A few reassuring words
I have had a query about the connections essay and the requirements for it. Here is what the syllabus says:
"One of the ways of fostering that goal (of making connections) is by making deliberate connections between what we're reading and talking about in class and your area of interest."
So the purpose of the connections essay is to take one or two ideas that we have been discussing and analyze how they apply in your own area of expertise. For example, if you are in school psych and you found the discussion of motivation particularly interesting, you could analyze the degree to which one or more of the models presented either in the book or during class would be applicable to working with an individual student who is manifesting a lack of motivation. How would you counsel a teacher to help that student? Or if you are in instructional technology and you found the discussion of one of the basic mechanisms (say distributed practice) very interesting, analyze how the concept of distributed practice does or does not apply in a technology-driven system. If you think it should, how would you go about incorporating that idea into systems that you might design?
The top grades on the connections essays go to essays that go well beyond the book or the class discussion. They evidence much deeper processing of the material and an attempt to extend it either theoretically or practically. They might point out strengths or weaknesses, new possible applications, connections with other theories, and so on. A word that might describe such thinking would be "insightful." Of course, the length restrictions would mean you could only do one or two of these.
A good essay (as opposed to the above) would be a solid analysis of the application of a concept to a situation, but would not go too much beyond what we have read about or discussed. It would be more like the application level of Bloom's taxonomy. You would take a theory as is and show how and why it would work in an area of interest to you.
Lower scores would be associated with misinterpretations, errors, or untenable assumptions. They would also result from unclear writing or careless writing and so on.
The length prescribed is between 2 and 4 pages. These are typed pages, double-spaced. This means you can't ramble. You must be succinct and clear the first time around.
The essay is due next Monday.
If there are any essays that have severe misinterpretations of the assignment this first time around, I will allow you to rewrite it after talking to me to clarify what was intended.
As noted on the syllabus, there is an example of an essay available on the website (http://www.utexas.edu/courses/svinicki/382L) along with the grading criteria.
I hope this helps explain the assignment. If not, please feel free to call or email with questions.