The fourth assignment of unit 1 started off by requiring me to read about how to reply to a discussion board post in the “Course How To”. Following this, I had to review the section of the course syllabus that discussed the best way to respond to other students’ posts. Then, I had to go to the discussion board that everyone posted on for assignment 2, read all of the posts, and respond to the posts of 3 other students.
From the “Course How To” and the syllabus, I learned that the best ways to respond to the posts of other students include giving a compliment, leaving a comment, citing a connection, or asking a question. More specifically, in this course, I learned that we are supposed to use at least 2 of those 4 response suggestions for every reply post.
For a reminder of what the assignment 2 posts were about, they discussed each person’s individual unique screen name, when they planned on working on the course, their favorite website, and their favorite video to watch.
I started by replying to a girl named Stella’s post. She likes history, works on this class during her peak hours of cognitive functioning, enjoys watching food videos, and is currently working on her senior thesis.
My next response was to a girl named Holly. She based her screen name on her real name, decided to work on the course at different hours on different days, likes the YouTuber named Ryland Adams, and loves Pinterest.
Finally, I responded to a girl named Erin’s post. She based her screen name on her dogs, she decided to work on the course at different hours on different days, enjoys the website Airbnb, and her favorite video is a parody of Ariana Grande’s “Thank you, next”.
Reflecting on this assignment, I responded to all of these posts in a positive way, giving compliments and agreeing with their choices. I realize that this was mostly a very opinion-based post in the first place, about things that each individual likes, so there was not a right or wrong answer. Thinking about the purpose of this assignment, I primarily think it was a way for us to get used to using the discussion board, not just with making posts, but replying to the posts of others.
However, I think this assignment was also a way for students in the course to get to know one another better. By sharing videos, websites, and other things that we enjoy, it allowed me to better understand some of my classmates, and I assume they better understood me after this assignment. I think it was a great assignment to include early on in the course since it has functional value but also brings people together.
There is not much else to be said about this assignment, but it definitely made the students more comfortable with the course and with one another. It allowed anyone who was stressed about the course to destress through funny videos and cool websites, which was an awesome experience!
Nicky's Blog 