Blog Project: Findings

Although I have not completed reading all of the evaluative responses from my students, I have found several things of great interest already as I have watched my students work through this project. One of the first things I noticed was that students were clearly split into two groups; those enjoying the new experience and those fearing negative feedback from unknown participants. I believe this came from their confusion about who their audience was since blogging can be, as a fellow graduate student put it, “like screaming into the void.” Still, even with these fears and hesitations, I saw that, overall, my students seemed more willing to write since their occasional grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors were less of an issue in this format. This, then, created higher amounts of blog posts and greater participation in both personal blog entries and peer comments. Also, although side conversations frequently cropped up, most commenter adhered to the topic presented and full-blown rants were rare. Ironically, the only rants I saw were between fellow classmates who knew each other; it was as if having a known commenter say something negative felt like a personal attack while an unknown commenter may have misunderstood or could be more easily ignored.

These findings have lead me to the realization that I need to spend more time helping my students understand their audience and how to deal with situations where an audience may not be easily identified. Also, it quickly became obvious that there was a need to solicit comments for people outside of the peer group in order to truly enter into a more global conversation. When (not if) I do this project again, I will restructure my lesson plans to include sessions on audience identification and presentation. My other change will be to assign students the task of researching and participating in another person’s blog who is discussing a similar or related topic. The one student I had who received comments from an outside source, has found his blog work very enlightening and engaging as well as having the benefit of getting a perspective from a person from another part of the world. This student has not only continued to communicate with this other gentleman but has also gone to his blog and made comments. In a recent email from my student, he told me that he had just joined a discussion group on the topic of socialism around the globe – a great addition to both his knowledge base and his global awareness!

Blog Project: Evaluation

The process of evaluation of this project will require several steps and many participants. I will begin by evaluating the initial entries each student makes on their blogs to see how they present their argument. This portion of the evaluation will involve looking at each student’s choice for blog form (colors, layout, fonts) as well as how each blog post is titled and written. After evaluating initial posts, I will focus my further evaluation on received comments and responses to these comments. I will be looking to see how each blog master initiates conversation in their blogs and how they respond to comments they receive from various participants. My hope during this time is to see how well my students present themselves is a less familiar form (blogs) as well as to see how they respond in an environment that, for many, is less threatening because of the unfamiliarity factor where participants may or may not know who the person is who they are responding to. Finally, each student do a two-fold analysis: 1) they will present an evaluation of one of their peer’s blogs they were involved with, basing their analysis on how well they see the blog master presenting their information and how well they feel the responses were to comments made on their posts; and 2) they will write a short evaluation of their own blog, focusing on their use of rhetorical strategies, audience acknowledgement, and participant response, to analyze their strong and weak points in conversing about their argument.
I believe that success or failure of this writing project will be fairly easy to evaluate since students will be required to participate in both their own blogs and the blogs of others. Also, the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of this particular pedagogical choice will be seen in the final evaluations each student presents. Of course, it is my firm belief that the true value of this lesson will not be known for some time; in fact, it may never be well-known to me. This is because I believe that what my students do today will, if the gods are kind, stick with them through their college careers and, possibly, into their future, as they step into new and extended discourse communities where they will be able to present themselves effectively and efficiently.

Blog Project: Pedagogical Application

During my research, I discovered that the brain process of today’s youth has drastically changed from that of previous generations. Where once we scanned in a Z-pattern (think about how you read a book), many now scan in an F-pattern (think about how you view a web page). Another factor that plays into the pedagogical process of teaching composition is Lankshear and Knobel’s notion of the recent development of an “attention economy.” due to the influx of vast amounts of information readily and rapidly available to today’s discourse community participant. People today seem to be moving from a goods-drive economy to a media-attention driven economy where the more attention you gain, the more successful you are. Both of these fairly recent developments point to the need to rethink how we teach composition and how we instruct our students to present themselves and their positions in the various discourse communities they are involved with. By using blogging as a form of presentation, I will be taking my students out of the more archaic “norm” of written presentation and introducing them to just one of the numerous forms of attention gaining, F-pattern styled formats for presentation that are available in today’s information-glutted, hyper-linked world where less (in words) is often more (in outcome).

Blog Project: Theoretical Underpinnings

I have always preferred the theoretical notion that literacy is related to discourses we participate in. By viewing a person’s communication, whether it is spoken, written, or presented in a mixed media format, as that of a participating in a discourse community, the senses of relationship and responsibility come into play; each participant is a member of a community and all the pieces and parts that go with that concept. Lankshear and Knobel (2006) define literacies as “socially recognized ways of generating, communicating and negotiating meaningful content through the medium of encoded texts with contexts of participation in Discourses (or, as members of Discourses)” (p. 64). This definition fits snuggly into my theoretical followings of discourse communities and the recognition that literacy is, basically, the way we present our ideas and texts in a socially recognized format.

One of the things that I enjoy most about the “new” literacies we find on the internet and in mixed media presentations is that these forms of communication are much more participatory, more collaborative, and less author-centered than the texts of the past. Plato believed that all literature was a meager imitation of the real thing; no new ideas came from anything written. Yet, today we can find numerous sources where authors around the globe have collaborated on an online journal article, written a short story together, or had brainstorm sessions in online discussion forums, chats, and via instant messaging or text messaging. Inside information comes through blogs, youtube videos, wikis, and websites. People even fall in meet and fall in love while gaming online! So, the idea that nothing new is ever written or discussed, that literacy is a minor imitation of reality is no longer a plausible argument – fortunately, Plato has been proven wrong.

Blog Project: Project Details & Goals

My intention with this project is to have my students present their argument topic along with their research using blog entries instead of the more traditional written essay. Students will be using the subject they have been working with all semester to formulate and argue their position on one side of their issue using information they gathered during the research essay portion of our course. Before beginning their blog, students will clearly define stance in a thesis statement and outline their argument presentation based on how they see their blog entries progressing. Students from both of my English 111 courses will be required to review the blogs of their peers and become involved with at least two blogs which pique their interests by commenting on the blog entries, asking questions, and generating conversation. In addition, by using an online blog source such as blogger.com, the students may receive additional comments from the broader community. My goal for this project as well as for the overall semester is to see my students each develop a level of expertise in a chosen area. This not only allows them to engage intelligently and clearly in a discourse community but provides them with the understanding that it takes more than words to make a point or win an argument – it takes understanding of language usage and rhetorical strategies as well as topic knowledge.

In addition to my students presenting their argument in blog format, I will be using my personal blog, “Beth’s Mental Wanderings,” on blogger.com to record and track my findings and observations with this project. As I work towards my personal goal of finding ways to break down the barriers of language in composition, I will focus my comments on the literature I review, my own musings, and feedback from my students as the project progresses in an effort to determine if, as I suspect, Web 2.0 technology is the force which will finally break down the walls surrounding English composition and its access to students from different countries and different backgrounds, even those within the physical United States of America. I firmly believe that somehow, somewhere, there is a source or sources which will bring our world together on a more level playing field so that we can communicate, through writing, globally in ways that create better understanding instead of further separation.

Blog Project: Research Question & Literature Review

Research Question: How does blogging as a technology and a pedagogical process aid in the writing process of specific groups of college-level freshmen composition students?

Literature Review

Through my research on blog technology and the use of blogging in the classroom, I found a number of articles which provided statistical information and background about blogs and blogging as well as some suggested writing activities involving blogging. Although these resources were helpful in understanding the changing face of blogs and how blogs are being employed in academic settings, most of the current literature is directed towards K-12 teachers and not college instructors. This, in my opinion, leaves a huge gap in the Web 2.0 technology and education knowledge base which needs to be addressed. My hope is that by designing and implementing a composition activity intended for a college-level group of students, I will be able, in at least a small way, to begin filling the knowledge gap I have discovered. I have created a list of the articles I found to be most helpful in my research in the comments section of this post.

Blog Project: Rationale

As I have studied the different forms of digital communication currently available, I have come to believe that blogging allows for a more academic conversation than instant messaging, chat rooms, or discussion forums. One of my UAA peers told me that he believed forums were the way to go when presenting a topic for discussion and argument because “blogs are personal journals that are just used by you.” Although blogs were and are still considered by some to be personal, online journals, the realm of the blog has become much more academic and political in the past few years. Also, while discussion forums are often used to present arguments and pursue discussion, the formats of these forums make following and reviewing threads cumbersome. In addition, my fairly extensive personal experience with discussion forums has shown me that attempting to return to a discussion and find previously mentioned information in the threads is much more difficult than reviewing a blog entry where the search capability allows the reader to search for key terms or phrases. It is my belief that blogging will provide a unique opportunity for my students to improve their writing process, expand their computer skills, and gain a deeper understanding of the highly digital world they will be making their living in after entering (or reentering) the global work force. Therefore, it makes logical sense to use blogging in an entry level college composition course.

Blog Project: Focus Groups

For this project, I will be focusing on two groups of students I have identified as having unique challenges as they undertake their first college composition course. The first group, older students either returning to or entering college for the first time after years in the local work force, often enter the college with a deep sense of trepidation about using the computer. These students need a higher degree of exposure to both computers and Web 2.0 offerings. I have a personal degree of knowledge and compassion for this group of students as I am one of those students who returned to college after a 20+ year absence during which I worked in the U.S. work force and raised my family.

The second group, students whose first language is not English or who were raised in a home where English was not the primary spoken language, struggle with barriers and gaps in their movement between their spoken languages and written English. These students who are often identified as ELL, ESL, or Generation 1.5 students, are all quite capable of expressing themselves verbally in any of their languages, but lack the ability to clearly present their thoughts in written texts. These same students are often very comfortable with the use of computers and the internet which they view as a less intense, more user-friendly atmosphere than the standard classroom.

Blog Project: Purpose

The second generation of internet-based services which concentrate on social networking sites such as wikis, blogs, and instant messaging, Web 2.0 could very well be the wave of the future of college composition courses. During the course of this semester, I have studies various forms of digital literacies using different types of Web 2.0 technology and the use of these technologies in college coursework. As I have worked with students and their writing process over the past two years, both as an instructor and a writing center tutor, I have discovered a disturbing lack of balance in the understanding of composition instruction for certain groups of students. At UAA, our student body consists of students entering college directly out of high school, older adults entering or returning to college after many years of employment in the U.S. work force, students who come from a multitude of racial and cultural backgrounds, students from foreign-exchange programs, recent U.S. immigrants, senior citizens, single parents, married couples, high-school teenagers seeking early college credit, students who are home-schooled, students from public schooling. . . – the list goes on and on. In the 2008 Annual Survey of Colleges, the average UAA degree-seeking undergraduate student age was 28.8 years; this age is based on the average of 16,547 full-time and part-time students who have claimed a degree-seeking status and does not include those students attending for refresher courses or general interest (Rice, 2008). One of my areas of deepest frustration as an instructor is finding ways to assist my struggling students as they strive to understand the complexities of the English language and the writing process. This is where, in my opinion, some of the Web 2.0 offerings come into play. Today’s digital world requires a strong working knowledge of computer software for document creation, mathematical calculations, and research. Yet, these programs that are suppose to be “helpful” can create incredible exasperation for a student who has not had extensive exposure to the necessary software programs and internet functions. Add to this the missing understanding of currently used documentation styles, language barriers, or learning difficulties and you have the makings of a struggling, disgruntled, and, too often, failing student. The purpose for this project is to incorporate at least one part of Web 2.0’s networking tools, in this case, blogging, into my freshmen composition course to assess if using this type of networking tool encourages writing and enables increased success for struggling students.

Testing the Waters

So, I'm sitting here with a student & we're discussing how to write blog posts. Figured I'd go into my blog & show her how its done.

Figuring It All Out

Well, I introduced blogs & blogging last week in class. Instead of having my students write me a weekly letter, I had them got to blogger.com & create a blog, then post their blog address & a quick note about their semester research topic in their post on discussion board. Pretty much everyone did it -- those that didn't benefited from Erika V.'s blog set-up instructions. Thank God for Erika & the ease of blogger.com!!

One of the things that came up in class this week was questions on what a blog is -- in comparison to using our discussion board or emailing. . . We had a wonderful discussion about Web. 2.0 technology & most of my students were really excited about this opportunity. Of course, as anticipated, I had one student in my morning class who wasn't really hot on the idea of submitting his stuff into the "void" of the internet but once I explained our process, he seemed to be okay with everything.

An older student in my afternoon class asked me how to post a blog -- I hadn't thought of that one as a need (don't know why), so I quickly put up my blog on screen & showed students how to create a blog entry. I've already found it very interesting to see how excited my students are to try this format of discussion. Although a number of my younger students have blogs on their myspace accounts, few if any have ever looked at a more academic blog. So, their weekly letter assignment this week is to look at one (or more) reputable sources such as cnn, abc, nbc, cbs, fox & review some of the blog entries made about a current topic. I first thought about having them seek out an article & blog relevant to their topic but decided to leave the choice up to them. I did, however, encourage them to look towards their research topic in order to give them even more information about what people are thing about their subject matter.

I handed out a slightly altered version of my argument essay assignment sheet to help them begin to prepare their minds for setting up & presenting their arguments on their blogs. So, what's left? Plenty!!

1) How do I get their reference pages linked to their blogs so that people can reference the sources they site?
2) Do I really need to worry about citations in this venue?
3) How am I ever going to get my few "taildraggers" to work on their stuff a little each day or so which will help them formulate ideas & post blog entries that are overwhelming them or their reading public?

I'm sure there is more that I'm missing but for now that's all I can think of. I'm meeting with my professor tomorrow to discuss this project &, with any luck, get some more direction on what I'm doing. I still have no clue what theoretical point I'm coming from here so I have to figure that out also! My two greatest fears are not being able to properly present this to my students & having them more frustrated then reinforced AND running out of time!

Playing with HTML

So, we're sitting in my digital literacies class talking about blogs & blogging. One of my classmates is talking about setting up a blog & how to use different HTML codes to make your blog posting pretty, interesting, etc. Now, I have to figure out how to play with this -- so much to take in!!

Ok, I'm going to go try some of this HTML stuff. In the meantime, for anyone interested in working with HTML, Erika found a great website all about using HTML == http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp

Check it out!

Oops! I've been a bit busy.

Okay, I'll make this fast. Clearly I've been a bit busy with life and grad school for the past year. I'm still working on my "Summer Bumps" book & have turned over the graphics work to my amazing brother in Colorado. I've decided to use blogging as part of my freshmen composition course work & have my students create blogs as part of their argument assignment. I think this will be fun albeit a bit challenging since some of my students are very technology paranoid. Well, must got do some schoolwork (yet again!) Bye!!!