The biggest thing I got out of this course was the amount of critical thinking it involved. In previous history classes, it has been easy to sit through lectures, memorize the study guide,  and take the test, without truly thinking or analyzing. This class forced me to step out of my box farther than I ever have. It challenged my critical thinking skills and at the same time taught me new information on a much deeper level of understanding than most classes. I felt like rather than skimming the surface of many topics, we covered a few topics and I actually learned about, for example, not only the structure, but the communities that built them, and the values and beliefs that led to its rise and/or fall. This was the first disciplinary lens class that I didn’t feel was a total waste of time and actually improved my skills in writing and analyzing, rather than an annoying assignment that had to be turned in each week. I feel the skills I learned in this class will help me later in being able to sort out information and put some sort of educated use to it.

This class would be better taught as a face-to-face class. There was a LOT of information to be sorted through, and being an online class sometimes made it difficult to sort through and process everything. There were times I wished I had the class in person so that a professor would be able to help me sort through the information without feeling so overwhelmed about the reading I had. But, it did force me to sort this information on my own, and figure it out myself, which helped me grow in my analyzation skills. I also think an in-person discussion on a few of the topics covered would have been very interesting, seeing different view points and opinions- you can only go so deep into a conversation about a topic via online discussion.