I have several opinions about the blogging assignment. At first, it began as a fun tool to express my thoughts about the class. It gave a great opportunity to get to know my classmates better and connect with some of them. I enjoyed reading everyone's first post just to understand others in the class a little better. I realized right away that it will be a fun class because everyone is so different. Having to write a blog after every class assignment forced me to think back to what we actually did. It was interesting to see that all of our fun and seemingly pointless games actually made sence in the end. Fact that I did not do some of the journals, does not mean I did not think about it ;). It would be helpfull if blogs would concentrate more on outside material. For example, write a blog about an aticle or a theory. This way it might be a bit more educational versus fun. From the very begining of the class, I thought that this will be an easy 20% of my grade. However, I did not realize that its not the case untill almost the end. Another aspect of the blog grade that I still don't understand is weather quality of the blog matters. This was really the reason for me not doing some of the previous assignments. Since these blogs are public, I did not want to make a fool of myself and then simple forgot to go back and write a quality entry.
To be perfectly honest, I am not planning to continue my blog after the class ends. It has been both fun and challanging, but I see little purpose to it outside of class. However, I might write an occasional entry just for rants and vents.
I think this part of the class should be continues in the future with some adjustments. I would make blogging assignments count for less of the overall grade and leave the rest as extra credit. For example, you can pick to write any 5 entries during the semester, and do the rest for extra credit. This will motive students to put effort into it instead of just getting it over with since we all work better for extra credit.
This was my first experience blogging and I can see how it can become a crucual part of education in the future.
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I think blogging as extra credit sounds like an excellent idea! It still motivates the students to reflect on what you learn in the class that day. Blogging as a requirement is not as easy as it sounds.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree! I thought it was going to be the easiest 20% of my grade ever! But guess what, I kept forgetting about them and just like you, I am still not sure how serious I had to be while writing them. My first blog was like an essay for a class but after reading the rest I realize I did not have to do it that formal.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that blogging can be a helpful tool. If I owned a product or a company, its a good way to get feedback from customers.
ReplyDeleteBut its also a media that only certain people wold agree with. I don't feel the need to blog on a regular basis, nor do I have the desire to blog. Maybe it's me, but I prefer to express my ideas and communicate using other outlets.