Interesting Concept

I found the concept of generalizing really interesting from Chapter 14 of Epstein.  I am sure everyone had a previous understanding of this concept before reading Chapter Fourteen.  After reading this section I realized how many people, including myself, generalize on a daily basis.  When making a claim people sometimes assume EVERYONE does this.  According to Epstein generalizing is defines as, “We are generalizing if we conclude a claim about a group, the population, from a claim about some part of it, the sample.  To generalize is to make an argument” (pg. 280).  This definition is very clear and concise.  Epstein makes it extremely easy to understand.  A generalization that I hear a lot from friends is, “Nobody understands.”  They are making an argument that nobody understands them.  They are generalizing to the whole population. 
            To conclude this post, since it is my last for this class, I would just like to say that I have enjoyed reading everyone’s posts.  It has really helped me to better understand the concepts discussed in the book.

Favorite and Least Favorite Thing

One of my favorite things about the class was the fact that it was online.  Also, it was extremely easy to contact the professor and ask questions.  She always responded within an extremely timely manner with the answer to your question.  Another thing that I liked was the blogs and comments because they kept me on task and learning the material.  It also helped me to better understand the concepts because it was explained in a different person’s point of view.  The projects were a big help to pulling everything together and applying it to real life.

My least favorite thing was the fact that the posts had to be twelve hours apart.  It was really hard with my busy schedule to make sure I posted them twelve hours apart.  Also, having to meet up with our group was horrible.  It was hard enough to try to get together, but especially for the last project it was extremely difficult to get our group together AND bring 7-10 other people. 

I think overall, the class was a really good class to take.  However, I think the time limit for the blogs should be removed and I think that we should not have to meet up in person for the projects.  People take online classes so they can do them on their own time.  It was really difficult to meet up.

What I have Learned

I have learned a lot in this class over the course of the semester.  In fact, I think this is the most I have ever learned from an online class.  I learned a lot about how to make a clear argument and how to support that argument.  A lot of the concepts from this class I had already learned in previous classes but the book and the website links given made the concepts a lot clearer.  I was able to better understand how to point out an invalid or weak argument that someone else had made.  The book gave really good examples and explanations.  I also learned a lot about other people through the blogs and comments that were posted.  The projects also taught me a lot, not only through the concepts but also how to organize and put together projects through an online class.  The small tool boxes in the book gave me a clearer understanding of what Epstein was trying to explain.