experience from a personal, academic, and relationship to your chosen major or future
profession. Describe some of the highpoints and some of the things you found most difficult.
Make any suggestions you might have for how the class is taught including my teaching methods
and strategies.
Knowing that this Colloquium class was required, I went into it rather... well, excited. I mean, I wasn't happy to have to pay for an extra class when I already was aware of our local nature, the current situation of our globe, and the value of recycling; however, where else do you take field trips in college?
Though I have often felt overwhelmed by the reading and writing required for the class, the topics have been rather important. So many of us, my generation included, do not know where our food comes from, or what it takes to get it to us. We often feel that we are left with no choice, and that our voice does not matter. What we have to realize is that with every purchase, we are making a choice. There is value in knowing where your personal items, such as food and clothing, come from. We are often so disconnected that we have a blind eye.
I have found the field trips to be somewhat enjoyable and informative. I personally am very familiar with the area, growing up here, so I felt it more valuable for my classmates. I do highly value the places such as ECHO and The Estero Historical Cottage. I know it is difficult, due to time restraints, but places such as these I really would have preferred more time. There were many times, even at Corkscrew that I had interested in simply looking around, asking more questions, or visiting the welcome center.
As a commuter, as well as a fellow classmate and friend, I feel I also would have benefited with the option of meeting at the location. I do understand that we ofetn covered materials on the bus, but other times we would piratically back track, passing my apartment on the way to the location. It would be frustrating knowing that the only reason I went to campus was for this class, and then spend over an hour on the bus when I in fact lived just a few mins away from where we were going. Have the option of driving myself would also give me the opportunity to stick around if I was interested in seeing more. Again, I do understand the difficulties in having people meet up and the possible late comer making the whole class wait... but it is just a thought. It would be nice if transportation was "optional" if correctly arranged with the instructor.
I know that there was often time for group participation or discussion, but with a very "non-talkative" class, it proved to be more frustrating than interesting. I know such issues are hard to fix, I just hate feeling as though we are wasting time. Maybe more personal topics would provide a better discussion.
Some of the power points were again informative, yet often redundant. I enjoyed seeing pictures from the past, and learning about other cultures. I am a bit tired of being told to recycle my water bottles to save the planet though...
All in all, I do strongly feel that the message of sustainability and eco-friendly knowledge, is an important one, and fairly new to some people. Education is a vital thing. We don't know, what we don't know. As a future educator myself, I know how difficult it is to reach everyone. I know Colloquium tries hard to include as many different avenues as possible to teach our students, maybe it just takes time to really figure out what is best.
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