Above I have already stated some of the advantages to such a project that I see. The biggest advantage, however, is that having a project that is individual, yet collective, allows me to talk about and implement aspects of feminist pedagogy that I think are important to incorporate in Women’s Studies classes. Having a project that can potentially reach beyond the classroom also seems to assure a particular level of performance that is more consistent across the group. People help and inspire each other both technically and in terms of how to do further research on the topic. It also is more fun for both the students and I and provides an ongoing “drama” to the completion of the class that, at least in this case, was invigorating.
Some of the advantages I didn’t expect from this project included the level to which some of the students were able and willing to integrate their knowledge from the class into reading and reviewing the work of their sociologist. I was also surprised that very few of the students were interested in having me “pave the way” in contacting their person. I anticipated that they might be apprehensive, but everyone was very confident initially that they could do what they needed to do to convince the women to respond. Many were continually innovative in the ways that they persisted in making and continuing their process of contacting their individuals.
Of course, the biggest disadvantage from the perspective of the students is that their contacts were not as forthcoming as they had hoped. People are very busy and although we spoke about this many times, some folks left the contact till way too late in the game. In the end, contacting the sociologist did not determine success on the project and once students understood this, they became more creative at both getting in touch and in using already existing materials—which are considerable for some of the women included.
An unanticipated disadvantage was also the hesitancy that some of the women had in sharing and providing permission to use information. In some circumstances the reach of the net has been nasty and painful and so people were justifiably cautious. This actually gave the class the opportunity to talk about and better understand how to present the information. I did need to make a provision that for those who could not use all their information that I would review it in our Blackboard format and that they would not be penalized. Having the discussion about the moral implications of the work was also important and added a dimension that makes us view these Blogs as different from our My Space or Facebook sites.
Some of the advantages I didn’t expect from this project included the level to which some of the students were able and willing to integrate their knowledge from the class into reading and reviewing the work of their sociologist. I was also surprised that very few of the students were interested in having me “pave the way” in contacting their person. I anticipated that they might be apprehensive, but everyone was very confident initially that they could do what they needed to do to convince the women to respond. Many were continually innovative in the ways that they persisted in making and continuing their process of contacting their individuals.
Of course, the biggest disadvantage from the perspective of the students is that their contacts were not as forthcoming as they had hoped. People are very busy and although we spoke about this many times, some folks left the contact till way too late in the game. In the end, contacting the sociologist did not determine success on the project and once students understood this, they became more creative at both getting in touch and in using already existing materials—which are considerable for some of the women included.
An unanticipated disadvantage was also the hesitancy that some of the women had in sharing and providing permission to use information. In some circumstances the reach of the net has been nasty and painful and so people were justifiably cautious. This actually gave the class the opportunity to talk about and better understand how to present the information. I did need to make a provision that for those who could not use all their information that I would review it in our Blackboard format and that they would not be penalized. Having the discussion about the moral implications of the work was also important and added a dimension that makes us view these Blogs as different from our My Space or Facebook sites.
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