4.2 The Class Blog
The ubiquity of course management systems like Blackboard and WebCT proves that college faculty and students are coming to accept online learning as an essential component of the traditional classroom experience. But so far online learning has been mostly a one-way street. Course management systems integrate tools like discussion forums and chat sessions, which foster student interaction, but the majority of content within a CMS (syllabus, lecture notes, links to outside resources, etc.) is generated and uploaded by the instructor. Blogging addresses that problem by creating a site (or sites) where the students are in control. They generate content. They are responsible for reading and responding.
After experimenting with several different approaches to blogging in the classroom, Clancy Ratliff has decided that a single class blog best suits her needs:
My goal was not so much to have a weblog that was painfully obviously just for a grade (i.e. forced blogging); instead, I hoped for something that read like a community weblog of twenty-two first-year college students writing about what was on their minds, loosely guided by the principle that the content ought to be tied in some tacit way to rhetoric. In other words, I wanted the weblog to serve one of my central pedagogical objectives, namely to facilitate a close community ethos in the classroom, and I wanted the weblog to be a place to apply and synthesize the rhetorical principles we were discussing in class (ethos, pathos, logos, informal fallacies, etc.).
Clancy deliberately takes a hands-off approach to her class blog, allowing her students to write informally and on subjects of their choosing. Her goal is to "make writing a regular habit." However, she does suggest topics and also requires each student to post at least twice a week. A copy of her first blogging handout, as well as her suggested writing topics, can be found here.
How to: To create a class blog with Blogger, you will follow the exact same procedure that we used in Lesson 3. Once the blog has been generated, you will need to do the following:
1. Click on the "Settings" tab, then click "Members" on the far right.
2. Click on "Add Team Member(s)."
3. Enter the email addresses of each of your students. Unfortunately, Blogger only allows you to enter three addresses at a time, so creating a class blog will be a multi-step process.
4. When you click "Save Settings," an email will be sent to each of your students, inviting them to participate in the class blog. Each student will then need to create a Blogger account. As "members" they will have access to the "create new post" function, but they will not be able to change your template or any of the blog settings.
Menu
1. history of blogs
2. anatomy of a blog
3. how-to
4. active learning
5. professional development
table of contents
A Little Tip
Remember that a blog, unlike a Blackboard or WebCT course site, is open to the entire world. Anyone can read it.
This is a good way to teach your students about writing for an audience, but it also can create problems if privacy issues or sensitive content arise.
Make sure your students know that what they write is public and have a policy in place to handle any potential problems.
