Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Class Blog: Yay or Nay?

So as a new experiment, this blog has gone fairly well in my opinion for its first semester. However, deciding to continue this project depends upon some of your responses. Some changes I intend to make next year if I continue:


  • Don't use blogger. I would probably switch to something like wordpress where everyone can comment on other people's comments.
  • I would plan all my weekly posts before the semester begins so I would be able to guarantee a post per week even during times when I have conferences and holidays. That being said, I will give everyone another freebie since I've been a slacker the past two weeks. This means in order to get your full credit, you need to have commented 5 times. Some of you are already there and I greatly appreciate that.


Some things I have enjoyed about the blog:

  • Hearing from students who don't speak up a lot in class. I know some of you are uncomfortable doing this, and the blog has given me a chance to hear your voices.
  • Your perspectives shared on this blog outside of the classroom have really influenced my approach to teaching. I have learned a lot from y'all that makes me better at teaching.


Questions:
1. What do you think about the blog? Is it something I should try next semester?
2. What improvements do you think could be made to the blog if I continue it next semester? Should the topics remain on issues that specifically concern you as college students or should I use it more for class stuff? Or both?
3. Do class assignments/projects like these really help transcend the boundaries of the classroom or are they just one more thing to do? Or somewhere in between?

16 comments:

  1. I really liked the idea of having a blog. My only problem was i would forget about it ahhh. I think that it was an awesome source of information for the class.I think it would have helped me a lot if the blog would have been mentioned in class.
    On the group assignments, I personally enjoyed them I thought it was a way to use what we learned in a real world setting.

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  2. I really like the idea of the blog, we get a chance to write down how we feel about things and get to know other students.

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  3. I like the blog for the most part, and I think you should continue to do it next semester. It is much easier to express your views on the Internet than it can be in person. As for improvements, I agree with quitting Blogger. I think you should use it for both topics, because class reminder posts helped me out with whatever was going on at the time. It was quick and easy. I view the blog posts as somewhere in between. We did stuff like this when I was in high school, but many times, we also discussed the topics in class, after everyone responded to the blog. It helped get people to talk more, because they already said their opinion/view once, saying it again and/or elaborating on it should not be too hard.

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  4. I liked the blog, even though mid semester I got crazy busy and wasn't checking it as often. Nonetheless, I thought it provided good reminders and sources relevant to college in general and the class. I agree with not using blogger. There are much more practical sites for use. I like all the topics posted about the class and college in general. It was nice to just read stuff about college in general to give us a break from constantly talking about class related topics. I feel like the blog is overall beneficial and helps break barriers. When someone posts something interesting, you could go up to them in class and talk about it. It allows us to all get to know about each others ideas more than we do in our short 50 minutes in class.

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  5. I agree with the previous posts! It would have been really helpful for it to have been brought up more in class, I found myself forgetting about it until the last minute. I like that it wasn't all class related. I really like the different information information that was put on it, like the "Where in the world is Matt Video." I like that it's an alternative way to communicate. I know I'm not a morning person, but the blog allows me to show more input. It would be really cool if there was a way to comment on other people's posts, like you said.

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  6. Well, I had a really long response... but my computer just restarted. But basically, what I said was that it was nice to be able to get to know my classmates outside of class a little more through this blog.

    I wish that it would be put up on blackboard as assignments though because I often forget about it. And being that it is a grade, it would be nice to have reminders on blackboard about the blog.

    I also really didn't have time to read all my classmate's opinions about things which was sad because I was actually really interested in them.

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  7. The blog is ok not really one of my favorites I guess because I forget a lot of times to do it but I heard another COMM1010 uses twitter . I'm always on twitter and thought that was pretty cool and convenient.

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  8. i liked the blog because the discussions varied and it made you think. It was cool to read the other comments and get another perspective on the same topic and possibly leave with a new view on something. I think you should continue with the blog.

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  9. I think the blog was a good idea. It was a way for the class to continue outside of the classroom. I think if you do continue with it for next semester, I do think it could be a little more organized. Like you said, have all of the posts ready before the semester begins. I don't think the blog should just cover classroom stuff. The posts I found most interesting were the ones relating to college life in general. So overall, I think the blog was a good thing and should definitely continue.

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  10. I think a twitter instead would be great. It would require shorter responses, but honestly, I think that would be good too.
    I think knowing a bit more about what was required of us going into the blog, like having that knowledge of how many times we needed to blog to get a good participation grade. Maybe so many times gets you the grade and then everything else on top of that is a tiny bit of extra credit.

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  11. Personally, Twitter would definitely be easier for me to use. That's a great idea. As far as the blog goes, I liked the idea of it, but I'm in the same boat as pretty much everyone else. I would always forget about it, so I lost most of those participation points. I like having it as a resource. The articles, tips, and reminders were great, but I really don't like that our activity on here was added into our grade.

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  12. 1. I think it was a good idea, but for me it was just hard to keep up with.
    2. I think if you were to use it more for class stuff it would make it easier to remember actually come on and comment and share my thoughts.
    3. In all honesty i look at it as one more thing to do.

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  13. I semi-liked the blog. I am not much of a writer, but i did enjoy expressing and writing in response to some topics that we have discussed over the semester. I think some improvements would be that it should be taken more seriously if its for a grade but otherwise i dont see any other improvements that need to be made. i think that the topics should focus on both stuff as a college student and also stuff that we discuss in class, so we can learn and receive more of a variety of things to talk about.
    I think it is some where in between, while it be a burden it is worth the grade for sure!

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  14. 2. Definitely use the blog in the future, but it would be more effective to mention the blog topic in class so students would be more compelled to go write about it. It would be beneficial if the topics did relate to the class a little bit more, but it is also a nice break to read about something that is not completely related. Over all the blog is a good idea but could be more related to the class rather than being completely separate and never discussed during the class time.

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  15. I think you should continue with the blog. As long as you state in the beginning of the semester that this blog exists, it will be helpful for students to look it throughout the semester, and they should comment once a week, I think it will continue to work well.

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  16. I loved the blog. i thought it was perfect as it was. good way to do out of class participation and easily accessible.

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