Blogging

In the last class period, we spent a good deal of time discussing ratings/feedback and whether they are actually counter-productive in our learning process. Kim commented that rather than "learning to learn" many of us "learn to test", and students learn for a good grade. Although many of us decided that this extrinsic motivation (getting a good grade), is not necessarily the best type of motivation, I think that even experts begin with extrinsic motivation at a young age.

The "Expert Mind" article states that many people develop expertise because of their joy to win and desire for competition. In my opinion, this is similar to the example we gave in class, where second graders complete their multiplication tables in order to be the first one done to receive candy. I think this competition in itself is external motivation. Thus, a possible theory is that what separates an expert from a novice is that experts are successful in what they try, and this keeps them going.

We are motivated by rewards and when we get a reward, we continue to go along that path. Just like "The Scientific American" mentioned, I think that even if "experts are made, not born", those that are naturally gifted will have the self-serving bias to perform. A taller person will get the ball more in basketball, thus getting more practice, training, and rewards. A 2nd grader who does well in math will be put in the advanced classes, getting more attention. These young athletes and math-letes are externally motivated, but they are continually getting these rewards, so they continue to study their field. They find they are good at it, become passionate about it, and become experts at it. We, as a society, drive this by associating people with categories, and then the self-serving bias comes into play.

Another topic to discuss would be whether the objective ways of grading is just another addition to the self-serving bias. Do we perform based off of the grades that we receive? If we receive a bad grade in our major, do we automatically assume that this major may not be for us? I think it is so difficult to be completely intrinsically motivated and not worry about grades in a society where our grades decide our future in a big way.

I think these blogs are a good way to "train" us to be intrinsically motivated. Although we know the areas in which we will be evaluated, there is no "right" answer for us to worry about. Yet we do still receive feedback (in the form of comments). This feedback-format of learning directly relates to what we were talking about where MIT students continue to get feedback without A-B-C-D-Fs. I, in fact, don't feel like I have a sense of blogging style. I've had experience writing formally or for papers, but this semi-informal, conversational writing is not one that I am quite comfortable with. I think for me to more successfully develop my style, and to get more out of blogging, I need to dedicate more time and organization to the matter. I find myself reading the topic at the beginning of the week, and letting them soak in. Nashrah, in her most recent post, talked about time management and not knowing what to write. I completely agree. Throughout the week, I will think of big ideas. Yet when I am actually writing at the end of the week, I continue to think of these big ideas. I actually think that one of my problems might be trying to be too abstract rather than just letting my ideas flow in more of a stream of consciousness manner.

When I first found out that we would be doing blogs for class, I immediately thought of my favorite blogger, Tim Urban. (Tim Urban's Blog) Tim was a finalist on the Apprentice, and he doesn't blog about one thing in particular, basically just what comes to mind. And it's great. The most recent post discusses splitting his life into 3 phases. Maybe thinking about blogging in 3 stages could be helpful. The first stage, where I think of these big ideas and write them down as I think of them. Then in the second stage, I can add notes to these. In the third stage, I can finalize and actually write the blog. By waiting at least a couple days between the first and third stage, the ideas can marinate more, allowing stage 2 to be more successful. I tried to do this today, which put me back a couple hours.