Prompt: Share a story about your best learning experience (could be a formal course or something more personal). Why did you enjoy it?
My single best learning experience while at university was in my first-year technical writing course. Prior to this course, I did not have experience with technical writing, nor did I have great proficiency with other aspects, such as grammar, audience, and being concise. After receiving a mark on an essay that did not meet my expectations, I went to my professor’s office hours for help. Here, he helped me reach a better understanding of these concepts. For example, the use of semi-colon. First, it started with a behaviorist style of instruction by being able to identify where to place a semi-colon in a paragraph, which was met by either a yes or no response. Although this was useful for understanding the basic function of a semi-colon, it was not sufficient for understanding why it was being used. The next step was to take a more cognitive approach: define what a semi-colon is and it’s proper applications. This served to increase my confidence to apply the punctuation in my own writing. Having new learned this new tool, my professor challenged me to use it in my next essay – this emphasized learner control and active use of knowledge through a constructivism-style of instruction. With the combination of all three instructional methods, I went from being unfamiliar of the use of a semi-colon to being fully confident in its application and using it correctly in an essay.
Effective transfer was created by using the instructional methods in a way that built upon eachother. Although the behavioral instruction did not appropriately ‘teach’ how a semi-colon is used, it was necessary as a foundation to develop more complex mental planning, so the information was stored meaningfully. With the information properly process and remembered, I could still use it later when writing my essay. I enjoyed this lesson because each step presented the challenge of learning something new, but the difficulty from step to step was not overwhelming, nor did it feel discouraging at any point. Lastly, I enjoyed this lesson because I felt like I gained knowledge and added a new tool to my academic writing skills.
Hi Isaac, when I read about your experience with semicolons, I resonated with it. Last year, after transferring from Camosun College to UVic, I took a writing course called ECON 225. This course talks a lot about grammar, and one part was to use semicolons.
I remember in my second exam, I lost 2 points because of a semicolon mistake. I used a semicolon before “however”, but I capitalized the H in “However”. When joined with a semicolon, “however” should be lowercase. Because of this mistake, the sentence was incorrect. These 2 points are 2% of the final grade, which is very important to me.
Like you, I was worried that I would fail. But later, I gradually learned to use semicolons, from judging right and wrong, to understanding the rules behind the grammar, and then being able to use them in exams.
I personally hated ENGR240, however it was still better than doing poetry and all the other stuff they make you do in a lot of English classes. Also IEE references are the king. APA, MLA and Chicago can all bow down to IEE.
I hear where you’re coming from with the semicolons. I think the semicolon is something that confuses most people except software developers because every statement requires one….
At one point I didn’t really know when it was appropriate to use them either. I think I got some feedback in a few English classes but I didn’t learn to use them properly from that. I think I just got to the point that I did a google search on it because I wasn’t sure if I was using it correctly and wanted to be sure. I have a better understanding now of when to use them, though I’m sure I occasionally misuse them too.
I think the semicolon is actually something that a lot of people get confused about, perhaps it’s something that just isn’t taught that well in school?