In looking around at others' blogs, it seems like a lot of people found the structure of the course to be challenging. Personally, this wasn't the case for me because I have taken another course at IU that required blog posts after each reading, so I didn't find this too troubling. I will admit the due dates were a bit odd: since classes are on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I expected to complete the blog posts on those days or at the least the night before. Completing the reading responses by 5 pm on Mondays and Wednesdays was a challenge and took some adjusting, but once I got into the swing of things it was pretty easy to keep up with.
Along the same lines, I found the heavy amount of reading, especially at the beginning of the semester, to be challenging in completing, particularly by the 5 pm due date on the day before class. I felt like I was constantly struggling to catch up in the Karen Armstrong book, and not because I wasn't reading, but because reading three chapters/ 80 pages between Monday and Wednesday at 5 pm was nearly impossible with my hectic schedule. Over the weekends, I was usually able to catch up to Monday's readings, but come Wednesday I was always behind. In my opinion, the first half of the course was too heavily-based on readings, and conversely, the end of the semester was too light. I do enjoy the contrast in the literacy pieces we read towards the end, as well as exploring different websites, but I struggled with the transition between the two sections and in adapting to the assignments.
In terms of a more personal struggle, I truly had a difficult time putting myself into the Israeli mindset, especially relating to building the separation barrier and settling in Palestinian lands. I was never able to empathize with their actions or the struggles they may have been facing, especially before taking this class. However, listening to the Israeli speakers was really eye-opening because in meeting real, Israeli individuals with differing opinions of the conflict, I stopped thinking of Israel as a comprehensively violent or oppressive entity, and rather one made up of diverse individuals with different views of the conflict. I was surprised to hear that some of them sympathized with the Palestinian struggle, and most of them just wanted to live in peace. I suppose this is because when you are only hearing about the atrocities and injustices a community commits, you start to think of everyone in that community in a negative manner. I feel like this class was a wake-up call in proving to me that this is never the case, and that generalizations and stereotypes are extremely dangerous concepts to hold on to.
In terms of a more personal struggle, I truly had a difficult time putting myself into the Israeli mindset, especially relating to building the separation barrier and settling in Palestinian lands. I was never able to empathize with their actions or the struggles they may have been facing, especially before taking this class. However, listening to the Israeli speakers was really eye-opening because in meeting real, Israeli individuals with differing opinions of the conflict, I stopped thinking of Israel as a comprehensively violent or oppressive entity, and rather one made up of diverse individuals with different views of the conflict. I was surprised to hear that some of them sympathized with the Palestinian struggle, and most of them just wanted to live in peace. I suppose this is because when you are only hearing about the atrocities and injustices a community commits, you start to think of everyone in that community in a negative manner. I feel like this class was a wake-up call in proving to me that this is never the case, and that generalizations and stereotypes are extremely dangerous concepts to hold on to.
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