Write Like Mad

Click here for pictures of my wedding and honeymoon.

I’ve been reading _Machine Scoring of Student Essays: Truth and Consequences_ (eds. Patricia Frietag Ericsson and Richard Haswell. Logan, UT: Utah State UP, 2006). My major professor had originally told me I couldn’t just dismiss machine scoring/assessing of student essays but that I should do some investigation so that I know what I’m dismissing. Now I understand why.

I’m really shocked. The essays in this book document some disturbing finds in regard to the effect of computer assessment and how accurate they are. Why should educators care? Because machine scoring programs are being used by thousands of colleges and universities, and in secondary schools without sufficient research into how they work.

If you are an educator or anyone with authority to implement a machine scoring/evaluation/assessment program in your institution, you need to read this book. If your institution is using any such program, you need to read this book. These companies have millions of dollars to spend promoting these computer tools; institutions don’t have millions to spend testing them for accuracy of claims or for how they actually affect student learning. We need a more balanced approach. Just read the book!

Questions for the three tensions

My thesis has come such a long way from the beginning, when I was mainly just focused on what I would need to know as a writing teacher. I wanted to be prepared for the most unprepared students– basic writers, developing writers, inexperienced writers, ESL writers… any label you want to place on a particular individual who is, for whatever reason, struggling to express themselves on paper. This project has mutated, swelled, shrunk, shifted, and tried to squirm completely out from under my “pencil.”

Now, it has come into focus, thanks to my professors. Based on the idea that effective response only asks students to focus on two to three things for revision, I’m presenting three “tensions” for graduate teaching assistants or any writing teachers who lack experience to keep in mind as they respond to student work. One: the tension between the need for and importance of correctness, and the fact that correctness should be the last item on the agenda as one works on any given text. How can we get students to shift their primary focus to content issues, organization, audience, and other global concerns without sending the message that errors don’t matter?

Two: the tension between helping students master academic language and helping them find their own voices. How can we give them the freedom and confidence to use their own words and yet emphasize how important appropriate, academic language is? Without mastery of the standard or “status” dialect, students will not have the autonomy and influence they need outside of the classroom– and they will struggle in their college classes and jobs alike. Standard dialect, and an understanding of what academic language is for college writing, is a tool that students need for success. But often, as David Bartholomae made clear so many years ago in his famous essay “Inventing the University,” students try so hard to adopt academic sounding language that they lose the meaning they were trying to convey. They lose their own voices.

Three: the tension between “democratic” goals for a classroom and the need for assessment and grading. Or, the issue of control in the classroom. What is democracy, really? Does it mean that everyone, including the teacher, is an equal participant? And what happens when it comes time to assign a grade? If students need to take ownership in their own work (and in their own education), how can teachers help them do so without sending a false message that the student has all the control? Does response to student work have to either leave all control with the student or take control away from the student? That may sound like a dumb question, put that way, but when I’m responding to a student’s paper, I’m constantly worrying about these issues.

I think that if GTAs have a fair understanding of the issues behind these three tensions, and if they can keep these issues in mind as they respond, there will be fewer lamentations of “what am I supposed to say?” when a particularly difficult paper is encountered. Nancy Sommers, among other experts, says that we spend the majority of our time as writing teachers responding to student work. We should have at least some understanding of what’s involved as we write back to our students. Most training programs for GTAs just don’t have the time or budget to fully prepare these instructors… and even if they did undergo massive training, how prepared can one really be to do something one has never done before?

Okay, now I’m just babbling. Time to move on, get back to work.

My latest paper: not brilliant, but I explored some ideas about how using a blog in a classroom might provide some additional advantages to writing students.

Educational Blogging: A Writer’s Place

I Blog: my perspective

As I open up my new blog, I hear a sound like wind howling. This place echoes like a huge, empty building. Acres of passageways and chambers, ballrooms, even closets, all empty. In this one room, a small study, I have a little furniture: a few postings. I am intimidated by how much space there is left to fill, and by how uninteresting my posts seem. I check again, every day, for about three days, then I realize that nothing will happen until I make it happen. I have started this blog as a way into the currently hot conversation on educational blogging. In a couple of my classes, I have participated in class blogs, but up to this point, I have felt uncomfortable and unsure of myself. Now, with my own blog, I feel my confidence growing. I’m posting pictures, and links to other sites, trying to imagine what will draw readers to my site.

My original intent in creating my blog “Write Like Mad” was to simply research what a blog was and what it might be used for. We use a blog in our English 595 Language, Technology and Culture class, and it seems to get everybody involved, sharing their thoughts, posting links. Michael Faris, one of the other graduate students, has gone beyond comfortable: he does an enormous amount of his work for school on his own blog, and even presented a paper on blogging at a university conference. A few of my writing professors also use blogging in their classrooms, and this intrigued me. Curious about all the brouhaha, I began to wonder whether I could make use of a blog, and whether it might be something I could use when I’m teaching Writing 121, Freshman Composition.

My purpose in this paper will be to explore not just the possibility of blogging in my own classroom, but also to investigate the implications of educational blogging. Why should we? What should we keep in mind when using blogs for educational purposes? What ways might we use the Web, should we choose to use online composition with our students, and how might a blog be different than, say, a web page, or a discussion board? I hope to answer these questions, and to uncover the ways that students of varying stages of writing expertise (and technical expertise when using computers) might learn from the world wide web. I feel it would be useful to explore educational blogging at all levels, K-12 as well as in colleges and universities, in order to see what’s going on now in classrooms.

“The increasing presence of personal computers in homes, workplaces, communities, and schools has brought about dramatic changes in the ways people across the world create and respond to information” (Selfe 1). This is the opening to Gail E. Hawisher and Cynthia L. Selfe’s book Literate Lives in the Information Age, which deals with the question of what the term literacy means today for students. Much of their research deals with the impact of current technology on the writing classroom, and in this particular book, they question the ways in which the growing importance of “technological, digital, or electronic literacy” (1) affects what we as individuals need to know in order to function in the world. Educators don’t know enough, Selfe and Hawisher state, about how students gain, or don’t gain, literacy today, or even how to define the word. Another problem made worse by this lack of knowledge is access: not all students have equal access to technology, just as students years ago didn’t all have access to the written word.

It is not that schools and colleges are ignoring these issues. Learning theories and new pedagogies have emerged recently that take into account the various ways culture and technology affect student learning. According to Allen Carey-Webb, in his book Literature and Lives, Reader Response theory values what an individual brings to a text when s/he reads it: “…this approach respects student reactions and insights and focuses on the interactive process of their learning” (7). Carey-Webb also promotes Cultural Studies theory, which sees each of us as standing in the stream of ongoing culture, and places importance on integrating learning with the ways in which the culture we live in affects how we perceive the world. “In exploring a particular issue or theme, a cultural studies approach might involve doing a close and careful reading of one or more literary works, along with studying a television program…” (8). Such a teaching approach tries to embrace multiple literacies: reading books, analyzing advertisements or films, writing poetry or prose, using the web and the library to conduct research, carrying on discussions.

What I value most about the combining of these two theories is the emphasis on respect for student experience. Instead of viewing learners as empty vessels waiting to be filled, these pedagogies take into account that students are powerfully affected by forces outside the classroom, that there is a whole world out there that they are already learning from—a world in which they need a broader literacy than simply knowing how to read and write.

What I hope to discover in this paper is how writing online in a public space, but most particularly blogging, might help to accomplish the goals of such theories as Reader Response and Cultural Studies, which I have come to value more and more as I gain experience as a writing teacher.

We Blog: a classroom perspective

The next step is to understand why a blog would be used in a writing class. How can students benefit from a blog, and why might a teacher go to the trouble of using one? Paul Bausch, Matthew Haughey and Meg Hourihan in their book We Blog point to the phenomenon of feedback: readers can comment on author postings, they may include links to related stories or other items of interest, and the author may post these. Readers are encouraged by this to post more feedback, and so a loop is created (Bausch 30). The implication for a writing classroom would be that blogging could provide a space in which students have more contact with each other and provide feedback to each other’s work.

James Paul Gee, a professor at theUniversity of
Wisconsin, makes clear why this sense of community is so vital. In his book What Video Games Have To Teach Us About Learning and Literacy, he explains how we can examine the way student’s engage with video games to better understand how to get students as involved at school as they are with the games. He questions what it is about the games that motivates learners to participate, then he describes why the games are actually teaching learners successfully. Because the developers of the games can only make money if they are purchased and played, the games are designed to fascinate players and keep them playing. This is accomplished by providing learning opportunities that get players fully involved.. Gee describes how active learning is accomplished: “The learner must be enticed to try. This is done through building bridges to his or her real-world identities and by creating a psychosocial moratorium” (Gee 65), or a safe place for learning. The student needs to be able to feel secure in the learning environment, then s/he needs to be able to project themselves into the semiotic domain (specific community, like science or writing) as a competent participant. Gee suggests that learners must learn to project their own identity into that community by imagining themselves as being an accepted member.

Gee also emphasizes importance of practice: “…learning for human beings is, in large part, a practice effect. Humans need to practice what they are learning a good deal before they can master it” (68). And this is true of many areas of skill. In a Chemistry class, perhaps memorization of facts is absolutely vital, but students must also find a way to apply the information they have memorized or the data will be pushed into the back of the mind and forgotten. Writing is one skill in which memorization has little effect; practice is vital and necessary.

Finally, Gee explains why learners need to feel ownership. They need to be able to feel that the creation of a particular identity with skill is up to them, their responsibility. Gee believes this is part of active, critical learning.

To apply Gee’s theories to learning through blogs: Blogging gives students a way to project their identities into the learning community by giving them a space in which they are active participants and members of a writing community. A blog also provides a place in which students can get practice in a way that is useful and part of an ongoing conversation. Finally, a blog can be a safe place for learning: a shared place to publish.

A K-12 Perspective

Richard Ferdig, in an article for T H E Journal, a journal for K-12 administrators and teachers, describes the pedagogy behind blogging and suggests methods of application that could be generally applied to secondary education as well. First, he refers to Vygotsky’s educational theory (1978), which suggests that learning is a social process (which is why writing communities are so valuable to writers), and that meaning is made when students can see ways to apply the knowledge they are acquiring. Blogging is a place where students can publish their texts, revisit and revise them, and most importantly, get feedback. Depending upon the way the blog is set up, students can even get feedback from worldwide audiences. This has the effect of breaking down the walls of the classroom and giving students a forum with connections to a wider community. Blogs can also contain links that readers can follow to other similar sites or more blogs. College students, if not younger students, could learn to add their own links.

Ferdig further discusses the advantages offered by blogs as compared to discussion forums, which are used in many institutional settings. Both offer interactivity, a place to share ideas and get feedback, but blogs potentially give students greater control (depending of course upon how they are set up): “Unlike a discussion forum that is shared by many, a blog gives students full control and ownership over their online content. It becomes a virtual space to try out new concepts that do not have to fit within a hierarchical or topic-based discussion forum” (Ferdig). Choices in settings allow users to decide if what is on the blog will be partly public, or entirely private (seen only by members), or something in between. Blogs seem infinitely flexible, even allowing for settings that create a private space between teacher and student.

One of the most important points that Ferdig makes is that a blog provides a forum for diverse opinions, a chance for every student to express thoughts that s/he might not normally share during class time, and extends the walls of the classroom out into the world (Ferdig): a blog can level the field in a manner of speaking, allowing a chance for every student, not just the outgoing ones, to speak and share their ideas. As a student, I have experienced the benefit of “extending the walls of the classroom”: in our English 595 class, we posted letters to the authors of our textbooks, and three responded directly to our blog entries. I can’t emphasize enough what a powerful effect this had on us, in helping us engage with their work. More importantly, we felt that what we wrote truly mattered, and we were, in reality, a part of a writing community that included these authors. That is not something that can be usually be found within the classroom walls.

Another author, Will Richardson, has written books on educational blogging and has his own blog at http://www.weblogg-ed.com/, where he has resources (a link connecting to Bloglines) and advice regarding K-12 classrooms. I include this because he allows teachers to discuss how they have used blogs in their own classroom: those adding to the discussion on his site remark on how the shared discussions possible on sites like blogs give students a feeling of ownership of the space as well as the benefits of community: “…a moderated discussion forum does have a positive effect on student writing abilities…Given that the entire class is involved in a discussion, all ability levels are working together” (Tech Learning). Another teacher says, “I’ve come to feel that reading and writing the Web is a way for me to tap into a writing space that students already use–and more importantly, want to use. This is very important…we need to make them connect what they do for fun with writing and reading and learning. Weblogs can do that” (Kairosnews).

In his book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms,
Richardson asks some important questions about how blogs might be used educationally:

What needs to change about our curriculum when our students have the ability to reach audiences far beyond our classroom walls? What changes must we make in our teaching as it becomes easier to bring primary sources to our students? How do we need to rethink our ideas of literacy when we must prepare our students to become not only readers and writers, but editors and collaborators as well? How do we best put to use the reams and reams of ‘digital paper’ that Weblogs provide? (5)

His questions carry just a touch of sarcasm, I think, since each one opens up a world of possibility. By framing his words as questions, he forces us to think more deeply about what he proposes. Brushing aside objections to use of blogs and the risks they may pose (of inappropriate posting, or exposure of students), he points out that students today need a wider definition of literacy than they may have twenty years ago: they need a global literacy. And so do educators if they want to keep up with the students.
Richardson lists a few results of a March 2005 Netday survey: “81% of students in grades 7-12 have e-mail accounts, 75% have at least one Instant Messenger (IM) screen name, and… 97% believe strongly that technology use is important in education. And the fastest growing age group for using the Internet is 2- to 5-year-olds” (6). He refers to most teachers as “Digital Immigrants” (a term coined by Prensky), because we didn’t grow up surrounded by these technologies. He claims we don’t multitask well, but students are able to use multiple technologies at once. He believes that the use of technology in the classroom is vital to close this gap between student and teacher, which is necessary if we are to help them make the most of their digital literacy.

Richardson provides an elaborate list of ways that a blog might be used for a classroom—and I can see using these not just in K-12 classrooms, but in a college setting as well. I will list only a few of his suggestions:

Þ Post announcements, schedules, events, homework

Þ Have students post their work and responses, creating a kind of “blog portfolio”

Þ Post examples of classwork or even games

Þ Provide online readings or websites for students to respond/react to, create a book club

Þ Gather together internet sources, links

Þ Have students create their own Weblogs

Þ Create a newsletter with students providing their own articles and photos

Þ Link your class with others (42)

Richardson also provides a list of standards sponsored by the NCTE and IRA. To summarize, these ask that students have varied exposure to reading through print and nonprint texts, learn about different cultures, learn about society and themselves, read various genres and time period literature, learn to adjust their language according to audience and purpose, apply this knowledge, do research, use various technology, respect and understand diversity, and use all of these skills to accomplish their own purposes. For the original list, go to http://www.ncte.org/about/over/standards/110846.htm (
Richardson 44).

A College PerspectiveKevin Brooks, Cindy Nichols, and Sybil Priebe ofNorth Dakota
State
University provide some useful information on how their students responded to blogging activities in the classroom. They begin by explaining their own enthusiasm for using blogs, which seem like such a rich resource: it doesn’t require specialized knowledge to use, it incorporates familiar writing practices, and it provides what writers need most—community and feedback… not to mention motivation. “Our initial study has convinced us that weblogging as a general writing activity is worth pursuing in college courses” (Brooks).

They quote Rebecca Blood:

As he enunciates his opinions daily, this new awareness of his inner life may develop into a trust in his own perspective. His own reactions… will carry more weight with him. Accustomed to expressing his thoughts on his website, he will be able to more fully articulate his opinions to himself and others… Ideally, he will become less reflexive and more reflective, and find his own opinions and ideas worthy of serious consideration (Brooks).

Considering that these are the goals of a writing course, a blog sounds like an effective tool.

However, Brooks et. al. were skeptical of this vision of writer-without-teacher and were aware that there might be drawbacks, so they conducted some research on their own students to see how they were responding to the blog activities. “Our research question…is ‘which weblog genre(s) (if any) engage or motivate students to make significant contributions to their personal or class weblog?’” (Brooks) The results of this research did not provide any conclusive evidence that blogging contributed to stronger writing, but they were able to come to a better understanding of how weblogs might best contribute to classroom learning: first year students were not motivated academically to blog, but they were interested in expressing themselves in blogs; upper-division students were more interested in how blogging could add to their academic learning (but they also preferred personal weblogs). To summarize their findings: notebook blogging (“notebooks are distinguished from blogs [journals] by their longer pieces of focused content” (Brooks) seems more successful when used in a collaborative weblog; filter weblogs have rich potential but are complicated to use; and journaling was by far the most popular genre of weblog for students

On the topic of blogging as a kind of personal journal, Charles Lowe ofPurdue
University and Terra Williams of Arizona State describe the ways their students use blogging in their writing classes. They also refer to three web authors who provide excellent models of how student blogging might be accomplished: Dennis Jerz’s Literacy Weblog (which can be found at http://jerz.setonhill.edu/weblog/index.jsp), John Lovas’ Jocalo’s Blog (http://faculty.deanza.fhda.edu/jocalo/stories/storyReader$25), and Jill Walker’s jill/txt (http://jilltxt.net/). Each of these websites are examples of using a blog for journaling in a useful way.

Lowe and Williams suggest that the idea behind educational blogging is not new: they compare blogging to personal print journals (on paper!). They quote Susan McLeod, who describes these as a place for students to explore ideas, to “explain things to the self before explaining to others” (Lowe). She compares them to a scientist’s notebook or an artists sketchbook. The complication with blogs, Lowe and Williams state, is that they are public. The advantages are many. For instance, print journals are difficult to distribute, and they do not extend possibilities for feedback beyond the classroom walls.

In the author’s classrooms, students use blogs for reading response, to post interesting items related to class work, for exploring personally chosen topics, or even for posting off-topic material such as links or other items they found fascinating. This last surprised me: in our English 595 class, we too posted off-topic material, but I assumed the professor was being lenient with us. Now I realize that this activity encourages students to 1) write, and 2) consider the world outside the classroom, then bring it inside with the students.

Lowe and Williams also consider other ways to use the internet for sharing work, but none, they feel, can compare to the freedom and flexibility offered by blogs. WebCT and Blackboard, both of which I have used as a student, offer the opportunity for shared discussion. Students can post and respond. E-mailed peer dialog journals also offer the chance for feedback from classmates. However, all three of these are still confined to the classroom, and they are rigid in the ways they can be used. Web pages are highly similar to blogs, but they require a high level of expertise in order to create and use them. Teachers are required to spend a great deal of time learning the technology and then supervising how students set up their pages. Blogs are already set up, but they also offer some flexibility in design.

One drawback that is cited occasionally by educators is the fear that students will be exposed by the very public atmosphere of a shared blog. Lowe and Williams don’t agree that this risk outweighs the benefits: “As teachers who have used weblogs in our classrooms for the past 2 years, we have found that by extending the discourse to a large community outside the classroom, our student bloggers regularly confront ‘real’ rhetorical situations in a very social, supportive setting” (Lowe). They refer to Kenneth Bruffee’s theory on the importance of public writing: when students share their work (with others besides the instructor) and get feedback, they learn to value themselves as writers and to see themselves as part of a social activity. The authors also quote Jill Walker, who observes that blogs create a feeling of companionship—they combat the idea of writer as isolated and alone. In fact, Lowe and Williams believe, as teachers, that the blog, by providing a space outside of the classroom to write, reduces anxiety about teacher and peer response: “weblogs can facilitate a collaborative, social process of meaning making, leading us to believe that weblogs as an instance of ‘publicy’ [as opposed to “privacy”] enable a comfort zone, a social environment where anxiety about the teacher and of school writing is reduced, while also drawing on other benefits of writing publicly” (Lowe).

All of this sounds ideal, but some experts fear that enthusiasm for online writing could obscure problems. Like any activity used in any class, if instructors don’t keep in mind their own goals and pedagogy, the results can be disappointing. Hawisher and Selfe, in their article “The Rhetoric of Technology and the Electronic Writing Class,” warn that simply having students blog will not automatically guarantee the formation of community or foster collaboration. We must think critically and carefully about what we are doing, and be accountable (Hawisher).

David Alan Sapp and James Simon ofFairfield
University in
Connecticut agree. They are concerned with low completion rates of online writing courses, so they offer some ideas for getting students more involved. They don’t refer specifically to blogging; rather their comments are aimed at courses that are taught online, but their conclusions can be applied, I feel, to the way students might participate—or not—on a classroom blog. Sapp and Simon point to teacher involvement: students need positive feedback from their instructors to maintain their interest in any activity, and online posting can make a student feel isolated: “… increased interaction among teachers and students (as well as among students themselves) helps students engage in online learning contexts” (479). Healthy online collaboration with teacher feedback can enhance the building of community. This is an important point, because many teachers (one of my professors at

Western
Oregon
University as well) feel that they should keep their distance and let students use the online space without teacher interference. Sapp and Simon believe that to build a whole community, the teacher should participate too.

Sapp and Simon also recommend “ice-breaker sessions” to help students get to know each other, and they emphasize as well the importance of face to face interaction. So student involvement with blogging may be in direct proportion to how the classroom itself incorporates these activities. I’ve seen this in our English 595 class: we are given posting assignments, then we read and share these with each other as a group, in class. Our professor gives us positive feedback on everything we post, including items that we might post spontaneously, like reflections, or questions, or links. This classroom discussion peaks our interest in posting, and the face-to-face contact is invaluable in building community.

Barclay Barrios atRutgers
University feels that it isn’t just teachers that need to keep themselves involved in online interaction between students, but the university itself. He believes that there is no longer a question of whether students benefit from Web writing instruction, but that there is still a great deal of exploration to be done in terms of how this instruction might be shaped by university programs (74). He gives as example, the Rutgers Writing Program Website (http://wp.rutgers.edu). Since its inception, the program has been redesigned to better encourage the development of a sense of community among student who post there. The site, he says, helps students to see themselves as producers, part of a community of producers. By being student-centered and content driven, the site emphasizes collaboration, while students develop skill in writing and in critical thinking (81). It’s vital to note that this website isn’t simply a place for teachers to provide information for students to consume. He describes what he has seen happen on the website: “We were expanding our technological literacy, defined by Selfe (1999) as ‘the complex set of socially and culturally situated values, practices and skills involved in operating linguistically within the context of electronic environments, including reading, writing, and communicating’” (82).

I visited the website myself, and I’m impressed at the simplicity of its layout, and with the amount of information provided. It’s also interesting to note that the box that contains links for teachers includes an invitation for students to take a look as well. This, I think, adds to the feeling that a student might get from looking at this site, that s/he is a member of the site, not an outsider.

The value of this feeling, that one is a member of a community of writers, can’t be emphasized enough. Kristie Fleckenstein ofBall
State
University gives a particularly clear explanation of how a teacher might most effectively use Web writing instruction to build community. She recommends that writing classes use blogs, online discussion boards, and wikis in conjunction to expand the walls of the traditional classroom. First, blogs give students a feeling of ownership: “Frequent blogging of the self-reflective kind will help students develop subjectivity and explore their thoughts and feelings in a space that is public, yet controlled by the student” (189). Second, discussion boards expose students to criticism, which fosters awareness of audience and encourages research and critical thought. Students, aware of the responses they may get, will spend more time and effort in creating accurate entries. Third, wikis provide a communal space “where students strive for consensus and learn to share a common, community voice” (189). Fleckenstein believes that each activity is vital to the development of the others. Each is necessary in order to develop voice, and a sense of identity. Students might ask, “where do I fit in? What is my community?” Perhaps most importantly, they might ask, “what do I want to say to that community?”

Although I see the advantages outlined by Fleckenstein, as an inexperienced instructor, I have some reservations. Establishing a blog in a writing classroom takes time, and incorporating all of these different activities would take up an enormous block of energy and effort on everyone’s part. For instructors with more experience, it can obviously be accomplished, but for myself, I’m not ready to get this involved. I might explore which of the three online sources above I want to use, keeping in mind my goals and outcomes, and let class work fulfill the rest. For instance, a shared class blog would provide a sense of ownership and an opportunity for shared class posting and feedback, but in-class discussion could also provide peer feedback and teacher feedback, as well as building consensus and common voice.

Another Perspective

We must also take into account the students in our classrooms that are not native speakers. Can they too benefit from online collaboration? Frank Tuzi of MTS Technologies discusses the way in which L2 writers can benefit from what he calls “e-feedback,” and I like his term because it can be applied to any response a student receives from online: websites, e-mail, blogs, wikis, discussion boards, to name a few. L2 writers prefer oral feedback, but Tuzi’s research found that this feedback most encouraged correction at the local or sentence level, and a focus on surface errors. E-feedback, on the other hand, encouraged revision. Comments from peers motivated students to add more information to their texts, or to make changes in organization. E-feedback motivated correction of global issues and gave positive reinforcement for revision.

Tuzi points out that preparation for giving response is vital, and I believe we can transfer his findings to any situation in which someone is going to be giving response to others, such as any student in a writing class, as well as teaching assistants. Students with training and coaching in the writing process give more specific feedback, he tells us, and they read the feedback they receive more carefully (222). This preparation can be as simple as having an involved class discussion in which students share ideas as to what kind of feedback they find helpful, or unhelpful. Tuzi places a comment on the overhead projector, then asks students, “Is this a helpful comment? How would this comment make you feel? Would it encourage you to revise?” Students can see visually what kinds of response are effective, and they can share their own ideas about feedback. Tuzi promotes at least two hours of training in order for peers to be ready to provide effective feedback (222).

I particularly valued his comments, because I feel that the skill of responding to others cannot be emphasized enough. I think it takes time for students to develop this skill and that more practice is called for. I’ve seen teaching assistants beg for advice on responding to their students: “What am I supposed to say to them?” It is not a simple question, and it isn’t one that can be answered in a moment, but what if we placed more importance on making certain our students had a foundation in response theory? Like the ability to write, the ability to respond takes years to develop—and I think it’s an ongoing process for everyone who teaches writing. I don’t mean to imply that the current system is flawed; I’m just wondering if response could be emphasized more than it is, especially for those who will teach. If we are teaching writing as process, then we must teach students to promote the idea of process by valuing feedback, response, and revision, and I see this happening in upper division classes. By actively involving students, by helping them see themselves as part of the process, we can help them learn to place more importance not only on what they say to others, but on what others say to them.

In Tuzi’s view, the greater variety in the medium of response, and the more feedback students get, better chance they have of understanding the importance of audience awareness and the value of revision (231). In other words, he believes that there is value in multiple methods of response, such as oral, written, and online response. Writing 121 classes already incorporate written instructor response, conferences between instructor and student, and peer feedback in class and through e-mail: interaction on a blog would simply add another facet to the process.

The training mentioned above by Tuzi includes preparation for using the technology involved with online responding. Which leads to the next topic:

Access

The specific conditions of access must also be addressed in order to assure people productive environments within which access can make a real difference. One necessary, but not sufficient, element of these conditions must be a broad understanding and valuing of multiple literacies—emerging, competing, and fading—in home, school, community, and workplace environments (Selfe 234).

Not all students have the same level of experience with technology, and this is difficult—for me at least—to remember. Not all have the same access, but more importantly, not all have sufficient access to help them develop the level of technical/digital/electronic or other literacy that they need to function in today’s society. In my WR 121 class, I did not take this into account: did all of my students know how to use a word processor on a computer? Did they all understand how their school electronic account worked? Did they all know where campus computer labs were, and if they did, did they know how to get the work they had done on one computer to another? There are many questions I should have asked, and before I decide to blog with my students, I had better start asking these and more. I did ask them if they had activated their accounts, and I did demonstrate how to find and open Blackboard, which was where I posted a great deal of information for them to use for class, but brief demonstrations and explanations won’t be sufficient for teaching blogging. For one thing, asking students as a group about their access to technology is an invitation to get vague positive responses that are not at all informative. If I decide to use a blog in my class next term, I will have to devote a certain amount of class time to this activity: first, in teaching how to do it, second in taking time to look at what has been posted. Also, it might be helpful to ask students to do a freewrite on how they view digital and electronic technology, as well as how much they know about how to get access to computers, word processing programs, and printing.

As Selfe and Hawisher make clear, students need access, they need a way in, and they must have understanding of how various literacies work. If helping them learn to use a blog can break down these barriers, then it is worth the risks. It is worth my time and theirs to learn to use this technology if it can provide the benefits claimed by the many teacher/authors we’ve seen. “None of these considerations, of course, can be addressed in isolation from the cultural ecology within which access to computers, and the acquisition and development of the literacies of technology, make a difference for people” (Selfe 234). Blogs provide a place to examine the vast diversity of acts of literacy that take place every day, with students able to post comments, pictures, or even links to interesting sites.

Conclusion

What is it about blogging that makes it unique? What does it have to offer that differs from what other forms of writing, online or otherwise provide? Blogging offers true social interaction, in an environment that expands the walls of the classroom to include the world. Blogging offers a space to share one’s work and get real response from a variety of sources. Blogs help students gain access to the world of digital and computer technology and help them make sense of that world.

There are still problems, of course. How effective it might be to share entries on the web might depend heavily on class size. We use a blog for our English 595 class atOregon
State
University, but there are only 15 of us. I’ve been able to link my own blog to this one, and it works very well. But Professor Ede says that she would not use a blog for her ENG 104 Introduction to Literature course, which has 65 students. There is just not time to incorporate web use. I would consider using a blog for a Writing 121 class, but there are usually 25 students in this class, and it might not be feasible to get them all working on the web. It would be helpful to have access occasionally to a computer lab. Five years from now, maybe all of the students will have laptops, but for now, having access as a group to computers is difficult. In ENG 495/595 we work in a lab, and we can blog together. This strengthens our interest in the blog, enhances the feeling of shared experience, and motivates us to post after class hours… Not an opportunity that I could share easily with my WR 121 students.

However, reading the comments of experienced teachers who use blogging for their writing classes strengthens my interest—and my confidence—in the idea of trying to get a blog going with my students. Considering Gee’s explanation of how students learn from being active participants in a particular community, and considering Self and Hawisher’s statements regarding access to learning and technology, I feel that it would be worth my time and that of my students. By introducing them to blogging, perhaps I could help those students with less access to gain confidence in using digital or electronic technology. I think blogging would be a wonderful way for them to build confidence in their writing as well.

I realize at this point that the project may not come out the way I hope at all: I can only begin at the beginning and hope that over time I would gain the experience I need to make blog use go smoothly. First, I must teach them where to find the blog, how to accept introductions to it, create user names and passwords, then show them how to post. But after that, we might discover that we had a rich resource for feedback and sharing of ideas. Imagine students posting their drafts, watching each other’s work take shape. It would only be fair if I posted rough drafts as well, or even examples of the drafts created by professional writers. Students could see the process of writing take shape in front of them.

Writers need community if they are to thrive; they need feedback and response. Certainly this can be created without blogs. But writers also need motivation, and I’m feeling that every time I think about “Write Like Mad.” We are only limited by what we choose to put into our class. It is worth the effort, and worth taking a chance, to find out whether classroom blogging can provide a benefit to students that they may not find anywhere else.

Works Cited

Barrios, Barclay. “Reimagining writing program websites as pedagogical tools.” Computers and Composition 21 (2004): 73-87.

Bausch, Paul, Matthew Haughey and Meg Hourihan. We Blog: Publishing Online with Weblogs.
Indianapolis: Wiley Publishing, Inc, 2002.

Brooks, Kevin, Cindy Nichols and Sybil Priebe. “Remediation, Genre, and Motivation: Key Concepts for Teaching with Weblogs.” Into the Blogosphere: Rhetoric, Community, and Culture of Weblogs. Ed. Laura J. Gurak, Smiljana Antonijevic, Laurie Johnson, Clancy Ratliff, and Jessica Reyman. June 2004. 19 November 2006. <http://blog.lib.umn.edu/blogosphere/>

Carey-Webb, Allen. Literature and Lives.
Illinois: NCTE, 2001.

Castro,
Elizabeth. Publishing a Blog with Blogger.
California: Peach Pit Press, 2005.

Ferdig, Richard. “Content Delivery in the ‘Blogosphere.” T H E Journal 31.7 (Feb2004): 12-20.

Fleckenstein, Kristie S. “Faceless Students, virtual places: Emergence and Communal Accountability in online classrooms.” Computers and Composition 22.2 (2005): 149-190.

Gee, James Paul. What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy.
New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

Hawisher, Gail E. and Cynthia L. Selfe. “The Rhetoric of Technology and the Electronic Writing Class.” College Composition and Communication 42 (February 1991): 55-65.

Kairosnews. “Why Weblogs?” Weblogg-ed. Will
Richardson. 6 April 2006. 27 November 2006 <http://www.weblogg-ed.com/why-weblogs>

Lowe, Charles and Terra Williams. “Moving to the Public: Weblogs in the Writing Classroom.” Into the Blogosphere: Rhetoric, Community, and Culture of Weblogs. Ed. Laura J. Gurak, Smiljana Antonijevic, Laurie Johnson, Clancy Ratliff, and Jessica Reyman. June 2004. 3 December 2006. <http://blog.lib.umn.edu/blogosphere/>

Richardson, Will. BLOGS, WIKIS, PODCASTS, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms.
California: Corwin Press, 2006.

Sapp, David Alan & James Simon. “Comparing grades in online and face-to-face writing courses: Interpersonal accountability and institutional commitment.” Computers and Composition 22.4 (2005): 471-189.

Selfe, Cynthia L. and Gail E. Hawisher. Literate Lives in the Information Age: Narratives of Literacy From the
United States.
New Jersey:
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, 2004.

Tech Learning. “Why Weblogs?” Weblogg-ed. Will
Richardson. 6 April 2006. 27 November 2006 <http://www.weblogg-ed.com/why-weblogs>

Tuzi, Frank. “The impact of e-feedback on the revisions of L2 writers in an academic writing course.” Computers and Composition 21.2 (2004): 217-235.

What a great opportunity to be a contributor to this blog by my friend and colleague April. Working with April at OSU in our composition program is a great joy, and I know what an asset she is to our students. I just wish we had more time to visit – maybe next year when she has her MA and is working? Here’s a link to my blog – to which I wish I posted more frequently. Maybe being on both blogs will inspire me to post more often. I hope so.

Meanwhile, this weekend I hope to do more research for an upcoming conference paper on the way that graduate student teachers create an online persona — so April’s blog is relates perfectly.

Sara

I noticed when I read April’s “Entering the Conversation Essay” that she wrote:

I’m afraid that women’s blogs just don’t get the status or attention that men’s blogs do. Perhaps more personally, I’m afraid I might not have much to say that would interest anyone else. As a woman, I don’t really expect my words to interest anyone but other women (am I a dinosaur to think that way?). That concerns me: is it true, or am I limiting my own audience with my expectations?

I think that’s a pretty powerful and important observation, that women’s blogs do not get the same readership and treatment as men’s blogs.

I suggested that April read Into the Blogosphere in a comment to her post, but I especially want to stress the article “Women and Children Last” by Susan C. Herring, Inna Kouper, Lois Ann Scheidt, and Elijah L. Wright, which discusses the way women’s and children’s blogs aren’t valued in the same way as men’s.

Oh, and April, I might suggest that you turn on “title” under your “settings” so that you can give each blog post a title. It’s a little more aesthetically pleasing, and might increase readership if people see a provocative title.

Great essay, April!

Entering the Conversation

The Blog, the real world, and the Classroom

As we read about literacy and the changing views in terms of just what that term means for individuals who use the information superhighway we also call the web, I become more and more fascinated with the idea of blogging. I begin to wonder how this online source could be used advantageously by a single person, and from there, I begin to wonder why and how it is being used in a classroom setting. Is it just a fad, or will blogging become ever bigger and better? Will people find a way to connect their blogs together more closely (like chapters in a book), or will some other form of internet sharing have replaced blogging by then? As I begin, I have a lot of questions, some of which, I know, won’t be answered—especially that one I just asked. How can anyone predict what direction technology will go? What is important, I think, is to take advantage of what is available now, at least long enough to decide if that particular technology will work for me.
As I explore the topic of blogging, and after doing a little research, I decided it seemed logical to create (in a manner of speaking) my own blog. I’m interested in how others have used this forum to their advantage, and also concerned about how time-consuming a blog might be. I’m also interested in the pedagogical beliefs behind using blogs for educational purposes, especially in the writing classroom. Writing is a social activity, although many people who write (or don’t) don’t realize this. I wrote for many years, alone and thinking that was how it should be. Although I was able to finish a number of books, I didn’t learn how to polish these works, or how to narrow my focus on who my audience might be. There were many things I needed to learn about writing, and from writing, but that I needed to learn from participating in a community of writers. Why is community so important? This is where we learn to anticipate audience, to sharpen our own purposes in writing, and this is where we can bounce ideas off of each other, and inspire each other. More importantly, we connect to others and form communities by sharing with each other. Writing in isolation can be a way of reaching out, and writing on a blog may be a more immediate, more public way to reach out and get a response. I’m hoping that others might respond to my blog posting and give me this sense of audience and community. [Looking at this last sentence, I notice that “posting” is singular; I have a feeling I am still thinking too narrowly!]

The main purpose to this exploration will be to help me both as a student and as a writing teacher better understand not only how to integrate blogging and the web into my life or the classroom, but also the literacy environment that I and my students already participate in. I’m most interested in how blogging can enhance my interaction with information and whether a blog would be useful in any classroom, or if blogging is more appropriate in some situations than others (such as class size or subject matter). As I delve into my research, I can’t help but feel that blogging could help students to shape their writing and the way they interact with college assignments—or even enhance their conception of how productive writing can be. Blogging can both increase a teacher’s understanding of their students, and increase student understanding of what it means to be a member of a writing community.

What is at stake for me? I’m not sure where I stand in terms of technology use, and I’m interested in whether I am making the best use of the tools available to me. I feel isolated and left out of the loop by my lack of knowledge of blogs. I will have to approach this assignment as one who is entering unfamiliar territory—like a scientist creeping into the jungle hoping for a peek at the natives, and I’ll have to take some risks I’ve never taken before. When I wrote my books, I only imagined sharing them with multiple readers, and I certainly never did more than dream that thousands might read my work; I don’t expect thousands to read my blog, but it will be an absolutely new experience for me to write words that can be read immediately… by anyone. I feel exposed already.

In terms of feeling like an outsider, as I mentioned above, I wonder too how blogging might “expand my boundaries” as my favorite prayer requests. Can I get feedback from people around the world—if they notice my entries. I have established my blog, “write like mad,” and have invited my professors to join, and I wonder if they will find time to post something. As Michael Faris mentions in his entering the conversation essay, I too think I have too utopian a view of what a blog can do for me—or for others. But I can’t ignore the possibilities. I think I will get out of it what I put into it. In fact, at our class in which several guest speakers shared their ideas about web use with us, they all agreed that I would get more responses if I posted more to other people’s blogs. This is a unique concept for me, but it makes sense. Share and others will share with me.

So far as my gendered identity, I tend to shy away from feminism, and I wonder why. To be honest, I’m afraid that women’s blogs just don’t get the status or attention that men’s blogs do. Perhaps more personally, I’m afraid I might not have much to say that would interest anyone else. As a woman, I don’t really expect my words to interest anyone but other women (am I a dinosaur to think that way?). That concerns me: is it true, or am I limiting my own audience with my expectations? But I don’t want to focus on gender issues—at least not now: my point is not to garner attention, but rather to explore a new possibility: public publishing.

I am conceiving of this project as an interpretive, multi-modal inquiry: the outcome will encourage my use of blogs in actuality, not just in my own imagination. Because I know little to nothing about blogs, I began by doing some reading, then establishing my own blog in the manner Richard Ferdig advises in order to experience first hand what is involved. I will combine library and online research of scholarly sources with interviews (if appropriate), a very informal survey, and even through encouraging others to write on my blog and share their thoughts. I intend to do my best to interpret my various findings accurately and use them to help shape my own improved understanding of how blogging might be used to the best advantage for my learning, or even that of my students. My main concern will be that what I discover is accurate and realistic—not to mention useful to me.

I have established my own blog and named it “write like mad.” I established a simple user name and password in case this must be shared with others—I’m still figuring out how blogs work, so I’m not sure how others get permission to post, and I want very much for others to post on my blog. I’ve done quite a bit of reading at this point, of scholarly articles mainly, and I’m getting a clear understanding of the conversation. Apparently, in 1998 blogs were born, and they were initially a place for people to write out their thoughts in a public forum. Stephen Downes does a wonderful job clarifying the original purpose of the blog: he says that although many refer to weblogs as simply a set of personal thoughts, etc., the history of weblogging makes it clear that this isn’t true; the situation is far more complex. He refers to Rebecca Blood, who states that the first blogs were “link driven sites” (Downes 16). These early blogs took advantage of the ability to include links, texts, short thoughts, long essays, commentary, whatever. One individual in my research used a blog as a place to store bookmarks efficiently, which intrigues me since my list of bookmarks (called favorites under internet explorer) is extremely long and hard to scan. Some people, according to Downes, were spurred by September 11 events to write amazing amounts of commentary on what had happened. Some wrote journal type entries documenting what they were experiencing at ground zero. What’s interesting is the idea that blogging made people a part of the ongoing events, instead of just observers. I want very much for my students to feel the same: that they are participants in their own learning and in their own classroom, observers—not simply observed and judged.

Along those lines, so far as educational use of blogs goes, my research uncovered a powerful driving pedagogy behind their use: blogs enhance the development of a community of writers in the classroom, showing students first hand what it means to write socially, to share one’s ideas and get feedback from a variety of sources. Students learn how important it is to express their thoughts clearly, in a format that most people could understand, because their audience is a broad one. Because writing is about communicating ideas, using a blog as a place to do that seems entirely appropriate. A real advantage in using blogs for a writing class for high school students or college freshman is that these young people are already familiar with the web; they already appreciate the values of networking. Another advantage for young people is that students of this age are often reluctant to participate in a face to face classroom, but may post enthusiastically on a blog, where they may feel less judged. They know their writing will be judged, but they see this as useful feedback.

My research thus far has uncovered certain articles, which I found fascinating. The first I encountered was Richard Ferdig’s “Content Delivery in the Blogosphere,” in which he not only defines blogs, discusses the pedagogy behind them (which was eye-opening and inspiring), but he also gives practical suggestions for how to use blogs educationally and details the benefits for students. He was the one who pointed me toward Blogger (www.blogger.com), which I found very easy to use… well, I shouldn’t say “very,” since creating links seems rather difficult. Then I read the less inspiring article by Mark Toner which discussed how educators use blogs as a forum for discussion and airing frustrations, as well as “Scholars who Blog” by David Glenn, which covered a similar topic. The valuable points in that article, for me, were on how one can publish immediately.

The Stephen Downes article “Educational Blogging” was very helpful in clarifying how blogs can benefit the classroom, particularly a grade school classroom, but more importantly, he discusses the many facets of blogging and individual use of these. The Alex Halavais articles detailed student use of blogs, and Will Richardson’s article “The Educators Guide to the Read/Write Web” pointed out that what blogs are really for are reading. I found that point fascinating. I always think of writing as coming first, but he points out that blogs function first as a place to read, and I think I agree: I write what I think or know, then read it and digest it.
A couple of other names I keep hearing are Rebecca Blood and Will Richardson, so I have ordered their books through Summit. I found Paul Bausch’s book We Blog in the library and have begun reading it: it talks about why blogs developed and how, and instructs the reader in using weblogs. I’m excited to have book sources since I expected only to find journal articles that are up-to-date on blogging.

The annotated bibliography goes into greater detail as to what works I’ve read, so I’ve only included the first articles I encountered, since these were my true point of discovery. I’m now reading Michael Faris’ entering the conversation essay, and I will soon move on to reading his seminar paper. I’ve looked at his two private blogs in order to get an idea of how he uses these spaces: one site is very personal, loaded with images and detail and fun to read, mainly about personal views and commentary (a journal shared); the other is entirely devoted to his research for a particular paper, and it seems like there is a lot of empty space at the sides. It feels a little deserted, so I wonder if he’s posted anything there in awhile.

Another important source is Into the Blogosphere, an online book that is rich with reflections and information regarding blogging. I’ve just begun to explore this, and it is loaded. I had forgetten about the famous blog by Salem Pax, which was a journal of his day to day experiences in the Iraq war… I suppose still is, but I don’t see any recent posts. Maybe they are in a different order than what I’m used to. What is most amazing is that I can click a link and be reading this man’s firsthand account of the bombing in Karbala. I never would have dreamed of the things he writes, or of the point of view he gives. Hopefully, I will never write a firsthand account of war. I’m wondering at this point how to incorporate what I have found into my paper. The more I dig, the more the kaleidoscope opens up for me, turning and radiating into more and more colors and designs.

Pulling myself back down to reality, I have to move on to practical matters: I am very interested in hearing from bloggers and/or educators themselves. I want to know how blogging works for them, or in a real classroom: what seems helpful and what doesn’t? Is using it for a class superior to Blackboard? Do students get carried away, go off on tangents, use inappropriate language? And I want to hear from students who have used blogs, either privately or in a classroom setting. I’m developing ideas for a survey I want to conduct with my classmates, who have all used blogs (at least our class blog). I wonder if an important question might be how they feel about having their own blog versus sharing one with others, and does the classroom setting inhibit their postings, or does the blog setting counteract that…
My biggest concern right now is whether I can come up with ten-plus pages of commentary. Everyone seems to be saying the same thing about blogs, so it seems as though it will be simply a matter of explaining their points. I’m feeling nervous about having enough to say at this point. I will take a look at what other students have done in the previous ENG 595 class to get some ideas about how to shape my seminar paper.

My plan of work: for the next week, I will write up what I have so far, beginning with history and background, then explaining the pedagogy behind blogging. I will talk about what teacher/researchers have discussed in their essays or articles, how useful they find blogging, both as individuals and with their students. Then I will document my own experiences with creating a blog and maintaining it, projecting what it might be like to maintain this blog or something similar for my students. I am particularly interested in how Michael Faris used a blog as a place to keep research notes and thoughts as he completed a project.

I will also investigate ideas about the social aspect of learning: new literacy studies, according to James Paul Gee, focus on learning as being a part of community, the idea that we cannot learn or think or know anything without being influenced by the culture that surrounds us. I think this idea is very relevant to explaining why blogging has achieved such importance for so many people, and why it may be important to use it in some form in the classroom. [What purpose does it serve in building a shared literacy experience, and can this be achieved in larger classrooms in a more efficient way (such as when blogging would be impractical)? Maybe what I mean to say is: what can I learn from why blogging is so fascinating that might help me understand what writers need in terms of community and feedback?]

I will develop a very informal survey for my classmates, perhaps asking such questions as: how did posting on a blog differ from writing reading responses which were turned in; did posting on the blog make you feel more or less free to express your personal views; would you consider creating (or have you already created) your own blog; if so, what would you use it for? I will contact Michael Faris and ask his advice on types of questions to ask.

Finally, I will keep working on my blog, hopefully getting writing teachers or others to post or comment on my blog and talk about blogging in their coursework, and then I will incorporate these findings into my paper.

I can say that I am interested in whether blogging would be beneficial to WR 121. I am intrigued by what I’ve found in my research, and I’m especially charmed by the idea of expanding the walls of the classroom and enhancing the sense of community my students feel. Perhaps more important is the sense of ownership people can find in blogging. I wonder what I will learn from having a blog… in regard to being a writer and sharing my thoughts in an open community.
What surprises me most as I begin is how connected I already feel to this subject. I have a lot invested in this project, since it is shaping up to be something I might use as an important part of my own development as a writer.

Annotated Bibliography

Abram, Stephen. “E-Support for Content Creation and Literacy Skills.” MultiMedia & Internet @ Schools 13.2 (2006): 16-19.
Abram points out that school work demands that students create content in a world that may or may not be representative of the world they will live and work in as adults. He suggests that we encourage teenagers to make connections between school work and the way they create content online. He provides some facts on how kids use the web, talks about aspects of social networking, then goes into detail about ways to incorporate a blog into the classroom: keep a journal there, track project plans (goal setting), collaboration, post photos of a class trip or other class activities, include parents. He discusses use of Wikipedia, Flickr, Google’s Picasa, and gives a list of resources.

Bausch, Paul, Matthew Haughey, and Meg Hourihan. We Blog. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing, 2002.
As I look over this book, it reminds of a book I studied on how DOS operating systems worked, and then another book later that detailed how to use Windows. I know for a fact that this book will be out of date in a year or two, but right now it is highly useful in understanding what weblogs are, how they came about, why they are important to people, and how to use them. Bausch and his colleagues go into great detail, using visual graphics as aids to understanding. They explain not only how to work with the tools of the blog but also how to connect with one’s audience. They discuss various uses and give examples of blogs that are up and running.

Blair, Leslie. “Teaching composition online: No longer the second-best choice.” Kairos: A journal for teachers of writing and webbed environments 8.2. (2003/2004). 3 November 2006. http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/8.2/binder.html?praxis/blair/index.html>.
Blair found in her teaching that in her online classes, students had a better opportunity for shared learning and communication than her students in traditional classes, so she implemented online discussion in all her classes. She found that students began to much better understand why the way they wrote mattered, and why ethos was important (and projected by the writing itself). Students also felt much more comfortable about sharing online than in the classroom— especially freshman students. Blair points out that students feel in the online group that they are not being personally scrutinized but scrutinized as writers. She promotes the idea of using online learning in any classroom, not just online courses.

Blood, Rebecca. “Weblogs: A History and Perspective.” Rebecca’s Pocket. 7 Sept. 2000. 3 November 2006.
Blood gives a simple account of the history of blogging, but more importantly points out what blogs provide us: a much wider perspective on what’s happening in the world. Bloggers provide their own interpretations of the news, or experts provide us with more facts and commentary, thus encouraging us to be skeptical of what information we are fed, skeptical of sources. Also important is the shift that occurred from blogs being places for a single person to express their ideas in isolation to being a shared venue, with bloggers commenting on each others’ sites and interacting online, thus creating a community and an ongoing conversation that anyone might enter. How easy this is depends upon what forum is used (Blogger makes it very simple to respond to others). She also confronts the question of information overload and of individuals trying to make themselves heard over the din created by big business.

Deitering, Anne-Marie and Shaun Huston. “Weblogs and the ‘Middle Space’ for Learning.” Academic Exchange Quarterly 21 (Winter 2004). February 2006. 3 November 2006.
Deitering and Huston assert that technological advances have not much changed the way classes are taught in the educational system, although educators wish they could make more use of this technology. The authors promote the use of blogs as a simple answer because of their ease of use. Blogs can be used, when that use is directed, for the promotion of the idea of knowledge and learning created through social interaction—not lectures and memorization. This enhances the student perception of ownership of their own learning. They suggest that weblogs were created for the purpose of communicating ideas and sharing those ideas with others, and they easily adapt to creating a sense of community among writers in the classroom. Through their use, students can become comfortable with the idea of learning as collaboration.

Downes, Stephen. “Educational Blogging.” Educause Review 39.5 (Sept/Oct. 2004): 14-16. 3 November 2006.
Downes explores the use of a blog in a fifth and sixth grade classroom. One student remarks that sharing ideas on the blog allows them to, through feedback from anyone in the world, see what their strengths and weaknesses are as writers and motivates them to write more. Downes projects that these students will bring with them to the university new attitudes and skills. The idea, for this school, Institut St. Joseph, was to promote reflection and community. The principal remarks that through the shared cite he can observe what is happening in the classroom and in the students’ minds. Downes then goes into deeper explanation of blogs, risks and benefits, and the argument over what exact actions define blogging. What differs in this article from the others is the emphasis on blogging being about reading, first and foremost. He says that one first reads, then reacts, then writes on the blog, then others read what has been written, react, and write more. He finishes with a quote from Will Richardson, who suggests that blogging might be the “needle that sews together what is now a lot of learning in isolation with no real connection between the disciplines.”

Ferdig, Richard E. “Content Delivery in the Blogosphere.” THE Journal 31.7 (2004): 12-21.
Ferdig discusses in clear terms the pedagogy behind blogging, which is based on the idea that writing is a social process in which teaching and learning are enhanced by building a sense of community in the classroom. A writing community can be encouraged to develop through having students publish on the classroom blog, and having them comment on each other’s entries. This feedback is vital, and can come from other sources as well as outsiders may also post comments. Ideally, the class blog would attempt to reach out to other communities or individuals, thus expanding the community of the classroom. Students’ published entries also allow teachers to see how they are understanding coursework. Hyperlinks add to the idea of knowledge being relational and contextual, linking the student, again, to the outside world. Ferdig also compares blogs to discussion boards, and offers suggestions for how to establish and make use of a blog in the classroom.

Glenn, David. “Scholars Who Blog.” Chronicle of Higher Education. 49.38 (2003).
Glenn discusses the subject of how blogs can benefit or limit scholars in their work and the expression of their ideas. Blogs offer immediate publishing opportunities, which also creates the possibility of immediate feedback from other scholars. Along with this advantage comes the disadvantage of having one’s work challenged by other experts or even discounted openly. Some scholars fear that blogging will lead to posturing, while others feel it may prevent posturing through a reality check provided by one’s peers. Glenn suggests that what is most valuable to those who publish is the possibility of a wide range of feedback. This article also offers an explanation for how one might draw more participants to one’s blog and offers some sites of interest.

Gordon, S. “Rise of the Blog [journal based Website].” IEE Review 52.3 (2006): 32-5.
Gordon presents a professional article that offers solid facts concerning blogs and their use, and offers definitions of “wiki,” “vlog,” “splog,” and of course “blog.” Although his focus is on the use of blogs for business, he gives a great deal of technical information that is useful, including instructions for being clear about content, paying attention to posts, and offers a few research aids.

Halavais, Alex. “Blogs, Threaded Discussions Accentuate Constructivist Teaching.” Online Classroom (Dec 2004): 1-5.
This article details the way in which Pedro Hernandez-Ramos used blogging in his teacher-prep course at Santa Clara U. His purpose was threefold: to help these teachers-to-be become familiar with blogging, which they could or would use in their teaching in the future; to show them that they could be creators of knowledge; and to help them construct a community of writers. Students were asked to create their own blogs and post at least weekly, as well as posting on a discussion thread the entire class participated in. Students were uncomfortable with the idea of writing for an unknown audience: anyone on the web can read a blog. Hernandez-Ramos felt that communication between departments—or even between peers—is poor, so blogging was a possible solution to breaking down that isolation and promoting the sharing of ideas. The author points out that this differed from an online course in that students and teacher met face to face regularly.

–“Blogs move Student Learning Beyond the Classroom: An Interview with Alex Halavais.” Online Classroom (Dec 2004): 4, 8. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Valley Library, Oregon State U. 3 Nov. 2006
Halavais is an assistant professor of communication at the U. of Buffalo, and he goes into further detail in this article as to how blogs can be used for educational purposes. He also promotes having students maintain their own blogs, which requires much more from the instructor in prep time and explanation but allows students more of a sense of ownership. A simpler assignment is to have students post on class blogs. Halavais discusses what students post on blogs and states that what seems to matter most to students is the feedback they get. He highlights work that is done well in order to guide them in their posting. He also talks about how students straying off topic is positive, how this enhances the creation of community and breaks down the teacher/student barrier.

Richardson, Will. “The Educator’s Guide to the Read/Write Web.” Educational Leadership 63.4 (2006): 24-7.
Richardson states that the internet is no longer just for looking up information but a place now for everyone to share information publicly. He points out that many teenagers use blogs simply as diaries, but that with thoughtful direction blogs can be used to enhance critical thinking and other literacy skills. Teachers can use blogs as resource portals and create online writing communities. He notes the especially rich use of blogs when classroom boundaries are crossed and students can make contact with mentors from around the world. He discusses the advantages of Wikis, and he gives detail as to how aggregators make it easy to keep track of many, many blogs at once, so students could presumably expand their classroom boundaries even further. Most importantly, he reflects on the effects (risks and benefits) of blogs on the shaping of curriculum and of ideas about what literacy is. He claims most educators see the benefit of using blogs and other web resources in the classroom.

Ross, Marilyn. “Blog, blog, blog.” Writer 119.4 (2006): 39-40.
Ross talks about the possibilities for publishing that blogs provide to writers. More interesting to my subject is her explanation of what blogs are, how they are used and can be used, how I personally could make the best use of one, and who is using them. She also suggests ways of getting one started.

Toner, Mark. “Blogs Help Educators Share Ideas, Air Frustrations.” Education Week 23.18 (2004): 8.
Toner discusses the ways in which educators can use blogs to communicate with each other and establish a sense of community and shared experience. He points out that what is posted on the blog is highly public and therefore should be done with caution, but that this forum is a place for busy teachers to talk to each other and share concerns, successes, questions, and frustrations.