Week 9 Thoughts

I am very relieved having received clarification from Datta Kaur regarding assessment assignment; "You will not be assessing your team members. Instead you will be assessing your team paper (self-assessment) and another group paper (peer-assessment)."

Clarice, Tokyo (3/4/08)

When I opened my group's document that was posted to the class DB, I was a bit surprised at the errors I found. I don't recall seeing this on the document I received my email. I went ahead and based my self-assessment on what the rest of the class would be reading.

I finally turned in my self and peer assessment after much thought. I was much harder on my group's paper because it is a reflection of myself which may not be the way to do an appropriate self-assessment. Also, because I was most familiar with my own group topic, this may have contributed to my assessment results.

When I checked the DB, I did not see any comments from my group regarding the errors on the document. I'll wait and see who will post a comment.

Clarice, Tokyo (3/5/08)

I read DB posts from Marsha, Mark, Herb, and Susan. I believe Susan made an honest mistake in posting the incorrect version and Marsha as our team leader is correct. There are minor flaws but they can be fixed. The information we presented is very good.

After reading my group's comments I went back to the rubric. Looking over the various categories, I still feel that each category was applicable and relevant to a good research paper. It did not put more weight in one area or the other. This rubric was designed to produce a fair assessment.

Clarice, Tokyo (3/7/08)

* * * * * ** * * Summary * * * * * * *

Datta Kaur,

This has been a difficult past two weeks, not in this class, but in another. I am required to complete a mini-dissertation or critical incident analysis by week 10. I chose to write about eLearning in Japan and my husband was not pleased with my subject. Here's the short story, an excerpt sent by email to my instructor.

"I am at a crossroads with my paper. I chose to write a mini- dissertation on Japan's progress in the eLearning environment and using"real life" examples from the Japanese newspaper rather than solely relying on academic writings and research. Formal research documents did not provide all the information I was looking for.

My husband, who is born and raised in Japan, has difficulties in understanding certain guidelines for this final assignment. He knows about them because we talk over coffee.

1. Producing a paper from the perspective of an "experienced practitioner in designing for interactivity" - If I am at fault in my thinking, it will bring untold shame to his family name. It also shows that I am not a humble person. It does not matter if this paper will be published or not. This is not proper Japanese way of thinking.

2. It is OK with my husband if I write a paper from the perspective of being a foreigner, a new student to online learning (as not to offend any Japanese educator or business person), and showing humility and respect for Japanese and Japanese culture.

3. It is OK if I am constructive in my thoughts but, offering any strong conclusions or opinions would be most distressing (American/New York thinking). A fair summary would be more appropriate."

In hindsight I should have known better. When I wrote the mini-report "Learning How To Bow on the Inernet" my husband could not decided if this would not be too offensive to have published online. He finally consented but, there is some invisible line or boundary that I still cannot fully comprehend at work here.

Also, a foreigner writing about Japan and Japanese is a very tricky subject and seems to be an area that one should steer clear of if they do not have enough experience and understanding of its people. I am glad that my instructor allowed me to convert this assignment to a critical incident analysis which I have been working hard to complete. My participation in DB 9 has been poor for this class for above reason.

I will try to catch up with the DB if possible.

Clarice, Tokyo 3/11/08 Tokyo