I've been using blogs in the classroom successfully for some time now, and was puzzled, but shrugged it off when Clancy posted this back in 2002 about her summer technical writing class and blogging. At the time my experience with classroom blogs was positive, as it still is. However, it's always different when it happens to you. After one last time teaching the second composition course in our two-part FYW series this summer, I, too, had grumbly bloggers. I think I now have a better idea about what may have gone wrong for Clancy that summer, and although I agree with her that it is most likely connected to assessment, I also think course length was a bigger factor. Six weeks may not be long enough for students to feel ownership about their classroom blogs. I go into more detail about this at Techsophist, but I wonder if anyone else here had resistant summer bloggers who never "got it" and treated blogging just like the homework they also blew off--in their view, no points equals pointless.
Classroom Blogging in Summer
Submitted by llcadle on August 24, 2004 - 08:09.
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It's a new day
And a new semester. This term I am relying on blogs heavily in my advanced comp class where we are focusing on political rhetoric and looking specifically at the convention bloggers (as well as other things). I think it could get interesting very quickly, especially if the students don't want to blog (or just don't get it)!
sb
Blog
Using what's on hand
I like that idea, Samantha. It's great to use what's on hand in blogland, especially this election year when voters really need to use their critical thinking skills to make an informed decision. I sense some writing to learn opportunities here. 8)
Individual blogs
Another reason my Summer 03 Tech Comm course blogging went over like a turd in the punchbowl is that I had my students keep individual blogs rather than contribute to one community blog. Ever since then, I've done one community blog for each class and it is much better.
CultureCat
Interaction
I like the interaction that the group blog makes possible also. I didn't get any brownie points with this bunch for using Drupal, though. It was a group blog, but even that won't work if they furtively post when they post at all and slink out without reading or commenting on other member's posts. They simply dug in their heels and refused to do anything that didn't translate into points, and I HAD to use the mandated points system which only assigned points to four essays intended for a portfolio. I had a high proportion of students who were on their second, third, or even fourth time out with this class, so they were a bit shell-shocked about writing. I don't think trying to succeed in a course in six-seven weeks when one has failed given sixteen weeks is a very good strategy for success. Oddly enough, almost all of them passed, but I don't feel good about the whole thing. It felt like a cram session. :(
Whew... Not an image I cherish! (Clancy's punchbowl, that is.)
I give students their own blogs but also make those blogs integrated into a communal site. Assignments in which students are asked to comment on each other's blogs, but are also asked to "Find two peers who disagree with each other and blog about their differences," or "Quote from a primary source to support or disagree with a statement made by another student." I let them know that their portfolio would include general requirements such as these. I also think it was very successful when students were asked to blog their oral presentations first, and in class to present from their blog. Those students who posted early often got comments from their peers (or their friends who are blogging in other classes, or strangers who happened across the blog entry).
There are always going to be students who do the bare minimum, or even less.
Dennis G. Jerz
Jerz's Literacy Weblog
Similar experience
I had similar experiences with individual blogs and graduate students (they went over like lead balloons), but community blogs have been more successful. Either that or there are so many people blogging at once you don't notice the ones who don't :-)
sb
Blog
Oh, come on, Dennis
You have to admit, it's a great expression. :D
CultureCat