Hands-on assignments VS. writing papers? Which do you prefer?

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Wow, this is my second semester at a community college. My first year was at a state university, by the way. During this semester I’m taking History to Rock N Roll, Intro to Mass Communications, Children’s Literature, Environmental Biology, and Minnesota History. Last semester I took a garden variety of other classes, and none of them had “hands on” assignments – it was all writing papers, researching, reading, etc. Now why is it for this semester, these assignments are completely high-school-y and unconventional? They are actually “hands on” assignments. Maybe because I’m taking the classes online, the teachers want me to have to get out and about. I don’t know. But here are some examples of upcoming assignments: *Music Class: Must go to 2 concerts by end of semester and review the musical aspects of the performances and the venue *Environmental Biology: Must do a 5 hour “biological community summary” – where I sit outside and observe interactions between plants, animals, and insects *Minnesota History: Must go to some historical site in Minnesota, take a tour, and write a total evaluation and historical paper about it. What’s up with this? I’ve never taken a group of classes that all had “hands on” assignments before. I like it, but I am much better at writing than being hands-on. Ha ha. Have you ever had an nontraditional college assignment like this? What was it? Do you prefer this or writing papers?