1. In the beginning of the class, it seemed like a lot of the topics we chose to write about were very broad. We did a lot of online research at websites like google and wikipedia. While this was very helpful, it was also a lot broader of a spectrum than the readings and posts from the books My California and Train Go Sorry. In the beginning of the class we dealt a lot with perceptions and stereotypes about certain places around the U.S, California in particular. The books we read were a lot more personal, with stories from authors about the places they lived to a story about a community that most of us sometimes forget about. Both components of the class meshed together to give us a broad, but also personal level about what California is all about.
2. Reading other classmates work provided a lot of different insight, since we all have different opinions about various subjects. I could always count on learning something new from reading the blogs of my classmates. Even though we were discussing the same topics, everyone seemed to have a different take on a different aspect of the issue. At the same time, I felt like a lot of us shared opinions on certain issues. Remembering back, I felt that a lot of the "stereotypes" we discussed about certain California cities were shared opinions by many, hence why they become stereotypes so fast. Even if we were sharing the same opinions though, I noticed I could still learn a lot from what other people were saying about the same issues.
3. Freire believed that without dialogue, scaffolding could not take place, and vice versa. You need both in order to constitute a proper learning of the subject. The diaglogue in this class was literally our blog entries; our thoughts transferred to an online source where it can be read by others. Scafforlding was the process in which we evaluated our own answers, and others answers, to learn and grow and put together new connections. I think that this is what Freire aimed for and I feel that we have successfully completed the idea in our class.
4. Overall, I feel that I had a very good experience with the topics that we blogged about. By inspecting several cities, beaches, inland areas and such, I got a better feel for what these cities really ARE about, and not just the stereotypes and perceptions that people have. California has a lot of different meanings to different people. Everyone takes something different by living and experiencing life here. Living in California should reflect who YOU are, and it's up to you to find the place in California where that can happen. An online experience is vastly different than personally going to see cities and places around here, but not in a bad way. You take different things from learning online, and I had an overall good experience with this online class!
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