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08/28/2004 Archived Entry: "Blog Pedagogy"
Weblog Pedagogy:
I really don't like jumping in on the weblog teaching bandwagon. But I've sort of skimmed some recent posts here and there about teaching with these things, and I'm going to help out next week for the orientation for graduate students (ah, this year, I don't have to lead an orientation...nice). So...that being said...what about weblog pedagogy?
What I tend to be seeing is a lot of usage of the tool for non-web practices: taking notes, journal writing, etc. Some folks seem surprised that students yawn at this approach. Course, these students were probably yawning when we did the same thing without a weblog, right (and I, too, have been guilty of asking students to use weblogs in such a way for group work or research)? Oh great. Another stupid journal assignment, but now I have to do it on the Web... Will's got a nice response when he brings up the "artificial environment" argument. Weblogs are being used all the time, all over the Web, but in ways which don't mesh with many of these created assignments. Folks want to write. Many find this tool very helpful for writing. Academia is too far behind to understand how to integrate it into the classroom.
So I've been jotting down these fragmented responses to music I'm listening to lately...and my responses seem to be a bit cultural, historical, personal...the weblog seems like an appropriate place to put these responses because I'd like other folks to read them, the space allows me (if I want) to link out to other ideas/responses/definitions/examples/excerpts/quotations, and the fragmented nature of the weblog (short, daily entries) ideologically and practically matches the types of writing I'm experimenting with (fragmented).
AHA!
A usage which isn't the same as a typical print-oriented assignment! A great assignment? Eh. Maybe not. But this type of cultural, (affective?) response could be generalized to a number of approaches/applications. Or it could be used in a Nick Hornby way – a handbook of music responses…I'd bet it would be more interesting to write (the student's perspective) and read (the instructor's). But - as Cynthia Haynes does such a nice job demonstrating with "offshore writing" - it's not argumentative, not thesis driven, etc. That will not sit well with a lot of folks who still cling to these aged concepts which don't always work in a networked, digital apparatus.
Replies: 1 Comment
I don't see this issue as either/or. There's an important role for analytic and argumentative discourse for all students. But I agree that should not be seen as the universe of writing in comp classes.
I've experimented with individual weblogs in two classes so far, with mixed results. But the students who got into it produced a lot of material worth reading.
So for this fall, I'm going to try group blogs with a service/information focus. Each group will identify some kind of info other De Anza students would find of value. The model here are the metroblogs I looked at recently (e.g., gothamist). This allows students a chance at defining an audience and a purpose among their peers and seeing if they can produce material of value.
We'll see how it works in a few months. We don't start classes until Sept. 20.
Posted by John @ 08/30/2004 08:21 PM EST