THE FINAL PROPOSAL

As we approach the end of the semester, a quick reflection on what transpired during these last thirteen weeks highlights what is achievable if the right guidance and advice is given. The determination of the professor to see to it that failure was not an option in this venture, created a special excitement that was not present when the process began, but was very evident towards the end. The reason could have been the students lack of confidence in their writing ability, I included, and how intimidated we were on realising how massive an undertaking this could have been. As time went by and we began to nibble at the project, small chunks at a time, it began to feel a bit more comfortable in terms of achieving our target. It is instructive to note that this class is composed of students who are all majors in some form of engineering course, and are not usually the type of student with any love or passion for writing. This is where the apprehension to this voluminous writing assignment originated. Now that we are almost at the end, and the projects have gone through their evolution and are now final project, there is a sense of accomplishment that was only a faint glimmer when it all began on the 27 August 2008

The Process that we went through

Now that our topics were selected, and our teams formed we were off to the challenge. The fact that City Tech is a commuter college, most students are very keen to depart the doors of the college as soon as their classes are over. Some students have jobs that they have to go to, and some have long distances to travel to get to their home. This creates a unique challenge to preparing group work, and so some form of accommodation had to be made to facilitate this joint effort. The Internet served as a virtual home that gave some semblance of working together. The juggling of task, and the delegation of duties made this process more manageable. The research was done online, as well as in the corridors of the college, at the lunch tables and most places where there was a gathering. There were always deadlines set by the professor without which, these proposals would not have been delivered on schedule. The guidance and professional approach of the professor made the task much more manageable. There were drafts, reviews and resubmission that took care of editorial as well as structural errors.

The concept of the Proposal

From the proposal idea presentation six topics were chosen. However there were two that had similar themes; the first topic was Gym improvements and extended operating hours, and the other Gym credit courses. After some deliberations the consensus was that the two could be combined as a single proposal. This made it easy to form the group that would prepare that proposal. I have taken the liberty to post my group partner's blog link on my page so his views can be seen by persons who visit my blog. http://marvin-classclassmoreclass.blogspot.com

Annotated Bibliography

In preparation for writing the proposal we needed to do some research on the chosen topic and so the Annotated Bibliography was prepared. we were required to search the Internet for information that would support our proposal topic. A brief description and assessment of the site was complied in order to evaluate the information from the site. That Annotated Bibliography was presented in Chicago style format and would form part of the final proposal.

CLASS PROJECT

This semester was a very exciting on for me, as it took me on an exciting journey to discover working as a group on a special project. It began with brainstorming ideas that were within our scope to research and eventually compiling a proposal for presentation from the best and most practical ideas. Fair to say that every one did not stick to the criteria and some ideas were rather complex and fell outside the scope and competence of our group.The process of screening the ideas was very exciting and involved and at the end there was consensus in the topics that were finally selected. Every student was required to select a topic and make a presentation to the class with a view to persuade the class that their topic was worthy of being considered as a proposal topic.
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Analysis of questionaire

Initially I was doubtful about what type of information would be provided from the questionnaire that I designed, and how the students would respond to the questions that were presented. A number of the areas that I did perceive to be somewhat irrelevant, was proven otherwise, by the responses generated from the questionnaire. The survey responses disproved the assumption that most students at the college were aware of the facilities that were at their disposal. However, the response to the survey was very positive, most students who were approached were patient and willing to do the survey. Something that was reinforced from the survey, was the fact that most students do not like to write; since the section that required any additional comments was left blank in ninety percent of the respondents.

Getting to the top

This is a completely new area for me, while it is the talk about, blogging only recently entered my vocabulary, and was brought to the fore through the efforts of my present English 1133 professor, and I look forward to enjoying the journey. I am still Very apprehensive to the notion that I am being given the liberty to say as I please, which is what I understand blogging to be. However I am subject to correction,

My entry into unchartered territory

Blogging was a completely new idea to me when I saw it listed on my syllabus. The most I had heard of Blogging was in the news of comments that were posted in blogs on what had happened or said in the news. Now I have an opportunity to tell my story in what every way that I choose. I was a bit apprehensive at the start but I am of the view that with time it Will surely grow on me.