As this was my first time being an observer of the group, I was unsure as to what I would need to record. One of my primary observations was the color of shirts/ jackets/ upper body clothing that people wore to class on both days. The dominating colors for Tuesday were:
- Black = 7 people
- Grey= 6 people
- Blue = 4 people
- The rest were scattered.
The dominating colors for Thursday were:
- Black= 5
- Grey= 3
- Rest of colors were scattered.
It is interesting to see that the number of dark colors decreased from one day to another, although one could say that this was due to the weather. I would like to propose the idea that perhaps this change occurred because the Thursday class was much closer to friday and the weekend. Subconsciously people may associate the days after Monday with darker colors/moods and latter days with more color and life. While this may be a trivial observation with a more-trivial analysis, it is interesting to see the change.
Another observation made was the participation of the class with the new “everyone raise your hands” policy implemented. This technique was invented so there would be more class discussion without the awkward silence in between Dr. Sample’s questions. Out of everyone who raised their hands, only 19 people form the entire class talked in Tuesday’s class. After the policy had been implemented and the fishbowl constructed, there was a rise in participation. For each question asked there an average rotation of 3 people in the seats, along with 5 people in the fishbowl being the highest number at any given time. This was more participation than had been seen before, but there were few questions asked by the students themselves. On Thursday’s class, there was more active questioning on behalf of the class. While talking about fit bits, mostly the entire class was engaged in the video chat, and more questions were asked than was the norm seen in Tuesday’s class. Firstly, 5 people asked questions about the functionality, durability, and overall advantage if the device, indicating that they were highly interested in the subject. Even more people were researching the fit bits on laptops, as every table had every person on a laptop with the exception of 1. One can potentially draw the conclusion that since the installment of the new “hands up” policy more people have gained confidence in speaking their minds and becoming involved, since everyone has a chance of being call upon.