I've been reading your entries and comments. It is obvious that this is new territory for some of you and more familiar to others. I am interested in your responses to my observations.
First, when I read the Steve Jobs opinion entries and the Organizational Memo entries, they seem very different in tone and directness. Specifically, the Steve Jobs opinion pieces took clear positions without concern for what readers might think. The Organizational Memos seemed more tentative and generic. Do you see the same thing I see? If so, why do you think that is?
Second, some entries are definitely better written than others. Some are weaker in the grammar, spelling and flow of thought than others. Yet, everyone basically gives everyone else favorable feedback. Once again, do you see the same thing? If so, why do think that is?
I agree with your observations about the first two postings Pat. I think people were more open to provide their true opinion on the Steve Jobs story because it was not personal. We were all third parties observing and commenting on what we saw. The second posting forced us to create something on our own. I think the fact that most of the class does not know each other well creates some reluctancy to be critical of other peoples work.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I think the feedback provided on the second posting wasn't very useful. Yes, the comments were complimentary although there was little constructive feedback.
I agree with the fact that Tony brought up about the class being unfamiliar with each other creating reluctancy to be critical.
ReplyDeleteI am hoping that we are becoming more comfortable blogging and with others that the feedback will begin to become more useful.
I will make a conscience effort to do this in the future.
I think that everyone could comment on Steve Job's because it allowed them to share an opinion, which everyone has. In the second blog, it seemed that either not everyone had employees or perhaps understood that the blog was suppose to 'engage' employees, therefore it became a general blog about their place of employment.
ReplyDeleteI too am struggling with the grammar/spelling found on blogs, between technology and a Master's level course it is disappointing, but I haven't commented - like Pete and Tony mentioned it is difficult to do when you don't know your classmates, however, I will step it up!
With the Steve Jobs posts it is apparent that each of us has an opinion, and I think that is great. We are able to speak our minds when describing those ideas. With the rating, I believe that it is because we are less anonymous than in the real "blogospere" and we are relying on these others to give a positive ration to our own post so don’t want to risk giving them a less than good rating.
ReplyDeleteProfessor,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your observations wholeheartedly. Personally, I feel as though I am one of the youngest in the class with the most to learn. I have provided positive feedback the majority of the time out of respect for thought provoking observations others have made which I have overlooked. In the interest of learning and developing as individuals, I think constructive criticism in a polite manner would be the most effective commentary possible. I feel this may be challenging for many of us because we have not met and we do not want to burn any bridges before they are even made. Not knowing many of our classmates it is difficult to know how the message we send would be received.
Fair observations. I do agree with about everyone that the virtual nature of the class makes us more conscious of how others will feel if we get more critical of each other in our comments.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I think the fact that we all are fellow students makes it difficult to be critical of each other. I may be wrong, but I think that it is easier for a higher authority, in this case the professor, to be critical of peers' work than for peers to critique each other.
Lastly, I think individual feedback on at least one of the blogs we have written so far will definitely help the class write better.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI believe the Steve Jobs piece was concrete enough to promote strong feelings in each of us. We have each been involved in some manner with customer service and can relate to some aspect of the Jobs article...The second blog felt somewhat generic to me because it felt like the same thing that management has been paying lip service to for the last 15 years and will continue for years to come. Especially when coupled with the same business related stuff that we've been regurgitating throughout the MBA program. I didn't really view that assignment like I should of, with the true goal of illiciting genuine enthusiasm from the audience.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we (myself included) are not nearly critical enough when providing feedback on the blogs. Critical feedback will definitely help each of us much more than happy feedback, which highlights our strong points in such a way that does little more than to fuel our own already inflated self perceptions.
Personally, I am completely brand new to the "blog" world. I have never posted or read a blog prior to this class. With that being said I think the difference between the Steve Jobs post and the second blog is that the first seemed to be more of an informal opinion while the second was a more formal memo. There are bound to be great differences in the style of the blogs.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to our comments on each others blogs, I have also found it difficult to be extremely critical. When I was commenting I consistently found myself trying leave my comments in a polite manner.
These blogs are different from other blogs because in a sense we do know each other. We are all part of a common group versus the real world where many times people that comment on other blogs will never meet or be in the same group as the blog owner.
For me, the whole blog process is new territory, one that I am learning as I proceed in this course. In my opinion, it takes time to develope a concrete and uniform voice for the blog as a whole. With that, I think giving people room to grow and strengthen their blogs is aided by positive feedback, especially in the beginning as we are getting acquainted with the course and material we are reading. As the course continues, I think we will have learned valuable principles that we can utilize in strengthening our blogs. Not every idea is sticky at first.
ReplyDeleteAs for the difference in tone and directness of the two assignments, I think the first assignment was more of an opinion piece and the second assignment took the direction of a company memo, more structured and formal in its delivery.
I agree with your observations in regards to offering feedback on classmates' blog posts. personally, I find it hard to be critical of someone's blog because I don't really feel comfortable being critical of someone I don't know on a personal level especially in this type of learning environment. I have seen some people offering suggestions to how to make specific blogs more user friendly or ascetically pleasing but I think people are afraid to be critical of anything beyond that because many of us our not experts in the subject matters being discussed.
ReplyDeleteI think we give each other favorable feedback because we all kind of feel like we're on the same baseball team playing against the big bad MBA. I don't think we're afraid of starting a debate about our opinions, but criticizing someone else's blog post is another story. Believe me there is a fine line between constructive criticism and just criticism, and everyone's perceptions are different. I don't want to offend anyone.
ReplyDelete