I’m going to go through the different requirements of the class and evaluate them each in terms of my enjoyment and what I gained from them.

Reflections
Reflections are biweekly (with the exception of this last week, hence my late response) and, while not difficult to write, do require a certain amount of thought and effort. The idea of the reflections is to explore further thoughts on the week’s topics, often applying them directly into your life. I tend to meander in mine; once I’ve figured out what I want to discuss, I simply write down my thoughts and let them flow.

Mini-Lectures
The mini-lectures are exactly that- miniature lectures, often enhanced with multimedia and links elsewhere. They’re short, down-to-earth, and introduce the topics that will be discussed in the forums and reflections. Again, they are biweekly, and only take a few minutes to read.

The Forum
The forum is really the hub of activity in this class; without them, you could probably forget the class exists until every other Friday, but since it’s almost always active and discussions are ongoing, you’re almost always involved in the class. I have the forum on RSS, updating me on constant new posts and keeping me in the loop even when I have no time to write without overwhelming me. There is a special section for off-topic discussions, and the rest of the sections appear biweekly as the next mini-lecture appears.

Papers
There are three papers and a final project, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that while other classes tend to require papers that are dry or specifically on class subjects, these papers are really about us and who we are in terms of the class and learning. In a sense, they’re sort of a self-evaluation and are probably the most self-applicable assignments I’ve written in my college career.

Readings
The readings are sometimes fairly long, and they do take quite a bit of time. I’ve found that they enhance the class, rather than being necessary, per se, but most were interesting and enjoyable to read.

Quizzes
…

We have yet to have any. But I’m not complaining!

All in all, this was one of my favorite classes, and despite the amount of work I had to put into it, I haven’t regretted it once. To new students: don’t be discouraged by the signup process (which isn’t easy)- it’s worth it. 🙂