Welcome to the blog for English 102. I'll be posting along with you this semester. You can check this blog for class updates. You can also post questions, here, about blogging in English 102, and I'll respond (or other students will). I've included a list of links to other students' blogs, to the right. I've also made the decision to be fairly transparent about myself in this online (and international) forum, but you are welcome to take measures to protect your own anonymity.
Check back often. And enjoy!
Monday, August 31, 2009
Some Hopes and Concerns
Making use of this social technology in ENG102 is an experiment for all of us this semester, but it’s not a reckless experiment. In fact, there are a number of reasons why I’m interested in integrating blogging into the ENG102 course, and I thought it might be important to make those reasons visible/transparent and to also explain some of the obvious and unavoidable concerns that attend this experiment. I'm not alone in these thoughts.
Reasons
Collaboration and Sharing:
Not only will student bloggers potentially receive an outside audience, they may also benefit from a wider audience of their peers. Each blog will eventually be linked through this site, and students will be able to pop into any of these in order to see examples of other students’ work, or to contribute some comment or advice concerning that writing. Future assignments may even require some online workshop component or online collaborative writing.
Research/Evidence:
Many instructors complain (perhaps fairly) that online sources often lack depth, scholarship, validity, etc. They point to the facts that online authors are often unaccountable to their published work or to their readers (through the author’s own anonymity), that online research is rarely juried, that information is constantly in flux on the web (it is ephemeral/mutable), that credibility is difficult to determine, and that websites are often incestuous (plagiarized from other websites plagiarized from other websites plagiarized from other websites). All of these concerns are valid, but none of them are absolute. As the technology changes, so too does information literacy change. Rather than ignore the web as an impossible morass, this course will require students to wrestle with those very concerns.
I’ll add, also, that blogging (when done well) can create an intricately complex web of resources through hyperlinks combined with traditional documentation formats, such that the published blog might actually reflect a more complete and accessible research project than the traditional printed paper, because many sources would be available to the reader instantly and in their totality, online.
Comfort with Social Technology and Online Discourse:
Many theorists imagine a future where hyperspace becomes a hub at least as important to our participation in social and professional spheres as the physical world is currently. I tend to agree. With that concern in mind, it seems important for students to gain some familiarity with online communication. Martha Bergin, a colleague, suggested in passing that online communication required an entirely new discourse—in which writers needed to be particularly concerned about the presentation of their own experiences, weighing the details of their personal lives against the potential readings and misreadings, judgments and reactions, of a global and largely anonymous public readership.
Audience:
Often, the assignments in ENG102 require students to imagine an audience, but the essays that students write rarely receive the attention of any readers other than the instructor and the select few students that participated in peer reviewing that work. My hope, here, is that the concerns of ‘audience’ are realized more completely through the blog, where it may be possible for anyone, globally, to encounter a student’s writing. More importantly, I have read student essays that deserved attention and consideration outside the walls of the classroom, and I have always been disappointed to know that those works disappear into a file drawer or a trashcan . . . through the blog, we save those important texts from their otherwise sad fate.
Personal Satisfaction and Fulfillment?
At first, students might feel some anxiety about communicating to a larger audience—some fear of putting their gestalt out into the world. But along the way, some students might discover an online community of people that shares their interests, their ambitions, their perspectives. They might just as likely find challenges to those perspectives. Regardless, some students will hopefully find some purpose, satisfaction or fulfillment through participating in a social and/or civic conversation.
Concerns
Students’ Anxiety:
The pressure of writing to a wide audience may create anxiety in some students. The technology may also have this effect for those who are less familiar with its use and operation. The worst possible outcome of this experiment would be that the fear might result in students watering down their talents, their language, their curiosity, in order to appear more humble, in order to stand out less. I also worry that students might decide to take fewer risks, that they might decide not to experiment in their writing. I think that the best possible solution to this fear would be to explore the net on your own. Most Blogger blogs have a link at the top that reads next blog>>. Clicking on this link will randomly load one of the hundreds of thousands of Blogger blogs. Students should be careful, however, as there is some objectionable (offensive) content in the blogosphere (see next concern)
Offensive Web Content:
The net is not a safe space. With a little care, students can generally avoid encountering offensive material. But, just as driving through unfamiliar neighborhoods might land you in the red light district, so too can carelessly surfing the net lead to web pages you might have wanted to avoid. Random surfing, like clicking on the “Next Blog” link might expose you to that content. If there’s any consolation, it’s that you can report objectionable content to Blogger by clicking the “Flag” button in the navigation bar at the top. Is this censorship? Read Blogger’s stance, here.
Nothing Happens:
The net is huge. A Technorati button-ad claims that 55 million blogs exist. It’s possible that we’ll go the entire semester, all fifty student blogs blazing, and not a single outside person will read or respond to any of it. This might discourage students . . . it might cause them to wonder why this online community is ignoring them. The truth is that online social software requires participation. One critique of blogs is that there are too many mouths and not enough ears. If you’re feeling lonely in the blogosphere, there are a couple things you can do: 1) reach out and respond to someone else, even if it’s just a classmate. Like face to face friendships, online communities need interaction in order to work. 2) Update your blog more regularly. People will return for new content, especially if they are compelled by what they read. If they love your writing or your ideas, but the blog is never updated, then readers will have not reason to return.
I hope that this helps you to consider the medium and assignment more completely. Feel free to comment on these hopes and concerns, and let’s be sure to examine them again toward the end of the semester.
Reasons
Collaboration and Sharing:
Not only will student bloggers potentially receive an outside audience, they may also benefit from a wider audience of their peers. Each blog will eventually be linked through this site, and students will be able to pop into any of these in order to see examples of other students’ work, or to contribute some comment or advice concerning that writing. Future assignments may even require some online workshop component or online collaborative writing.
Research/Evidence:
Many instructors complain (perhaps fairly) that online sources often lack depth, scholarship, validity, etc. They point to the facts that online authors are often unaccountable to their published work or to their readers (through the author’s own anonymity), that online research is rarely juried, that information is constantly in flux on the web (it is ephemeral/mutable), that credibility is difficult to determine, and that websites are often incestuous (plagiarized from other websites plagiarized from other websites plagiarized from other websites). All of these concerns are valid, but none of them are absolute. As the technology changes, so too does information literacy change. Rather than ignore the web as an impossible morass, this course will require students to wrestle with those very concerns.
I’ll add, also, that blogging (when done well) can create an intricately complex web of resources through hyperlinks combined with traditional documentation formats, such that the published blog might actually reflect a more complete and accessible research project than the traditional printed paper, because many sources would be available to the reader instantly and in their totality, online.
Comfort with Social Technology and Online Discourse:
Many theorists imagine a future where hyperspace becomes a hub at least as important to our participation in social and professional spheres as the physical world is currently. I tend to agree. With that concern in mind, it seems important for students to gain some familiarity with online communication. Martha Bergin, a colleague, suggested in passing that online communication required an entirely new discourse—in which writers needed to be particularly concerned about the presentation of their own experiences, weighing the details of their personal lives against the potential readings and misreadings, judgments and reactions, of a global and largely anonymous public readership.
Audience:
Often, the assignments in ENG102 require students to imagine an audience, but the essays that students write rarely receive the attention of any readers other than the instructor and the select few students that participated in peer reviewing that work. My hope, here, is that the concerns of ‘audience’ are realized more completely through the blog, where it may be possible for anyone, globally, to encounter a student’s writing. More importantly, I have read student essays that deserved attention and consideration outside the walls of the classroom, and I have always been disappointed to know that those works disappear into a file drawer or a trashcan . . . through the blog, we save those important texts from their otherwise sad fate.
Personal Satisfaction and Fulfillment?
At first, students might feel some anxiety about communicating to a larger audience—some fear of putting their gestalt out into the world. But along the way, some students might discover an online community of people that shares their interests, their ambitions, their perspectives. They might just as likely find challenges to those perspectives. Regardless, some students will hopefully find some purpose, satisfaction or fulfillment through participating in a social and/or civic conversation.
Imagine that you enter a parlor. You come late. When you arrive, others have long preceded you, and they are engaged in a heated discussion, a discussion too heated for them to pause and tell you exactly what it is about. In fact, the discussion had already begun long before any of them got there, so that no one present is qualified to retrace for you all the steps that had gone before. You listen for a while, until you decide that you have caught the tenor of the argument; then you put in your oar. . . However, the discussion is interminable. The hour grows late, you must depart. And you do depart, with the discussion still vigorously in progress (Burke 110-11).
Burke, Kenneth. The Philosophy of Literary Form. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1941. 110-11.
Concerns
Students’ Anxiety:
The pressure of writing to a wide audience may create anxiety in some students. The technology may also have this effect for those who are less familiar with its use and operation. The worst possible outcome of this experiment would be that the fear might result in students watering down their talents, their language, their curiosity, in order to appear more humble, in order to stand out less. I also worry that students might decide to take fewer risks, that they might decide not to experiment in their writing. I think that the best possible solution to this fear would be to explore the net on your own. Most Blogger blogs have a link at the top that reads next blog>>. Clicking on this link will randomly load one of the hundreds of thousands of Blogger blogs. Students should be careful, however, as there is some objectionable (offensive) content in the blogosphere (see next concern)
Offensive Web Content:
The net is not a safe space. With a little care, students can generally avoid encountering offensive material. But, just as driving through unfamiliar neighborhoods might land you in the red light district, so too can carelessly surfing the net lead to web pages you might have wanted to avoid. Random surfing, like clicking on the “Next Blog” link might expose you to that content. If there’s any consolation, it’s that you can report objectionable content to Blogger by clicking the “Flag” button in the navigation bar at the top. Is this censorship? Read Blogger’s stance, here.
Nothing Happens:
The net is huge. A Technorati button-ad claims that 55 million blogs exist. It’s possible that we’ll go the entire semester, all fifty student blogs blazing, and not a single outside person will read or respond to any of it. This might discourage students . . . it might cause them to wonder why this online community is ignoring them. The truth is that online social software requires participation. One critique of blogs is that there are too many mouths and not enough ears. If you’re feeling lonely in the blogosphere, there are a couple things you can do: 1) reach out and respond to someone else, even if it’s just a classmate. Like face to face friendships, online communities need interaction in order to work. 2) Update your blog more regularly. People will return for new content, especially if they are compelled by what they read. If they love your writing or your ideas, but the blog is never updated, then readers will have not reason to return.
I hope that this helps you to consider the medium and assignment more completely. Feel free to comment on these hopes and concerns, and let’s be sure to examine them again toward the end of the semester.
Guidelines for Blog Posts
In the syllabus for our class, I indicate that blog posts will be graded on thoughtfulness and thoroughness. Admittedly, this is rather vague language that puts the onus on you, the student, to determine what constitutes a “thoughtful and thorough” blog. Here are some suggestions for posting that might help you to develop such posts.
Respond to a Reading
Class readings can offer you some excellent fodder for exploration. Sometimes, I’ll use a reading in order to supplement a lecture, and the content of the reading is lost in the discussion of technique. Other times, we’ll focus on content and miss some of the craft of the work. It is also inevitable that in discussions about the readings we might gloss over points that you feel deserved more attention. Or perhaps one of your points required a more deliberate exploration than you could muster in the heat of the moment.
Continue a Class Discussion
The hour and fifteen minutes of class time is rarely long enough for us to have a developed and thorough debate. But our classroom discussions don’t need to end when we walk out the door. On your blog, you might develop the position you were arguing, or supplement it with evidence that you find online (link to it!). You might provide some overarching analysis that frames our discussion in a new light. You might take the opportunity to more honestly articulate your concerns or responses. All of this gives us an outlet for that unsettling feeling that results from realizing the perfect thing to say at a time when it is no longer useful.
Link and Respond to Another Blogger’s Post, or an Online Article
As I’d mentioned in the Hopes and Concerns post, the blogosphere is hypertextual. This means that we can engage in conversations through the posts, particularly as we use links to create connections between ideas and people. Not only are all of the students in my sections of ENG102 posting to their blogs (see the list at the right), but so are millions of other online readers and writers. By linking to another blogger’s post you not only create a connection between their content and yours, but you also create a literate social sphere. You might also choose to riff off of other forms of online content, like photos at flickr, news articles in the Arizona Republic, or Magazine articles from Seed. At the end of this entry I've included instructions for incorporating links.
Share Something About the Writing Process
Finally, you might choose to share something about the writing process as you work through your assignments for this class. In the past, students who posted a description of a problem they were having were rewarded with generous and helpful advice from their peers. In other cases, you might describe some particularly successful approach that you’ve discovered. Or perhaps you’d like to challenge or explore some of the lessons about the process—questioning the legitimacy of “legitimate” sources, or exploring the importance of editing.
Other Posts
This list is meant to provide models. Hopefully it becomes a useful tool for developing meaningful posts. But I don’t in any way mean for it to be limiting. If you want to write a post that falls outside of the realm of the kinds of posts described here, please don’t let the list stop you from writing that post. Please do keep in mind, however, that this is a course blog and not a personal blog. The party on Friday night was probably a blast, but it shouldn’t be the topic of a course blog post unless it somehow relates to the questions of research, rhetoric and writing that are the purview of this class. That said, if you can connect real-world personal experience to the content of this class, I might believe that my life was a little more meaningful.
Instructions for Incorporating Links
If you are responding to an outside source, blog or otherwise, here are the step-by-step instructions for incorporating a link into your post:
1. Sign in, and navigate to the “New Post” page
2. Type some text that you want to link to another web page.
3. Highlight the text and click on the Link button.
4. Type the web address for the webpage you'd like the text to link to and click "OK."
5. You have linked the text. Now, when readers click on underlined text, they will be taken to the web page you linked to. Note, too, that you can type around this text without losing the link.
Respond to a Reading
Class readings can offer you some excellent fodder for exploration. Sometimes, I’ll use a reading in order to supplement a lecture, and the content of the reading is lost in the discussion of technique. Other times, we’ll focus on content and miss some of the craft of the work. It is also inevitable that in discussions about the readings we might gloss over points that you feel deserved more attention. Or perhaps one of your points required a more deliberate exploration than you could muster in the heat of the moment.
Continue a Class Discussion
The hour and fifteen minutes of class time is rarely long enough for us to have a developed and thorough debate. But our classroom discussions don’t need to end when we walk out the door. On your blog, you might develop the position you were arguing, or supplement it with evidence that you find online (link to it!). You might provide some overarching analysis that frames our discussion in a new light. You might take the opportunity to more honestly articulate your concerns or responses. All of this gives us an outlet for that unsettling feeling that results from realizing the perfect thing to say at a time when it is no longer useful.
Link and Respond to Another Blogger’s Post, or an Online Article
As I’d mentioned in the Hopes and Concerns post, the blogosphere is hypertextual. This means that we can engage in conversations through the posts, particularly as we use links to create connections between ideas and people. Not only are all of the students in my sections of ENG102 posting to their blogs (see the list at the right), but so are millions of other online readers and writers. By linking to another blogger’s post you not only create a connection between their content and yours, but you also create a literate social sphere. You might also choose to riff off of other forms of online content, like photos at flickr, news articles in the Arizona Republic, or Magazine articles from Seed. At the end of this entry I've included instructions for incorporating links.
Share Something About the Writing Process
Finally, you might choose to share something about the writing process as you work through your assignments for this class. In the past, students who posted a description of a problem they were having were rewarded with generous and helpful advice from their peers. In other cases, you might describe some particularly successful approach that you’ve discovered. Or perhaps you’d like to challenge or explore some of the lessons about the process—questioning the legitimacy of “legitimate” sources, or exploring the importance of editing.
Other Posts
This list is meant to provide models. Hopefully it becomes a useful tool for developing meaningful posts. But I don’t in any way mean for it to be limiting. If you want to write a post that falls outside of the realm of the kinds of posts described here, please don’t let the list stop you from writing that post. Please do keep in mind, however, that this is a course blog and not a personal blog. The party on Friday night was probably a blast, but it shouldn’t be the topic of a course blog post unless it somehow relates to the questions of research, rhetoric and writing that are the purview of this class. That said, if you can connect real-world personal experience to the content of this class, I might believe that my life was a little more meaningful.
Instructions for Incorporating Links
If you are responding to an outside source, blog or otherwise, here are the step-by-step instructions for incorporating a link into your post:
1. Sign in, and navigate to the “New Post” page
2. Type some text that you want to link to another web page.
3. Highlight the text and click on the Link button.
4. Type the web address for the webpage you'd like the text to link to and click "OK."
5. You have linked the text. Now, when readers click on underlined text, they will be taken to the web page you linked to. Note, too, that you can type around this text without losing the link.
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