I'm giving a presentation at the UW-Colleges ESFY conference tomorrow, March 8. My topic is how to use Blogs in English composition classes, and I'll also be talking about this personal/professional blog...so, I thought I would use the blog space to share my presentation with those who will be in attendance, and other readers who may be interested.
Creating a Community of Writers: Blogging in English 102
Why Blog?
* started personal blog in 2005: public, “self published,” semi-formal, diversity of topics. cf to creative writing, scholarly writing, personal journal
* new job, new ideas
* popular culture, american dreams, consumption themes
* create a space for students to connect outside of the class, to write in a semi-formal style, experience navigating “digital writing environment,” expose students to new media
Blog Results from Fall 2007
* most positive response from eng 102 sections
* non-trad students seemed to especially take to the form--a kind of achievement in navigating the blogosphere, and an entrance to the online world that many traditional age students are already familiar with
* encourage traditional age students to write more substantial prose online than they otherwise do at social networking sites where brevity and visual imagery is more prevalent
* model entries
* give students basic introduction/tools, and let them experiment--quite successful. students play with font color, photos, videos, weblinks, etc.
* grade entries following posted rubric--focus primarily on details, development, creativity, voice
* at least one student created his own personal blog to share some of the writing he had previously done for our class and, I think, to serve as a creative outlet
Revise/refine the assignment for Spring 2008
* only use blogs in english 102 to allow me to focus more on the assignment
* due dates and general topics included in syllabus
* take a more laissez faire approach--don’t model the assignments to students, keep my blog presence minimal
* create my own professional blog as an alternative to a website, and to make my work more transparent and visible to students and colleagues
Concerns
* privacy--closed blog because of personal information, but would like to open it up for others to see
* increased conversation--limited, because of too many entries? would blogging groups be more likely to generate conversation?
Share Current English 102 Blog
* note creativity and personalization in responses
* blogging identities
* community via comments
Brainstorm/Discussion
* other possibilities for the technology
* ideas, questions, concerns
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