Important guidelines for 20.109 Class blog!
Everyone will contribute four reflective blog posts during
the semester and the grade will be part of the participation score. The due
dates for the posts are listed on the Schedule and Assignment tabs of the
course wiki. Because this blog is
visible by all current and former members of the 20.109 community your comments
should be respectful and thoughtful.
Though you can be controversial, you should not be rude or insulting.
Your digital comments will also persist long past the time you're in this class
so please don't make any comments that could be misconstrued or misinterpreted in
the future.
Things you can’t do
- Publish MIT's logo since that might be construed as MIT endorsement of your views
- Publish photographs with people’s names tagged
- Publish rude or malicious comments/statements
- Plagiarize a blog post from a past semester -- be creative and use your own experiences!
Thank you for adding to the community
by documenting your experiences in this class.
Below are topic suggestions to get you started. Happy bioengineering!
Possible blog topics
The hardest part of scientific writing for me is…
Best completed after your Data summary:
You just completed your first major science communication assignment in 20.109. The culminating writing assignments for Module 1 contained the major building blocks of a technical journal article: an abstract and the meat of the paper – data and analysis. Although scientific writing is fairly standardized and formulaic, the writers often have unique ways of tackling the process. What was the hardest element for you concerning the major assignment of Module 1? How might you approach this part differently while writing your Research article for Module 2?
You just completed your first major science communication assignment in 20.109. The culminating writing assignments for Module 1 contained the major building blocks of a technical journal article: an abstract and the meat of the paper – data and analysis. Although scientific writing is fairly standardized and formulaic, the writers often have unique ways of tackling the process. What was the hardest element for you concerning the major assignment of Module 1? How might you approach this part differently while writing your Research article for Module 2?
Conquering stage fright.
Best completed after your Journal Club
presentation:
There are several ways to calm yourself before speaking. The first, and perhaps easiest, is a deep breath and a smile. Often, the Journal Club assignment in 20.109 is the first time students formally present research published by someone else. What did you find to be the most surprising part of preparing and delivering your presentation? Were there elements that you feared, but found them to be easier than you thought or vice versa? How did you calm your nerves (if you felt any) before beginning and / or during your presentation?
There are several ways to calm yourself before speaking. The first, and perhaps easiest, is a deep breath and a smile. Often, the Journal Club assignment in 20.109 is the first time students formally present research published by someone else. What did you find to be the most surprising part of preparing and delivering your presentation? Were there elements that you feared, but found them to be easier than you thought or vice versa? How did you calm your nerves (if you felt any) before beginning and / or during your presentation?
This time around, things were easier. Or perhaps not?
Best completed after preparing your Research
article:
For many 20.109 students, the Research article completed for module 2 is the first journal-like manuscript that they have ever prepared. Your 20.109 teaching team tries very hard to provide helpful and constructive feedback through homework assignments, presentations, and discussions. While fresh in your mind, please reflect on what resources you utilized during the preparation of your paper and which you found to be the most and least helpful --- why (please provide specifics)?
Other possibilities:
For many 20.109 students, the Research article completed for module 2 is the first journal-like manuscript that they have ever prepared. Your 20.109 teaching team tries very hard to provide helpful and constructive feedback through homework assignments, presentations, and discussions. While fresh in your mind, please reflect on what resources you utilized during the preparation of your paper and which you found to be the most and least helpful --- why (please provide specifics)?
Other possibilities:
- A fun (and useful) last-post-of-the-semester is a summary post where you reflect on the first three that you have written.
- Write an executive summary of one paper that you’ve read this semester that has not already been discussed by the class as a whole. Include the major conclusions and any critical feedback you would give the authors. Why did you think this paper was interesting and important – or why not?
- Evaluate yourself as a science communicator – where did you start the semester? What area(s) have you most improved on? What remains a challenge and what are your plans to improve in that area? Are there resources that MIT (or your 20.109 teaching team!) could make available to you?
- Discuss a meeting that you had with your BE Communication Fellow. What did you find most useful? Was there anything that you found to be surprising? Confusing? Motivating? Funny?
- Provide one idea for a future module that could be developed for 20.109. What would the main goals of the module be? What techniques would be learned? How would you suggest communicating the experimental (or modeling!) results of your module (i.e. oral report, written report, mix)? Would you want to help develop it during a summer UROP or over IAP?
Comments
Post a Comment