m2h blogs by Marcia Hansen

I’ve added comments functionality. I’m using Haloscan. It was very easy to set-up; a 5 minute process.

Visitors: please try this new functionality.

Thanks!

Dennis G. Jerz at Seton Hill

Topics in Journalism

Writing for the Internet – Fall 2003

300-400 words per week in web journal

The Practice of Journalism – Fall 2003

2-3 online journal entries per week

[Note: Apologies to Dennis Jerz for the typo in his weblog name. It's now corrected in my blogroll to Jerz's Literacy Weblog.]

Was surfing blogroll links and came upon Sebastien Paquet’s post: Online Knowledge Communities. It reminded me that building wikis in a classroom setting could be another way technical literacy is achieved. See Wikipedia. The course webpage could be a wiki.

Today (Dec. 5, 2003) jill/txt posts about her planned talk at brown. She states, “blogging is not simply keeping an electronic journal, it’s distributed and collaborative; it’s learning to think and write with the network ["network literacy"].” Blogging is something we do separate (divided) from each other (distributive). We each post individually or as members of a group. And, blogging is also something we do together (combined) when we link to others’ sites and when we comment on others’ posts.

[Note to self: work on saying this better.]

Walker continues, “Bringing network literacy to the classroom means jolting students out of the conventional individualistic, closed writing of essays only ever seen by your professor.” She did this by requiring or encouraging:

* specific task completion

* blogging in class

* peer linking

* course blog linking

* www blog linking

* feedback

* editing

Then, “in future: teaming up with another group of students elsewhere, crosslinking?”

[Note: While my paternal grandmother was Norwegian, I am unable to read Norwegian and consequently couldn't read Walker's class blog to see how this jolting of students progressed.]

What are other ways to encourage network literacy?

Unpack: critical theory of blogging

*what makes for good blogging (reading, writing, linking, commenting)

*who the popular bloggers and some reasons why

*who the leaders are in the specific discipline

An instructor could explain these things; however, a critical understanding could further develop between and among students by requiring students to determine these things by searching the Web, conducting interviews, and small group work. The project could require them to distribute particular tasks, blog their findings, and engage in collaborative linking and commenting on the results. Further, class presentations could be done f2f or given sufficient time, via a tool such as webex.

Modeling

*Have students read blogs related to their interests and academic major

*Draw attention to matters of organization (dates, titles, categories, comments, permalinks, functional links)

*Have students write/model the organization they have observed in their readings.

Editing: (while drafting, prior to posting the more formal of the informal posts) encourage stylistic choices that make for good writing on the web, including:

*chunking

*use of subtitles for blog entries that run to multiple paragraphs

Moblogging

*Have students post via mobile device (phone, pda)

*Have students post via IM

*Have students post via email

*Discuss possible uses/benefits

Knowledge Communities

*What community life should be acknowledged or encouraged?

*Environmentally speaking, does blogging progress differently when we are alone than if we are in a computer room with lots of people?

*What kind of thought do we value? Who is doing it? How do we start and maintain a conversation with those folks?

*Specialists in the field could be invited to participate in the class blog.

Meditation

**Hmm. I’ve never done this in a college classroom — I don’t know how students would react. It could be far-fetched or uncomfortable for some and it would have to be secular in nature.** At a conference I attended on women in computing (WITI), one of the speakers (I’d link if I could remember her name) began her session with a meditation to relax and focus the attendees. This is a spin on networked, afterall, I believe WE are all connected by our thoughts, beliefs, and actions — if enough people on the planet/country/state/city/place/room believe it, then so it is (question? is this belief accepted by enough people to unpack it for class discussion?). If we were to engage in a moment of silence how would the resulting energy of the readings/writings/discussions (literacy) change?

I went back to Jill/txt to read more and followed one of the commentors, Alan, at blogshop. It has good information and explanations for bloggers wanting to get started.

EL 230: Topics in Journalism: Internet

at Seton Hill University (Spring 2001)

http://maura.setonhill.edu/~arnzen/sp01/ijsyll.htm

Dr. Michael Arnzen

blog: http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/

Web Requirements:

Web journal – ten entries (100-200 words)

Reading journal – five entries (200-300 words)

e-opinion editorials – five entries (200-300 words)

College English Class

Engl 3930/5930 – BlogsAndWikis

at Bemidji State University (Spring 2004)

MC Morgan

http://ferret.bemidjistate.edu/~morgan/cgi-bin/blogsandwiki.pl?Entry_Point

Course Blog:

http://calstaging.bemidjistate.edu/morgan/blogsandwikis/

Pre-req is expository writing.

Oh, this is interesting. The recommended text is Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

In the syllabus under Orientation, MC Morgan states, “Behind the course is one main idea: the technology we use to read and write influences how we read and write, and even what we read and write.” Is Morgan saying putting pen or pencil to paper is different than using MS Word, is different than using a blog (pick your tool), is different than writing content on a website? Hmm… I’ve noticed that when using pen and paper to journal write, I tend to write without editing. However, when using any electronic tool, I edit as I write. Then, if presenting a formal paper, print what I’ve written and revise multiple times, printing a new copy with each substantial revision. Finally, I’ll read through a printed copy one last time checking grammar and punctuation. However, for blog posts, I edit as I write and then give a cursury review, spell-check, and post.

Do I write about different stuff when I write electronically?

My paper journal at home is filled with thoughts and ideas about personal relationships, book or magazine prompted reflections, and some entries just to purge all the crap in my head that I don’t what to forget or want to write it out so I can forget it. I’ve also recently started keeping a notebook with a daily to do list. I’ve found that when I use my Palm to capture tasks, I forget to refer to it after the initial entry.

When I write electronically, either with word or with blog tool it’s different. I write with the knowledge that someone might read my writing when it’s saved as a computer file or posted to a blog. I write electronically about balance, time management, finances, and marketing content for my job. I’ve started blogging to capture parts of my research process.

I need to think about this more, because I’m not sure what, if anything, it’s indicative of yet.

Morgan’s grading is unlike anything I’ve seen in my previous classes.

Students can contract for 500-1000 points (C-A). That is, they’ll commit to doing at least that good and perhaps do better.

50% for project

50% for blog or wiki responses and comments.

The class doesn’t meet regularly.

Readings that I haven’t seen yet:

http://www.weblogkitchen.com/wiki.cgi?WeblogIssues

http://www.barclaybarrios.com/tsk/blog/academics.html

College English Class

ENC 1101, Summer 2003 – Freshman Composition and Rhetoric

at FSU, Terra Williams

http://cyberdash.net/enc110174/index.php

All writing sumbitted is on the web.

Reader response posts (300 words)

Comments (50-200 words)

Paper Drafts

Papers

Journal Entries

24 students

College English Class Blog

Enc 1101- Writing for Discovery

at FSU (Fall 2003) by cyberdash

http://cyberdash.net/celfa03/

Journal Blog Posts Required

2 posts per week, 150 words each

Reader Response Posts Required

Each reading assignment, 300 words each

Comments to Reader Response

4 posts, 50 words each

Students:

Section B3: 20

Section B4: 12

Link in course calendar to:

What We’re Doing When We Blog

by Meg Hourihan

http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/javascript/2002/06/13/megnut.html

College English Class Blogs

English 101 Writing Blog

at Chandler-Gilbert Community College

http://eport2.cgc.maricopa.edu/published/j/ta/jtaylor73/weblog/1/index.shtml

English 110: Composition 1

at north dakota southern univ

http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/ndsu/kbrooks/teaching/110/longblog.html

English 367: American Identity in Cyberspace

at Ohio State

http://mrspock.marion.ohio-state.edu/bartlett.77/bart367syllabus.htm

The blog accounts for 20% of the class grade. Requirements are a minimum of 2 posts per week regarding research. Students are also expected to read classmates’ blogs.

English 515: Professional Writing

at Purdue (Spring 2003)

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~jbay/515/index.html

Good list of weblog articles here:

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~jbay/515/515calendar.html

Linked from course:

How to Write a Better Weblog

by Dennis A. Mahoney

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/writebetter/

Worth The Reading

http://www.livejournal.com/users/worththereading/

AEGL 101 – College Composition – Exploring Techno/literacy

at USCA (Fall 2003)

http://www.usca.edu/english/fornes/101f03/

The final blogfolio accounts for 70% of the grade, with blog updates accounting for 10%. The remaining percentages are participation and discussion/exercises at 10% each.

English 110: Social Expressivism meets Technology and the Media

at ndsu

http://english110express.blogspot.com/

Syllabus: http://sybilisticism.tripod.com/syllabus110_2003.html

1 post per week expected for a 10 week course receives 50 points of 1000 possible.

Instructor blog: http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=teacher47

Computer Writing and Research Lab

at UT-Austin

http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/teachers/blogs.shtml

Technorati

http://www.technorati.com/

On Technorati you can find out who is linking to your blog. Also top 100 and news.

Another interesting link:

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen

search blogs here

http://www.daypop.com