We have a core of very committed bloggers here at SHU, as well as others who only blog occasionally. Here is the lament of an accomplished writing teacher (I've used his textbook in several different classes) who says he has trouble getting his students to blog voluntarily.
Prototype: Yet Another Midterm ReportMy students, with a few exceptions, continue to avoid posting in their course blogs. My faculty colleagues are even more reticent. The blogs I left up last semester have been deserted by the students they were created for. So as a means of voluntary interaction, they leave a lot to be desired.
What say you, students of mine? I realize that the "blog in blank verse" assignment was pushing it, but what do you think about voluntary blogging and forced blogging?
I'm particularly interested in hearing from people who don't particularly enjoy blogging, and even from those who hate it... remember, you can always post anonymously!
Ahh. Yes. Orlando Bloom and favorite come up a lot in my movie phraseology.
And then Orlando Bloom throws a pail of water on Mr. Gibbs and Gibbs shouts: what was that for? And Bloom replies: that was for the smell.
That is my favorite part. ;^)
Sorry, this is totally off-topic. Amanda has that effect on me sometimes.
I remembered it, but thanks to IMDB.com, I got the whole line (Jack's line):
Mr. Gibbs: Curse you for breathin' ya slack-jawed idiot! Jack! Mother's love! You should know it's bad luck to wake a man when he's sleeping.
Jack Sparrow: Fortunately, I know how to counter it; the man who did the waking buys the man who was sleeping a drink; the man who was sleeping drinks it while listening to a proposition from a man who did the waking.
Mr. Gibbs: Aye, that'll about do it.
*Tee-hee*
Amanda, what's the line? I'm cinematically impaired.
Good explanation. Complex, but very nice. It reminds me of Johnny Depp's line in Pirates of the Caribbean. Sorry if you haven't read me before, I relate almost everything to a movie.
I think Amanda (http://blogs.setonhill.edu/AmandaCochran ) makes two extremely good points which represent the college point of view so well: time/effort and three credit class.
As a student solely judging my amount of work to be expected in a 3 credit class, then I'd say forget it, no way. However, I'm getting quite a different vibe from blogging all together. Honestly, I rarely visit Dr. Jerz's blog. But, I do feel that his involvment with our blogs shows a degree of commitment to us as students. Not as college students, but as students. The forum that blogging allows us to take part in is the new town square. Percieving blogs as the new town square pushes me to seeing it as something that Socrates and Plato would frequent. And, it is this perception that encourages involvement beyond requirement and external motivation.
To Dr. Jerz directly: You see the cruel irony of asking Lorie a question in a weblog, yet I find it more ironic that you are asking a question ("what do we think about forced blogging")that a forced-blogger would love to answer (and in responding to a question that a student voluntarily answers, the forced-blogger blogs without being forced).
Thanks for your comments, everyone... please keep them coming.
Lorie, how do you feel about blogging vs. speaking up in class? I realize the cruel irony of asking you this question in a weblog, but I am curious...
Sorry I am a forced blogger. I don't like it and I know I will never touch it again after this class, if I am not forced to do so. No offense, I am a quiet person and prefer to keep my ideas to myself. It makes me feel like the center of attention and I don't like it.
Yes, an acquired taste. I think it appeals to me merely because I love to write. It's just another way for me to get my writing out there to be read because, after all, what is written is meant to be read. Just so happens that being a "bloginator" helps me get my stuff read.
I think forced blogging is just that--even to those of us that may enjoy our blogging experiences. I can't say I'm perfectly thrilled each time I sit down to blog because in truth, sometimes I -am- forcing myself to do it. It's called discipline. :^) Nothing wrong with that.
As a bloginator, you know where I stand, but I can see why people hate it...the software, the time, the lack of comments.
Blogging takes time and effort, and for a three-credit class, I can see why people opt to blog only when they have to. I think I took to blogging so well because I was just entering the realm of the internet and (because I had Dr. Jerz for 3 classes last semester). Somehow, I learned to love it. An acquired taste, I suppose.
I really don't like blogging only becuase it takes up alot of time. If I had more time to spare maybe then I would enjoy it more. I do like to see what people have to say about some things so I guess there is an up side...
Ok. I'm one of those bloggers that is committed, or at least now I am. I don't blog everyday, and sometimes I miss a week, but I enjoy blogging nontheless. I usually write my best blogs when they are voluntary and not forced. I find that when I am put on the spot and actually have to blog about something I get that wonderful little pest to any person trying to write anything known as writers block. So my vote is that if you blog voluntarily it definetly makes the forced blogs a little bit easier because you can trick your mind into thinking you are blogging just like any other day...
And yes Dr. Jerz the blog in blank verse assignment was certainly pushing it. =)
Tiffany