A Week Went By Already?

I guess winter break is finally over because we are now in the swing of things.  Although the first week of classes are usually a period for adjusting the way classes will be conducted and how technology will be used, I feel like more was accomplished in the first week of classes here than any other class I have taken.

The Blogs.
I have taken a class at IU before where the professor was dedicated to the "new technology" of communicating through blogs.  This idea was out there throughout the semester however, as the weeks rolled by, it became a major of a complication.  The professor went about teaching her class like a "normal" class, but used the blog as a bonus feature.

In this class, we rely on the blog...there will be no problems in this case.  Knowing that I will be using a blog for class communication has become really cool.  Instead of having a notebook filled with scrambled facts from class every now and then, I can (and all my classmates too) see the progress of my learning simply by scrolling down a few posts on my blog.  I love the blog so far, and especially how there is no wrong answer.  We spend too much of our education summarizing articles rather than expressing how we feel about them.  Using the blog in the class will help my develop strong ideas and conclusions from the content covered in class and from the readings.

The Small Discussions.
Team camaraderie is going to be very important especially in a class of only thirty.  Today in class breaking up into small groups not only provided the opportunity to have a meaningful conversation, but it also gave us the opportunity to get to know one another.  I can tell already that it will be natural to have polar opposite opinions with others in class.  By getting to know our classmates in smaller groups and actively participate in a conversation will "break the ice" early so when we get into debates about sensitive issues, everybody will be open to sharing their opinion with passion.

The Video Conferences.
The fact that we are taking the same class as students at Ohio State University and get to engage with them is such a great experience.  When I told this to my parents, they explained to me that telling them that made them feel even older.  In addition, actually hearing other credible professors speak directly to us versus something previously recorded just adds to this experience.  This is the future of classrooms and being involved in something like this really is just something I can talk about for days.

The Content. 
Through this entire post, I decided to save the most meaningful for last.  In addition to the unique style of this class, the content is just fascinating.  Everybody has an idea that there is a conflict going on with the city of Jerusalem, but very few (including myself) would even know where to start if explaining the conflict to somebody else.

I understand that Dr. Horowitz said, even after studying this for many years she still feels like she knows the minimal about the conflict.  I understand that in only 16 weeks I can learn so much, but having a basic understanding and working closely with the conflict for the rest of the semester is going to be a great experience.  The Jerusalem conflict is something that almost everybody should know about, but nobody does.  After this semester I will be fortunate enough to be one of the few who have the slightest idea of the true conflict.