Tuesday, April 12, 2011

My Self-Evaluation: Where Did the Semester Go?

Here is the culmination of my blog: what it is at the end of the semester. I'll try not to tear up as I write this...
  • Posts
    • Quantity: 33 blogs total. 8 are related to the research focus.
    • Content: I would argue that I fulfilled the variety requirement. Some of my posts, such as my first post, were more casual in nature. While other posts definitely took on a tone of formality, for instance, my post about Othello. I also use a fair amount of pictures and video, like in my most recent post about the puppet show. I have evaluated movie clips and such in earlier blogs, like the one about the witches from Macbeth, but I tend not to comment on my pictures as much.
    • Format: I used jump breaks a lot in my later posts. Most of posts tended not to need it, since they aren't very long. I tagged my posts with subjects, but not with the learning outcomes. There were only a few titles that really don't expose what the post is about. One good title that I felt that I used was Othello as a Case Study.
  • Research
    • Thematic Focus: I clearly have a focus, indicated from my original hub post. I also have posts that expand on the theme. My site design is not overtly dedicated to the subject of love, but the background is red, which is the color of aggression (and love).
    • Thesis & Cohesion: My original hub post post does not really have a thesis, but more of a question. It is not until my later hub post that I link coherently and actually state my thesis.
    • Sources: I definitely have my own sources page, which links to the blog posts and to the sources.However, my earlier posts don't really link to the sources page, since it was created after those posts. 
  • Personal & Social
    • Author identity: I feel like my personality is reflected throughout almost every piece of my blog. I did include little widgets and an about me section. I tried to make my personality come through in my writing (and really sometimes I couldn't avoid it!). An example of this would be my post about Duke Orcino in Twelfth Night. I was clearly upset when I wrote it.
    • Documentation of Process: I feel like I do an okay job of narrating my learning process. For example, I show my thought process pretty well when I explore this clip of Richard III.
    • Interactions: I feel like I was pretty good at responding to people when they commented on my blog. When their comment was simply helpful, and I had nothing else to say, I just thanked them usually.
  • Design
    • Appropriate to Theme: I will admit that the colors and design of my blog are a little flamboyant, but it fits the artistic side of me pretty well. I wanted to go for something dramatic, rather than the typical hum drum blogspot blog you see all the time.
    • Side content: I guess my Pandora and Goodreads widgets are not the most pertinent to the class. Except Rebecca mentioned in her evaluation that many of my songs are love songs. Ok, so that is a tenuous connection at best, but it does give away something of what I am, which I think is just as important as developing a focus.
 So there is my evaluation. I tried to be honest without selling myself short!