Would you consider taking a one extra week pause, after next week’s presentation is up and live (i.e. give next week a 2 week duration)? I realize there is lots of material to cover in the book. You could perhaps take a vote late next week to see how the participants feel about it.
For me, I enjoy reading all the links and extra sources (please, once again, do keep those coming.) But it exponentially increases the weekly load.
Luke graciously stops in now and then and drops off a link, and usually that leads me to downloading half a dozen other PDFs that I find that fit my research needs tightly, which itself is a week’s reading. Plus the moderator’s links and questions, and other participants.
I end up rushing, and my posts become kind of crappy, compared to what they would be. One extra week, given this and next week;s topic content, would help me… but as I say, taking a vote would be the right way. Other areas of the book, as I glance ahead, won’t be as central and thought-intensive (for me, idiosyncratically) so this is kind of an exceptional request by me, as I forsee it.
Otherwise, things are great, as I mentioned in other posts.
What are some ways it might be modified? The summaries are clear, and the links to additional material quite apt and helpful for those who wish to pursue the ideas in greater depth. So the ways in which one might modify the reading group in future weeks are not apparent to me.
There could be more or fewer of various parts; I could not link to so many things if nobody actually wants to pursue things to greater depth; the questions could be different in level or kind; the language could be suited to a different audience; we could have an online meetup to talk about the most interesting things; I could try to interview a relevant expert and post it; I could post a multiple choice test to see if you remember the material; the followup research questions could be better suited for an afternoon rather than a PhD...
Please keep the links coming at the same rate (unless the workload for you is unfairly high.) I love the links… enormous value! It may take me several days to check them out, but they are terrific! And thanks to Caitlin Grace for putting up her/your honors thesis. Wonderful reading!
Summaries are just right, too.
“If it ain’t broke, don”t fix it.”
I agree with Jeff Alexander, above. This is terrific as-is.
-Tom
the followup research questions could be better suited for an afternoon rather than a PhD
Could they? Very well! I hereby request at least one such research question in a future week, marked as such, for comparison to the grander-scale research questions.
An online meetup might be nice, but I’m not confident in my ability to consistently attend at a particular time, as evinced by my not generally participating live on Monday evenings.
Interviewing a relevant expert is useful and related, but somewhat beyond the scope of a reading group. I vote for this only if it suits your non-reading-group goals.
Multiple choice questions are a good idea, but mainly because taking tests is a useful way to study. Doing it to gather data on how much participants remember seems less useful, unless you randomly assign participants to differently arranged reading groups and then want to assess effectiveness of different approaches. (I’m not suggesting this latter bit be done.)
How would you like this reading group to be different in future weeks?
Would you consider taking a one extra week pause, after next week’s presentation is up and live (i.e. give next week a 2 week duration)? I realize there is lots of material to cover in the book. You could perhaps take a vote late next week to see how the participants feel about it. For me, I enjoy reading all the links and extra sources (please, once again, do keep those coming.) But it exponentially increases the weekly load. Luke graciously stops in now and then and drops off a link, and usually that leads me to downloading half a dozen other PDFs that I find that fit my research needs tightly, which itself is a week’s reading. Plus the moderator’s links and questions, and other participants.
I end up rushing, and my posts become kind of crappy, compared to what they would be. One extra week, given this and next week;s topic content, would help me… but as I say, taking a vote would be the right way. Other areas of the book, as I glance ahead, won’t be as central and thought-intensive (for me, idiosyncratically) so this is kind of an exceptional request by me, as I forsee it.
Otherwise, things are great, as I mentioned in other posts.
What are some ways it might be modified? The summaries are clear, and the links to additional material quite apt and helpful for those who wish to pursue the ideas in greater depth. So the ways in which one might modify the reading group in future weeks are not apparent to me.
There could be more or fewer of various parts; I could not link to so many things if nobody actually wants to pursue things to greater depth; the questions could be different in level or kind; the language could be suited to a different audience; we could have an online meetup to talk about the most interesting things; I could try to interview a relevant expert and post it; I could post a multiple choice test to see if you remember the material; the followup research questions could be better suited for an afternoon rather than a PhD...
Please keep the links coming at the same rate (unless the workload for you is unfairly high.) I love the links… enormous value! It may take me several days to check them out, but they are terrific! And thanks to Caitlin Grace for putting up her/your honors thesis. Wonderful reading! Summaries are just right, too. “If it ain’t broke, don”t fix it.” I agree with Jeff Alexander, above. This is terrific as-is. -Tom
Could they? Very well! I hereby request at least one such research question in a future week, marked as such, for comparison to the grander-scale research questions.
An online meetup might be nice, but I’m not confident in my ability to consistently attend at a particular time, as evinced by my not generally participating live on Monday evenings.
Interviewing a relevant expert is useful and related, but somewhat beyond the scope of a reading group. I vote for this only if it suits your non-reading-group goals.
Multiple choice questions are a good idea, but mainly because taking tests is a useful way to study. Doing it to gather data on how much participants remember seems less useful, unless you randomly assign participants to differently arranged reading groups and then want to assess effectiveness of different approaches. (I’m not suggesting this latter bit be done.)
Thank you for the examples.