and the only way to read another student's paper is by asking her, so our method is quite different but has more advantages to us. 

On the other hand, as an individual, I still am working on my participation. I do feel I engage well in our smaller groups, but I know I can participate more in our larger group discussion. 

Even though we still have to go through "The Evolution of Stories" section of this course, I feel as though I have learned so much already about Darwin, about Dennett, about the evolution of ... evolution. I always knew who Darwin was, but after reading his book, I felt I really did not know him as I thought I did. The book gave me a more personal view of him and I was able to actually see how he thinks and reasons. This course has taught me to question what I read, to extract words, phrases that seem to shout out at me, and to read things with different perspectives. 

I am very, very interested in learning about the "Evolution of Stories." For one, I look forward to the evolution of teaching styles from Prof. Grobstein to now Prof. Dalke. But, the topic in general is of great interest to me, because the story of its evolution is such a profound one. Questions like: "what makes a classic a classic? Do social trends determine the genres of novels, or is it the other way around?" spark my curiosity. 

 When I first came into the class the structure of the class was... new to say the least.  I was much more familiar with being in a class that was either going to be a lecture based or smaller discussion seminars.  I wasn't so sure how I would feel about taking a class where the two methods would be employed.  Fortunately enough I grew to really like how the class is set up.  The larger, lecture-styled discussions on Tuesdays served as a refresher on the reading that I completed on the weekend, thus allowing me to really focus on parts of the reading that I find either most interesting/intriguing/confusing during the more intimate seminars.  Currently I really enjoy the set up of the course and find it helpful to me in trying to understand the material beyond simply reading it.

The idea of writing on the internet was definitely new to me.  I wasn't so much afraid of the possibility that anyone with access to the internet could read my work but was a bit overwhelmed at how much potential was offered by writing online.  I was no longer bounded by the academic norms in terms of formal papers.  Videos, programs, games (possibly), photos/diagrams and any other resource on the internet is now at my disposable and I am definitely looking forward to utilizing what I have in front of me.

I hope to explore deeper into world of bioethics with this class.  All of these scientific researches and discoveries for me do not really mean much if we do not apply it into our social world whether it be a better understanding of ourselves or otherwise.  However, it seems from the literary work we will be reading that my desires will be satiated, and so I am looking forward to the next half of the semester and what it entails.

This class is truly unique- from its online component to its tag team teaching to its multidisciplinary approach, I'm not sure what I was expecting in January when this class started. I now see how Darwin and evolution have become to mean very different things to me, and how my breadth of knowledge on Darwin's evolution is able to connect to so many different facets of my studies and my everyday life. We ask very very big questions- so big that I often leave class not quite sure of what just happened, but I think that during the remainder of the week the questions marinate a bit, just in time for me to have a slightly better idea of what happened to post online. 

I really like how we have one full class lecture and one smaller discussion- without the discussion I think that a lot of the big questions would really seem to impossible to grapple with. The concept of a webpaper is completely new to me, but it pushes me to think beyond a perfectly formatted, stale essay with a beginning, a middle, and an end. 

As far as the reading goes, I think that I have learned to truly question what certain authors are claiming, whether it is coming from Darwin or Dennett. I think that I often get into the rhythm or the assumption that the books on a syllabus are assigned with the belief that what the author is saying is "right" where I really should be questioning their viewpoints and their arguments much more. Reading and discussing Dennett especially showed me that you can get a lot from a book or from an author without accepting every claim. 

On the personal front, I feel that I can improve by speaking up in class and reading the postings here on Serendip more closely. Now that I have a better feel for the class and all of its complexities I know more what to expect and what is expected of me. 

I'm looking forward to seeing how the more literature-centric classes connect to what we have already learned, and to discussing fiction in a similar way that we discussed nonfiction. 

To begin with, I love the layout of the class. I think that it's brilliant that we have both a day of lecturing and a day of discussion within a week, as well as the added dimension of the web dialogue. This particular arrangement, I believe, allows for a deeper, more thorough understanding of the material being discussed any given week, and also allows people to explore relevant ideas that they were unable to express during class, or ideas that had been sparked afterwards, while pondering the outcome of those classes.  Serendip, in itself, is also very useful. I think that publishing the papers online is an interesting, and useful choice. Not only might it push the students (it certainly pushes me) to write and think in innovative ways, but it also leaves all of these fascinating, often well developed, thoughts and theories open to discussion. I also like the mandatory weekly postings; I find them thought provoking, and they also seem to encourage a wider range and depth of thought that might otherwise be found. I think that I would like to see more comments and replies to other's posts, though.

 I have found the scientific aspect of the class so far very interesting. I am not very much the scientific thinker, tending to lean more towards the more humanistic and literary perspectives. I find that I am learning a lot about the problems and inconsistencies inherent in different theories of evolution, just as I'm learning about the theories themselves from our readings. I can't wait, however, to begin considering the more literary side of the course. I am very interested to see where, exactly, studying the evolution of stories will take us. 

 Initially I was intimidated by the structure of this class. I was unsure of how the larger/smaller discussion groups would work and I felt uncomfortable with the idea of permanently posting my ideas for all to read and comment on. However, these two initial fears have ultimately made the class work for me. I am really enjoying the dynamic between our Tuesday and Thursday classes. I think it is working well to split into the smaller groups and have more intimate discussions. Kind of echoing what KT said, I think class discussions would benefit from everyone or at least more people sharing their thoughts. At certain points I also feel like we are debating between ideas rather than acknowledging each other’s ideas and then building off them together. In terms of Serindip I am a little bit torn about its effectiveness. Initially I was excited to see what others were thinking outside of class and I was curious to see how my thoughts would be responded to. However, again echoing many of the previous posters, I don’t think that as and individual or as a class we are maximizing the potential of Serendip seeing how we rarely comment or respond to one another. Like many of the posters before me one of my goals for the second half of this semester is to enhance online communication by commenting/responding to other’s ideas.

            I have learned a lot about how to read a book closely and not only understand, but contemplate and question the significance of certain ideas or assumptions made in the work. As a class I think we are also learning how to do this in a conversational form. While I think we have all learned the importance of questioning certain assumptions at times I think it is important to stick to a story or assumption in order to move on to a higher level of thought. Sometimes I think I/ we get so caught up on disproving a simple fact that we lose sight of it’s greater importance or how to think about more relevant concepts. One of the boundaries I have found regarding my learning style involves choosing a paper topic. On the one hand it is nice to be able to choose a topic I find interesting, and it motivates me to work harder and enjoy my paper more. On the other side I have a hard time finding a topic I find appropriate and relevant. It is important to me to write about an interesting and novel idea, and thus I struggle trying to find a suitable topic.

I am looking forward to tying the concepts that Dennet described into the evolution of literature and to the notions that exist in literature that reference evolution. While analyzing these interactions will be very interesting, I know I will miss a lot of the nuances and I am looking forward to the class discussion filled with each individual’s notes and observations. 

I love the way that Serendip evolves education into a new form. We do a lot of growing by comparing the different thoughts that we have in reaction to the same readings/discussion. I agree with Cassie and OrganizedKhaos, however, that we’re not taking full advantage of this medium because we don’t respond to each other online very often. Prof. Dalke puts it together as a discussion in class, but I think that I/we would benefit from doing this on our own by posting reactions to each other.  I’m making that one of my new resolutions!

The class discussions are quite fruitful, I love that we’re asked to think about a question and debate it with each other before our Professors add their comments. The struggle to make sense of a concept and find my own story prior to hearing from someone who has devoted more time and developed more insight into these topics gives me an opportunity to compare and contrast, see if I’m missing anything, see where I may disagree and see where I could improve my thought process. I’ve also learned the importance of examples. Resolution #2: I need to work on that step of the process. Sometimes I think something without fully knowing why. Being able to produce an example would help to solidify the idea both in my head and explain where I’m coming from to my classmates.

One other comment about the class discussions, I’d love to see more people get involved. I’m not sure how to affect that, but maybe if we view our comments as “play” and just throw our thoughts out there for discussion and encourage each other’s ideas, maybe people would feel more comfortable in getting involved?

I really enjoy what I’ve learned and will continue to strive to learn about writing. (The ability to choose my own topic for the papers is very helpful in this regard because it increases my motivation to fully explore the topic.) It’s fun to absorb myself in my thesis/question and try to make sense of it as I go through the research and writing process. I was grateful to be able to discuss some points that arose while writing my first paper with Prof. Grobstein; and do a postmortem (not literally, webpapers never die) writing discussion with Prof. Dalke. The ideas that they introduced propelled me to some places that I couldn’t have reached on my own (I’ve added a new wing to my personal library of babel).

Finally, I watched Inherit the Wind last night and found it to be a much richer experience because of this course. Since taking this class, I feel that the creationists depicted in the movie aren’t “wrong” because of what they believe, they are closed-minded because they don’t think about why they believe something. This class asks us to explore why we believe what we do and allows us to add more depth to our life experiences through reflection, useful consideration, allowing for other points of view (stories) and embracing change. I think this movie should be added to the curriculum to see how we think about it before and after we take the class.   I feel like my altered reaction is a dramatic example of the metamorphosis that I (we’ve) gone through. 

*Photo Credit: yhsbiology.wikispaces.com

So far, most aspects of this class seem to be working well for me. In both the Tuesday and Thursday classes, we have talked about Darwin and evolution in ways that I have never even considered. As a result, many of the things discussed have been real eye openers. For example, the fact that "survival of the fittest" does not necessarily mean the best, as in, just because we humans have dubbed ourselves as the best of all the species, does not mean that the other surviving members of other species are any less. In addition, I actually find myself liking the Thursday class more than the Tuesday not only because it is a smaller group, but also because the classes are more focused on a certain topic that help me to understand the entirety of the class better. Sometimes it can be hard to speak up in the Tuesday class just because of the size and how fast the conversation moves. This is not to say that I cannot speak up, but as a person who gives great consideration to something before she states it, this can be a bit of a challenge.

However, there are moments when I feel like the conversation is going in circles and, at times, can greatly mirror the conversation from the previous week. While this might just be because we were so heavily focused on Darwin and the biological side of evolution, I must admit that I am happy to be moving forward onto the evolution of literature. 

In addition, although serendip was, at first, very daunting to me, I have really come to enjoy it. I like the fact that I can read things classmates have said, and that I can add my own opinion to their posts while remaining anonymous. Online papers have also given me the opportunity to travel in new directions with my writing, as I am now able to post links so everyone can can have the proper background knowledge instead of me just assuming that all have already witnessed what I am talking about. 

The format of this class, as one large class on Tuesday and a smaller one on Thursday, works really well for me. I enjoy the smaller classes more, typically, but I feel that the Tuesday classes give us a foundation to build on in the smaller group discussions.

While I am unused to working collaboratively vua the internet, I think that the web aspect of the course does open up a new forum for learning from and interacting with classmates. The webpaper concept still confuses me a little as I haven't really been treating it as a separate form of paper from a print essay. I'm not entirely sure that with the topics I am choosing that it helps to have it in a webpaper format, but I do like that in a webpaper I think that I am allowed to be more casual in my phrasing. As far as negatives go with the web, I think that navigating the web and serendip in particular is difficult in terms of being able to wade through the massive streams of information available.

Learning about evolution just makes me realise how much I don't know, won't know and can't know. At times the concepts we learn about start to become overwhelming, but for the most part they are fascinating enough for me to stick with. This is a course which emphasises the individual's perspective, and I'm interested in how this carries over into the literary section of the course.