Reflective Summary: My semester personal blog summary

• THOUGHTS

In the first semester, my thoughts and reflections for the blog were mostly based on my personal experiences and limited knowledge. Although I studied Urban and Rural Planning in my undergrad, I still lack a lot of knowledge on cases and some theories. I rarely write long articles, especially about my own thoughts, and I always feel like I can’t express myself clearly with words. The main reason might be that I don’t think enough before writing. This course requires a lot of reading and research after class, which, to be honest, is a bit difficult for me. Also, since English is my second language, reading it isn’t as easy as reading Chinese, so sometimes I have to look up words while I read.

• CONTENT

Writing a blog not only requires me to base it on the lecture content and define the writing direction, but it also asks me to reflect on the themes, the lectures themselves, or related issues, and write a reflective academic blog post. It also needs to be supported by relevant literature. For the references I cite in the post, I need to format the reference list correctly, which is something I’ve rarely done before.

I really enjoy this course. Every week, we have two hours where we get to learn about different topics. Although we don’t get blog writing guidance every week, I find the classes really relaxing. The teacher is very approachable and provides quick feedback on the issues we face in our learning. Also, through this course, I get to see my classmates’ different viewpoints on various topics, which helps me expand my thinking and improve my critical thinking skills.

• Reflection

Honestly, academic writing is quite a headache for me. Even when I’m confident about the topic, or even if it’s something I’ve already learned in my undergrad, when I sit in front of the computer and try to turn my thoughts into coherent words and sentences, I often feel overwhelmed. I hope I can slowly overcome this mental block next semester. Writing not only helps me develop critical thinking by reflecting on various urban issues in economics, society, politics, culture, and the environment, but it also helps me better understand the meaning of urban design. I believe this process will allow me to absorb more knowledge and ideas, which will make my future designs more logical and unique.