GENERAL COMMENTS ON THE PROGRESS OF DISCUSSION GROUPS September 4, 2003

 

Remember to focus your discussion on the Project question. It is fine to comment on acting styles and so on but the forums should focus on the question. For instance in Breaker Morant  is it really important to catch all the dialogue given the apparent difficulty of understanding Australian actors or distinguishing one from another? Only as much as that helps answer the Project question, which frankly does not require you to catch every spoken word.

 

Look for the Feedback on Project 1 http://courses.nus.edu.sg/course/hisilg/feedback0304project1.html on Monday September 8 for more guidance.

 

Organisation

 

Participation levels: Overall, the groups have been involved with the discussions on an active basis with the exception of about six who have yet to get their act together.

 

While the spread of topic is interesting, it is also essential to note that we should be focusing on the macro topic of film and history instead of the micro bits of the films which are only supposed to be used to substantiate the discussions. 

 

Style and Format: I see two extremes here, people satisfied with one sentence postings and those with essay length thoughts. Although there are no universal format, I do encourage group members to make their postings concise. The difficult part is always to condense and summarise our thoughts.

 

Project: Although there has been some fair discussion so far, some groups have not as yet explored how to use the discussion forum to help in their assignments.

 

 

On the whole, the scope of the discussion has been comprehensive and mature, reflecting a general enthusiasm and interest in the topic even though groups can improve their organisation of the discussion.