using this forum
Posted: Thu 13 Apr 2023 8:31 pm
Hi, all. I'd like to ask for help from those who have identified themselves as wanting to have a more interactive experience with one another than what the FCE course in its original form is able to provide for us, and wanting to have the possibility of remaining in touch with one another beyond the conclusion of the course. In thinking about our intentions and how best to get what we each want from this educational experience the Cal Alumni Association has graciously provided us through inviting us into this freebie course, I've come to the conclusion that the best I can do at this point is to try to lay out a few of the considerations that come to mind for me in hopes of provoking conversation among us about how to proceed.
The primary considerations that come to mind for me presently include such realities as the fact that the course is of a finite duration, and, as has been made clear in its description, we will lose access to all the course materials and dialogue that is presently accumulating in the forum system that has been provided for us to have exchanges with one another via those means after the course concludes at the end of May. Though I admit to being behind in my review of those "classroom" exchanges (due somewhat to working on the setup of this forum system), I did go through what was posted for the first week of the course, reading all the postings very carefully. I'm presently at least skimming the module 2 and 3 discussion and sampling from the lecture and reading materials. I've found the dialogue I've read thus far to be quite interesting, at times entertaining, and always very thoughtful. But with close to twelve hundred people enrolled in the course, as Kristen reported, it is not surprising that those postings are also quite voluminous -- though none the less valuable on that account.
As I have communicated to Kristen, though I do see a possibility of having parallel discussions among ourselves, meaning those in the smaller group of people who want a more interactive experience, which can include further virtual encounters with one another of the sort we've already experienced in the meet and greet session, as well as textual exchanges of the sort that this forum system enables, I do not want to do anything that could be thought to have the potential of detracting from the experience available to us in the course itself as it was originally conceived. The thoughts I expressed in the introductory remarks I made on the web page that provides instructions on registering for full access to this forum system were intended to offer a metaphorical model for thinking about what we might think ourselves wanting to do by means of our exchanges with one another here. I wanted to suggest that we could think of our activities as being something like what we experienced as Cal students during discussion section gatherings and/or less formal conversations that included consideration of what we had been exposed to in our classes that might occur in a coffee shop, pub, dorm room or just sitting outside in Sproul Plaza or thereabouts on a sunny day, in an atmosphere that might have included (at least during my student days), folk singers with their guitars, belly dancers, jugglers, mimes, Hubert, the preacher (hoping to save a few wayward souls), Julia, the bubble lady / poetess, and all sorts of characters (including canine creatures hoping for handouts
).
I don't see anything inherently conflictual (my spelling checker tells me there's no such word, though I think there should be!) about having conversations among ourselves via various means, if that's what we'd like to do and what's available to us via the system being used for the course. We would also have the benefit of being able to accumulate logs and recordings of what we talk about, both by means of this forum system and those of any video conferencing sessions we might decide to conduct.
My own personal plan is to go back to the course lectures, readings, videos and classmate conversations, and to get fully up to date, which will likely take me through the coming weekend, if I can keep from getting distracted by the fact that spring appears to have suddenly sprung here in Beantown (daytime temps had been in the mid 30s (F) until a few days ago, and then they suddenly sprang up to being in the mid 80s, with lots of sunshine. (!!) After I feel back in sync with the course, and have maybe made a few postings using the course forum system, I may be able to think about making a few tentative postings within the sub-forums defined for the "week by week" forum (click on "week by week" to get a full listing of the sub-fora.
I hope that others can and will start showing up in this forum and will share their thoughts, feelings and bright ideas!
Gary
The primary considerations that come to mind for me presently include such realities as the fact that the course is of a finite duration, and, as has been made clear in its description, we will lose access to all the course materials and dialogue that is presently accumulating in the forum system that has been provided for us to have exchanges with one another via those means after the course concludes at the end of May. Though I admit to being behind in my review of those "classroom" exchanges (due somewhat to working on the setup of this forum system), I did go through what was posted for the first week of the course, reading all the postings very carefully. I'm presently at least skimming the module 2 and 3 discussion and sampling from the lecture and reading materials. I've found the dialogue I've read thus far to be quite interesting, at times entertaining, and always very thoughtful. But with close to twelve hundred people enrolled in the course, as Kristen reported, it is not surprising that those postings are also quite voluminous -- though none the less valuable on that account.
As I have communicated to Kristen, though I do see a possibility of having parallel discussions among ourselves, meaning those in the smaller group of people who want a more interactive experience, which can include further virtual encounters with one another of the sort we've already experienced in the meet and greet session, as well as textual exchanges of the sort that this forum system enables, I do not want to do anything that could be thought to have the potential of detracting from the experience available to us in the course itself as it was originally conceived. The thoughts I expressed in the introductory remarks I made on the web page that provides instructions on registering for full access to this forum system were intended to offer a metaphorical model for thinking about what we might think ourselves wanting to do by means of our exchanges with one another here. I wanted to suggest that we could think of our activities as being something like what we experienced as Cal students during discussion section gatherings and/or less formal conversations that included consideration of what we had been exposed to in our classes that might occur in a coffee shop, pub, dorm room or just sitting outside in Sproul Plaza or thereabouts on a sunny day, in an atmosphere that might have included (at least during my student days), folk singers with their guitars, belly dancers, jugglers, mimes, Hubert, the preacher (hoping to save a few wayward souls), Julia, the bubble lady / poetess, and all sorts of characters (including canine creatures hoping for handouts
).I don't see anything inherently conflictual (my spelling checker tells me there's no such word, though I think there should be!) about having conversations among ourselves via various means, if that's what we'd like to do and what's available to us via the system being used for the course. We would also have the benefit of being able to accumulate logs and recordings of what we talk about, both by means of this forum system and those of any video conferencing sessions we might decide to conduct.
My own personal plan is to go back to the course lectures, readings, videos and classmate conversations, and to get fully up to date, which will likely take me through the coming weekend, if I can keep from getting distracted by the fact that spring appears to have suddenly sprung here in Beantown (daytime temps had been in the mid 30s (F) until a few days ago, and then they suddenly sprang up to being in the mid 80s, with lots of sunshine. (!!) After I feel back in sync with the course, and have maybe made a few postings using the course forum system, I may be able to think about making a few tentative postings within the sub-forums defined for the "week by week" forum (click on "week by week" to get a full listing of the sub-fora.
I hope that others can and will start showing up in this forum and will share their thoughts, feelings and bright ideas!
Gary