For your listening enjoyment, whilst reading the following post:
As I think about
reflecting on the course, and specifically on the blog, Jim Morrison’s voice
continues to boom in my head. Why am I so happy to see this blog come to its
close? Well, let me explain. First, I always felt so pressured to create
original and interesting posts, which was somewhat difficult, since we
discussed so much in class and there were so many of us posting and commenting.
Once I’d figure it out, I’d spend hours composing the post (losing one along
the way, which caused a mini-breakdown in the middle of an-already-too-stressful weekend) and
then check daily, asking aloud to my girlfriend, Ginny, “I wonder if anyone
commented on my blog post?!” Now it’s become a joke, something she says before
she opens her laptop. (No lie: she just asked our cat, "Frosty, did anyone comment on your blog post?!"). The sad thing is I really
was anxious to see who had commented
and what feedback he/she had provided, but not many people did. There are still some posts with no comments! "What up with that?" I think there were so many posts, and we are all so
busy reading a gazillion other things, that there wasn’t much time to fully and
thoughtfully read and comment on many posts beyond the required amount. Second,
in my opinion, blogs aren’t really that much of an advance in an attempt to be tech-savvy in a course. They are linear and somewhat rigid, and when they
are driven by mandates, I find them less exciting. I know, I’m a horrible
person/student for saying all of this, but honestly: I hate blogs and blogging.
I did, however,
appreciate the pre-presentation blogs because they were helpful in grounding us
not only in the reading for the day’s discussion, but the presenter’s approach
to the discussion as well. Instead of the mandatory three blogging periods in
which everyone posts, I think it would be beneficial to have two people
responsible for posting each week (either two independent posts or one main
post with one main response post), so everyone is engaged in the same
conversation rather than scant comments here and there, spread thin across
forty-some posts. I think that’s the main issue for me: I’d rather comment in
order to become a part of a conversation that feels on-going and fluid, rather
than posting on something that feels static and immobile. Does that make sense?
And what did I <<heart>>
about the blogging experience? Well, for one, I realized how adept and
intelligent my colleagues are. The level of quality, commitment, and critical
thinking in each post was stellar, and I learned a lot about everyone’s
individual academic interests from the outside source material each person
brought to the table (or maybe screen is more appropriate). The videos, images,
memes, and backgrounds were amusing and made this class blogging experience
better than others in the past that merely used the boresville Blackboard version.
I’m curious. How
many of you use blogs in your composition classrooms, and how well do they go
over? If we ask students to blog without putting number/time restrictions on
them, will they actually blog and respond? What if we had students create their
own personal blog that was meant to converge the class and their life? How
might that go over? I’m certainly not giving up on blogging - I think the genre
could be more fruitful with some insight and creativity.
For Stupid Fun
And the Blog
Post Oscars go to….
Best post: “Queering
Pinterest: An Experiment in Disruption” by Matt Vetter
Best post
soundtrack: “Reading ‘Hectic Zen’” by Jonathon Harris
Best quote: “Don’t
be an iPad!” – Matt Vetter
Best title: “Anzaldua,
Orgasms, and Pedagogy!” by Aaron Duncan
Best meme in a
supporting role: “Hey Girl. I loved your blog post today” by Ashley Evans
(featuring Ryan Gosling)
Best image in a
supporting role: James Gee caricature by Matthew Nunes
Best video in a
supporting role: Postman interview in “Post-Everything…” by James Miranda
Who do you vote for?
(Sorry there are no outside sources or super-erudite thoughts here. It's just me being researched-out.)
I love the Blog Post Oscars! I haven't used a blog yet for the classes I teach. But I will have a lab for one of my classes in the Fall, so maybe I should try...
ReplyDeleteLike the blog Oscars, Barton (the Wikipedia guy we read on Matt's week) presented at C's on a concept of rewards for students. The more times they update a Wiki, they receive more awards. And awards like "500th edit" and stuff like that. I'm describing it poorly, but perhaps a reward system like this would be enticing for students. Or perhaps we should let him do the research first and then get back to us.
DeleteH,
ReplyDeleteI'm totally commenting on your post! (More embarrassingly...I'm commenting on your post at 9 on a Saturday night in between writing a paper and giving feedback on student short stories). But, regardless, feedback is happening. I really appreciate the honesty with regard to your feelings about the blog (and blogging in general). I think I share them. I like the potential for blogs and what can be brought to the conversations in terms of outside sources, but it does always strike me as being rather rigid and artificial. Plus, no matter how hard I try not to be, I always end up being the dude who waits until the very last minute before posting and commenting (case in point). This isn't because I'm a terrible person (or it's only partly because I'm a terrible person), but honestly it's because I have trouble engaging in a blog conversation without feeling like I've arrived at the place where spur-of-the-moment intellectual curiosity has gone to die. Even right now, as I'm writing, staring at this template, I'm feeling so boxed in! So the short answer to your final question is no, I don't use blogs in my courses. In truth, I don't read people's personal blogs or really understand them either...maybe I'm weird, but, then again, even Facebook freaks me out 99% of the time. Having said all this, I do think that people posted some great stuff on here and I do regret that I almost always posted too late to get any responses. I also thought it was a great way to ease us into conversations on the days of presentations. So my hate for the blogosphere only reaches so far. Thanks for bringing such cool stuff to our attention this quarter!
J
Oh...also loved the Blog Oscars, but, truly, it was an honor just to be nominated.
ReplyDeleteI find myself agreeing with a lot of what's been said here, especially---> "Second, in my opinion, blogs aren’t really that much of an advance in an attempt to be tech-savvy in a course. They are linear and somewhat rigid, and when they are driven by mandates, I find them less exciting." Even if I do enjoy writing in this space (for whatever reason) I still have the feeling that the writing is artificial, and I'm always left wondering if my posts/comments are having an impart on the space/class. I suppose, though, that this is true of any "mandatory" communication in a course. I'm not convinced that this is space's fault, rather I don't think that we're utilizing them correctly.
ReplyDeleteWhat would it look like if this blog had a "target audience" outside of our classroom or university? It strikes me that, as far as I know, we've not shared this blog with any of our colleagues, our professors, anyone outside of OU. Couldn't we have? I believe that Matt Barton or Rex Veeder would have delighted in participating in these conversations and could have added much to our discussions, but we/I never considered (until now) asking if they would be interested in collaborating. And, I'm sure that most of us have colleagues from CCCs or from other conferences that would have been interested in reading or contributing to this blog. Many of us have "carry over" from Dr. Gradin's course last semester, and I wonder why we never invited her to contribute to our conversations.
Moreover, it seems to me that one of the "affordances" of the blog space is that the writing never stops, but, in this instance, I feel as if the writing will stop, in about one week.
Maybe some of these ideas are too radical/ambitious, but, as I said, I'm not ready to give up on the blog space.
Hindsight is 20/20 I suppose...
(also, do our Oscars come with a monetary cash prize?)
I like the idea of inviting outside scholars into the blog space. And I do believe Barton, Veeder, and others may have taken us up on the offer. I think this is something we should bring to our own teaching. I've been using blogs in my teaching this past year, but they do become very perfunctory. I don't mind that so much because, for daily writing, they're easy to keep track of and assess. I like that I don't have to keep up with a stack of papers and that everything is easily accessible.
DeleteI liked your comment on the blog's ending point:
"Moreover, it seems to me that one of the "affordances" of the blog space is that the writing never stops, but, in this instance, I feel as if the writing will stop, in about one week"
Sure our immediate writing will stop but that doesn't mean that what we've written won't continue to participate in the network. I visit grad course/grad student blogs in rhet/comp all the time. And I think that people (such as the authors we've talked about) google themselves more often than we might realize. Our writing will continue to shape other subjectivities.
You're right, of course. And, as Ashley writes, above, the effects of this blog will continue to 'act upon us' after the course is over. #endofthequarterdelerium
DeleteBlog Oscars = best part of my quarter.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I don't even LIKE Ryan Gosling. Just throwing that out there.
I hear you on blogs. I wonder if we (students) will always resent any kind of work we have to do for classes, and since blogs aren't something we use outside of class, they become that much more of a hassle...? In other words, maybe it's not that bad. We just don't like it--wouldn't we complain the same if we had to write weekly responses (that would only be read by the professor instead of [some] classmates)?
How can you NOT like Ryan Gosling?
DeleteI forgot to say thanks for the nomination! The Pinterest post was one of my favorites to write and think about.
ReplyDeleteI like Gosling.
ReplyDeletelike the blog oscars!
Re: blogs in teaching--I have tried all of the wrinkles that HG mentioned and this blog has been by far the best. I find that if you set up a blog with a theme related to the course and their lives, they will still only write to it as much as you make them!
I do like the idea of inviting outside scholars, students and others. I agree that having some outside audience target might enrich it. Also, it is true that blogs are very restrictive in terms of new media, as is just about any template driven site.
Maybe there could be a group responsible for a couple of posts in a two week period and everyone else responsible for reading and responding. I don't know. I think of this in part as "writing to learn." but there is a performance aspect, it is not no-stakes or even low stakes, more like medium stakes writing.