Comments on: Freshman Blogs http://www.toddseal.com/rodin/2005/04/freshman-blogs/ Challenge The Status Quo Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:57:06 -0800 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: Todd http://www.toddseal.com/rodin/2005/04/freshman-blogs/comment-page-1/#comment-30 Todd Sun, 11 Sep 2005 12:29:00 +0000 http://www.toddseal.com/teaching/?p=79#comment-30 Is it a safe assumption that "uni" means "university"? That's where I can see WebCT coming in. Doesn't WebCT have something like blogging built into its system? Even a message board can operate like a blog, in some respects. Do you have to go outside WebCT to get that function? To keep the amount of times students have to log in/out of things is a concern, so it all feels more like one fluid and cohesive process.<br /> <br /> I'm thinking of tranforming the double-entry journals that my students have kept every year for the last 4 years into a blogging experience. Instead of writing in a spiral-bound notebook to be turned in every 2 weeks, they'll write an entry in their blog and respond to another peer's entry each week. I usually have the journals as a very narrowly defined writing space. Making it a blog will help me keep the writing possibilities wide open. I think it will also let the students feel a bit more free to write what they are thinking.<br /> <br /> The trouble with all of this is that it's just a matter of time until the powers that be at the district level shut down access to all of these tools. Your paper on using LiveJournal wouldn't be viable in my district; the district firewall has blocked LiveJournal and MySpace, so no one can use either site on campus.<br /> <br /> You mentioned literature students finding and learning that "blogging is a true creative outlet." Let's see if we get any closer to that goal this year. Keep me posted on how the year goes for you, what you do differently or similarly to last year, and how your paper comes along. Is it a safe assumption that “uni” means “university”? That’s where I can see WebCT coming in. Doesn’t WebCT have something like blogging built into its system? Even a message board can operate like a blog, in some respects. Do you have to go outside WebCT to get that function? To keep the amount of times students have to log in/out of things is a concern, so it all feels more like one fluid and cohesive process.

I’m thinking of tranforming the double-entry journals that my students have kept every year for the last 4 years into a blogging experience. Instead of writing in a spiral-bound notebook to be turned in every 2 weeks, they’ll write an entry in their blog and respond to another peer’s entry each week. I usually have the journals as a very narrowly defined writing space. Making it a blog will help me keep the writing possibilities wide open. I think it will also let the students feel a bit more free to write what they are thinking.

The trouble with all of this is that it’s just a matter of time until the powers that be at the district level shut down access to all of these tools. Your paper on using LiveJournal wouldn’t be viable in my district; the district firewall has blocked LiveJournal and MySpace, so no one can use either site on campus.

You mentioned literature students finding and learning that “blogging is a true creative outlet.” Let’s see if we get any closer to that goal this year. Keep me posted on how the year goes for you, what you do differently or similarly to last year, and how your paper comes along.

]]> By: Michael Griffith http://www.toddseal.com/rodin/2005/04/freshman-blogs/comment-page-1/#comment-29 Michael Griffith Fri, 09 Sep 2005 23:29:00 +0000 http://www.toddseal.com/teaching/?p=79#comment-29 All sounds very familiar. have been running blogs for a year with 3 uni groups (1st, 2nd and 3rd years). The first years are doing best because this is what they thought uni was all about... but 2nd and 3rd year is push push push all the way home... I am about to give a paper on the use of LiveJournal within the framework of WebCT.... why I think blogging adds a personalised dimension to Online Education Giants like WebCT.... why also I think that Literature students should learn/find that blogging is a true creative outlet.... will be trying it all again next year... thanks for your experience....<br /> MG All sounds very familiar. have been running blogs for a year with 3 uni groups (1st, 2nd and 3rd years). The first years are doing best because this is what they thought uni was all about… but 2nd and 3rd year is push push push all the way home… I am about to give a paper on the use of LiveJournal within the framework of WebCT…. why I think blogging adds a personalised dimension to Online Education Giants like WebCT…. why also I think that Literature students should learn/find that blogging is a true creative outlet…. will be trying it all again next year… thanks for your experience….
MG

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