Hello, my name is Elliott Greene. I am a junior here at MSU and I am from New York City. I am currently on track to major in being an applied engineer. I am still unsure what I want to fully be when I begin my career but for now I’m just focused on getting the grades so I have the choice.
Week eight and week nine look a little stale with the analysis of texts and data because I prefer concepts over numbers, but this is only from previous courses, I am still confident there is a way for me to enjoy analyzing text and data. However, week six looks interesting with geospatial analysis and mapping because I am a visual learner and if I can visualize and see a path of who and what went where then I’ll learn a lot.
I personally have always learned better with a hands-on teacher in front of me that I can go back and forth with in order to come to the final understanding. However, since we have moved to online courses there are benefits and downsides. I think that one of the benefits (in theory) is that some classes are recorded so you can tune into them whenever you want. However, I feel that if I do that then I either never end up looking at the lecture or I am watching something pre-recorded so I can’t ask a question real time or ask the professor to slow down or explain something. Another issue is trying to figure out what assignments are due in what class. For me personally, it is much easier to remember something when I go to a class, the teacher tells me the date, and then I write it down. Now it seems that I need to flip through emails constantly and check the professor’s website for announcements I could have missed. I have adapted and am currently doing better with keeping up with work and managing time but I would still prefer things to go back to the way they used to be because I believe I learn better in those settings.
Welcome Elliot! Thank you for this thoughtful blog post. Your background in applied engineering will offer profound insights in this course! I definitely understand your hesitation with the week on text analysis, but it will include some conversations at a conceptual level about using algorithms and computers to “read” text. There are some ethical concerns this brings up as well, which will be interesting to talk about.
I couldn’t imagine having to juggle multiple online courses with each one being so different. It’s a lot of information to keep straight. For this class, everything is pretty self-contained in the schedule, but if you ever need any clarification on a tutorial/assignment, or would like to walk through it one on one, I would be happy to meet either in Zoom office hours or by appointment.