A Note from Prof. Pope

First, I want to make a general comment as to all the posts in the past couple of weeks. They have been outstanding. You all are clearly reading and thinking hard about the material, which is really all I want out of my students. I have been really impressed overall with the posting.

Second, you may have noticed I have not been commenting on each and every post lately. You may have assumed that's because I have been really busy and would get around to it eventually. There's an element of truth to that assumption. I have, however, realized a few things about the blog that, once realized seem obvious now. Maybe you have already realized the same things. If so, now you can have your "ha-ha" (insert Nelson voice from The Simpsons here) moment at my expense :)

• First, reading and commenting on each and every post is a lot of work for me -- more than I thought it would be, honestly. I enjoy reading what all of you have to say, but when the posts come fast and furiously it is difficult to process and thoughtfully respond to each one. Perhaps that is just a time management issue on my part, so this isn't the real issue.
• Second (this is the big issue), I may have violated all sorts of assessment rules with my comments, especially if my labels of "excellent," "good," etc are taken as a proxy for some sort of grade. If that's what they are (and, honestly, it wasn't supposed to be a grade, but it was supposed to be formative feedback), then they could have been taken as public assessment -- i.e. grading your posts in front of the entire class. One is not really supposed to do that, at least in my understanding. That wasn't what I intended, I assure you, but I have come to see how they could have been taken in that way. Such a public system could have inhibited people from posting, which would have run counter to what this blog was supposed to be for.

I just wanted to share those thoughts with you here at the close of the semester. I'd certainly be interested in any thoughts you may have about the blog and it's use for the class, as I'd like to continue it for future graduate classes. What would make the blog better? Fewer posts? More posts? Different types of posts? You can offer your feedback in the form of comments to this post. Or, if you prefer, you can email them to me. You can also give anonomyous comments via the course evaluations. Overall, I have enjoyed the blog very much, because I have enjoyed our class very much. I am just trying to make it better for future students.

Thanks!