From: anna 

I've really valued my short time on the research team mostly because I've
been able to be a part of "learning for the sake of learning."  Unlike many
of you, I am (somewhat) fortunate enough to have had most of my classes
here at ND be kind of like our research meetings -- small classes where
discussion is prevalent.  The HUGE difference of this experience is that
here we have people genuinely interested in the topic, making thoughtful
arguments that advance the discussion, who can bring independent research
and/or experiences into the discussion, and best of all, are contributing
for all of these reasons above and NOT because discussion is 10% of their
grade!  It has been amazing to me how much I've enjoyed our weekly meetings
and the questions we raise and the ideas we cover; in contrast to other
classes where I've been easily and repeatedly annoyed by kiss-ass teacher's
pets types who prefer to show off their usually irrelevant opinions to get
their participation check mark for the day.

Also, I've enjoyed the research and coding aspect of the course because
I've been able to read and understand parts of the civil rights movement
from primary sources and first hand accounts, instead of watered-down
textbook accounts that we've had to plod through in the past.  I also
really enjoy working independently and making my own hours -- for example,
we have a stupid reading quiz in one of my other classes tomorrow, and have
had them periodically, "just to make sure you're keeping up on the
reading."  I mean, hello, are we 10 years old or something?  Does it REALLY
matter if I get my chapter read for april 26 instead of april 29 if I
comprehend and understand all the material by the end of the semester?
Sorry for the rant. My point here is, independence in time management is
good.

Anyway, as far as suggestions for the future, I like the way the course
seems to be headed and the thoughts Dan was tossing out there last week
seemed right on target - away from primarily strict research coding, more
in the direction of independent projects, expand the range of topics.  In a
perfect world there would be many many classes similar to Dan's, the
difference being the topic, where small groups of students that share
interests in an issue can do research for a professor/advisor who is an
authority on the issue, read relevant and interesting articles, where
students can do independent projects and present them to conferences and
stuff.  I know, yes, none of these teams would be as cool as ours cause WE
HAVE DAN, but they could try, you know..

The College of Arts and Letters sort of kind of thinks they are doing this
now, with offering senior theses and directed readings, but they are
missing a key aspect, which is the weekly meetings and reflection with
their peers who offer so many interesting ideas and can update everyone on
their projects.

That's about it.  Thanks for the experience, everybody!