I am glad to be done with this term. I am not sure how I feel about this course, to be honest. It was by no means one of the best courses I’ve ever taken, nor one of the worst. What I can say about it definitively is: it’s certainly been different than my other classes. Specifically in terms of grading.
This contractual grading system had a strange affect on me, which is that I began to care less and less about my performance for this class. I think this was, to some degree, the point? But it felt quite negative for me actually, since I felt less and less invested in the course content as the weeks went on. I don’t think this is necessarily because I am guaranteed a certain mark, I’ve certainly rejected certain coursework or done additional work in other classes, depending on how the the subject in question piqued my interest. Rather, I think that this contractual system resulted in an atmosphere that eventually became too disorganized and discouraging and this is what ultimately resulted in my disinterest. I can see this being an unpopular opinion and I can also see how disorganization would have the opposite affect on some people. It isn’t good or bad.
All that said, I found the majority of the texts for this course fascinating. Highlights included: Cartucho, Fire from the Mountain and Invisible. I particularly liked last class when we spoke with the author of Invisible (though I’ve forgotten his name, sorry.) I found him a little shy at first, but then endearing and sincere. I especially liked the time lapse video of him drawing, very cool. Also it was nice that he read our blogs? That seemed like some additional work on his part.
I don’t know what I learned from this course apart from knowledge about the specific texts and histories they alluded/pertained to. Hopefully it will come to me later. I was hoping it would shed some light on something I could put energy towards from within the institution that wouldn’t burn me out and bum me out or strengthen my resolve to drop out, but it did neither. I am a pretty indecisive person after all and those are decisions I should make by myself, most likely. Thanks everyone for your time and consideration and fascinating input, even if we didn’t always, or almost never, saw eye to eye it was a neat experience.