Further Discussion

I think we learned a lot but I’m sure there’s topics could use further discussion if the class was longer. I really enjoyed the textbook for this course and can’t really pinpoint one topic that seemed to lack information so I’m going to go off of what I thought was more interesting and what I’d personally like to look further into. I really enjoyed the marketing and advertising chapter from THINK by Judith A. Boss. It gave a lot of information on marketing strategies, advertising, etc. which was very useful. What I’d like to learn more about though is the science behind it. For example, according to Boss, stores have come up with strategies to get customers to stay in a store longer to buy something they hadn’t planned on buying. The text also says we, as critical thinkers, should be aware of these strategies but doesn’t really say how to do so.

Some Things I've Learned This Semester

I have definitely learned a lot over the semester. I thought the discussions were very helpful because it showed different people’s ideas on a certain question and had us critically thinking about our responses. I felt like there were a lot of topics in the book that I was able to relate to and it was interesting seeing an explanation for something that I do or see normally. For example, we learned about inductive arguments and one of our discussion questions asked us when we used an inductive argument in the past week. Before this course if I was asked this question, I would have no idea what that meant. After learning about it through this course, it’s easy to say “Oh yeah, I did use that type of argument.” Something else I learned through this course was to pay more attention to marketing strategies that get people to stay in stores longer. After learning about ways stores do this, I’m definitely more aware and may be less likely to impulse buy because I’m in a section too long (i.e., near the pharmacy).

My thoughts on this course

I really enjoyed this class and definitely feel like I learned a lot from it. What I like most about it is that it was online and that the assignments were laid out in the beginning of the semester to complete earlier if needed. I knew I was going out of town one week so I was able to write my blog posts before I left and submit them via the blogspot application on my phone while I was gone. My least favorite thing about this class was the group assignments. Don’t get me wrong, they were not awful, but it’s hard to work with a group you know nothing about or see in class on a regular basis. Since this is an online class, everyone has different schedules so there wasn’t a time easily decided for everyone to get together or meet before or after class like a regular on campus class group would be able to.  Other than that I have no complaints. =) the discussions were very interesting and eye opening and I’d recommend the course to anyone who asks!