Evaluating Blogging

1. After my initial exposure to a blog assignment, I definitely prefer this form of submitting assignments. Even though the final blog was posted electronically, all of my blogs began in a hand written form. I combined the traditional form of essays with the modern form of blogs. The structure of the assignments remained the same as if you were asked to hand in your work in the form of an essay, but the final result was easily posted in a blog format. Content, grammar, punctuation and all the components of writing an essay still remained constant. However, it was comforting to have today’s computer technology to polish all of the rough edges before submitting the final assignment. I feel that the continued format of blogging will only strengthen student’s opinion of how their work and assignments are submitted. Rather than having to arrive at school at a specific time to submit your work, a blog can be posted at any time, day or night, prior to the deadline.
2. Without question, the blog assignments and requirement to create a blog, related to the class topics and course objectives. The material that was covered in class had a direct relationship to the blog assignments. Each topic was supported by reference material that made the blog assignment easy to create. Whether it was based from popular culture, arguments or critical thinking, there were great books and reference material to structure the blog from. Sometimes you spend your class time taking thorough notes and find later that when you attempt to complete the assignment at home, you are totally lost. This course remained constant from the information discussed in class to the posting of the blog. More importantly, subjects such as “critical thinking” and “intelligent arguments” are used in everyday life. The subject matter of this course definitely related to the blog assignments and the strengthening of my skills and understanding of the topics.
3. The non-text element of the blog program was one of the highlights of the course! For once, you had an element that is rarely used in teaching. Students had the opportunity to personalize a blog page, rather than just filling out a sheet of paper that wasn’t unique. Some students created blog pages with a profile picture, famous quotes or sayings. Other students chose special pictures or things that identified who they are. The awesome part of the blogger account is the fact that it lives on after the course has been completed. It is not just a course requirement or ultimate grade that you are creating. The “Animoto” assignment which involved creating a 30 second video promoting a topic of your choice was great. Using a minimal amount of text, you created a powerful message through emotive language. I believe that this was the most well liked assignment throughout the semester. Unique assignments such as this make the course interesting. It is not just another class or credit. When you create an element like this, it not only contributes to the entire class, but each student individually. This type of an assignment keeps the student focused on something new and has them looking forward to the next topic.