Reflecting upon reflections

One of my early blog posts this semester questioned the utility of some of the electronic elements of Professor Jackson's class. In the thick of semester (four, five weeks, I'm not even sure how long it's been) many of my questions have been answered, and many of my doubts reassured. I'll see more of my questions resolved in a week and a half, after I'm done with my first video project. But I feel like my questions and doubts are likely to remain with regards to one areas: these weekly blog reflections, which at times I still feel constitutes busywork rather than real, productive scholarship. Tonight is one of those times: I participate freely in class, and blog thoughtfully when given an assignment, but there are occasions which simply don't elicit an extended reflection.

The class's Tuesday blog posts, in which we provide more in-depth answers to specific questions posed by Professor Jackson, are useful, challenging, and productive. Although they aren't universally profound and provocative, many of them are: they demonstrate knowledge acquired in discussion and readings and can serve as a basis for further, in-class discussion. With no real question, with no real assignment, I don't feel the weekend blog reflection serve the same pedagogical value. There are times when something from class or from the assigned readings merits comment, but those times don't occur every class for every person. This weekend, I had several classmates make the comment that they didn't feel they had anything substantive to blog about. Because of the loose nature and fairly rapid pace of these blog entries, they aren't terribly conducive to extended, high-level discourse on a single topic, and in the absence of singular insight the only thing to write is some vapid summary or anemic connection.

I still see some useful purpose to reflective blog entries, as a means for allowing students to make connections, expand on topics mentioned in class, or (as I am doing) analyze the class. However, I think requiring this on a weekly basis cheapens it; students do rote work which occupies their valuable time but has little intellectual payoff. If I were teaching the class, I'd eliminate the weekly blog reflection and instead require students to write a reflective entry during the weeks in which they don't answer the prompt. Naturally, with only one entry a week it would be fair to expect longer, deeper entries and more interaction between the blog participants, but I'd be willing to accept that tradeoff.

p.s. This certainly doesn't mean that I don't enjoy Professor Jackson's class. It's quite possibly my favorite one this semester. I just enjoy criticizing things regardless of how much I actually like them.