The Art of Fact: Prompt # 22

English 2783
The Art of Fact: Contemporary Literary Journalism
Prompt # 22
2 December 2013

Closing the door

Finishing up (a final learning reflection)

The examination period for this course is scheduled for a week from tonight. I've said regularly that the final learning reflection can be thought of as a take-home examination in which you ask the questions. If you'd like, you can take the three hours next Monday night to write yours (you can even come in to EC 223 and use this comfy space to do it). I suggest, whatever you do, that you devote at least the time you'd budget for a final examination -- studying for it, reviewing the term, and actually writing it -- to this process.

You probably should decide to begin with whether or not you want to write one at all: if you're satisfied with the minimum mark generated simply by participation in the work of the course, you don't need to. As before, back in October, you'll be able to see what your minimum would be by looking (tomorrow) at the course records page to see what your total is, and what I've determined it translates to as a minimum mark.

If you don't have a minimum mark, or want a better one than is generated, you'll want to write a final learning reflection. Here are some suggestions for writing a convincing one.

Reread:

the course introduction, especially the section on evaluation, and on what I think the purposes of this course are
Prompt #13, on the midterm self-assessment process (especially, perhaps, the questions your skeptical aunt might ask)
the course prompts; think about what each required, and what I said (if I did) it was supposed to help people learn
your own writing in response to course assignments, and, as well, as much as you can of the writing of others in the course in response to the same assignments
your learning journal entries (and those of others)

Plan:

Think about things that might be particularly important to mention, and make a list. Ask yourself if they are different kinds of learning, or pretty much all the same sort of thing
Think about different kinds of things you've learned -- ideas that have been changed, insights that are new, skills you didn't have, experiences that you wouldn't have had and that you learned from
When you think about a kind of thing you've learned, tie to to a specific. Use the phrase "I learned" and say exactly when and how you learned it and what difference it makes
Look for particular events, especially bits of text that you might quote as evidence of your learning (for instance, something you said in September that you wouldn't now, or something you said last week that it wouldn't have occurred to to you say in September

Write:

Write a draft, let it sit, come back to it. See what other people have written, and think about whether you've missed something obvious
Revise: I've set this up as a wiki, which means that, unlike a forum posting, you can come back and revise whenever you like.
Delete the kinds of things that I've said (in Prompt #13) I ignore, like introductions, expressions of enthusiasm about the course, explanations of why it was particularly hard for you, etc.

Finish it up by next Monday night. I'll harvest the completed documents Tuesday morning.

Course evaluation (a requirement)

You'll have noticed that I don't participate in the university's bubble-sheet based course evaluation process. That's because I find almost none of the questions on the sheet are of any relevance to a course conducted, as this one is, as a collaborative investigation; it's also because given the time people have for it in the few minutes stolen from a late class meeting, the written comments people might add are always short, and if not perfunctory, rarely very enlightening.

Here's how I do it.

There is an online survey (similar to the one I used in October, but with questions I hope are more relevant to this course in December). Here's what you need to do. I want to make sure that I get as many responses as I can, and so I don't want to run the risk that people will say, yes, right, I should do the feedback thing, and then simply forget to do it.

So, in order for me to submit a mark for you, you need to click on the link to the course feedback form on the course main page. That will take you to the form, which is on the cloud, on Google forms. As it does, Moodle will also register that you clicked on the link. After that, it's up to you: if you don't want to respond to the questions or only to some of them, I will have no way to know: it's all anonymous after that. I hope you will respond: it makes a difference as I plan subsequent courses, and assess my own teaching. But all I can know is whether or not you clicked the original link. If you want to say something good about the course, please know that this is place to do it, where I can be sure it's believable; similarly, if you want to make clear why you object to it, this is also the place, because I can't know whose voice is whose. Don't do either in connection with your final learning reflection.

And an envoi

Have a great Christmas holiday. Read some literary journalism (give someone you love a book).

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