Week 4: Thoughts on the blogging process

As a writer in my own blog, a “good” blog posting gets right to the point, answering the question being asked as clearly and directly as possible. At the same time, the blog will use interesting and colorful language in order to engage the reader and inspire them to keep reading. In order to develop my my own thinking, I might first peruse a few other students’ blogs to see how my classmates are addressing the assignment, and I usually find that I learn something valuable from reading other blogs (for example, I was impressed by how one of our classmates uses visual images from popular culture to emphasize points in the written narrative, and I hope to incorporate more visual images in my own blog in the future). I also try to take time prior to writing to be introspective, in order to discover my authentic perspective on a subject, and this might require wracking my memory to recall a past event that played a significant role in shaping my thinking. It would also help to get clear guidelines about how in-depth/detailed our blog posts should be, because I think I’ve probably been spending too much time crafting my blog responses (as if they were formal out-of-class essays rather than informal thoughts), so it would be great to know precisely what kind of response is being looked for.

As a reader, what makes for a good blog posting is similar to what makes for good writing: straightforward, engaging, and eloquent language, as well as thought-provoking ideas that help me to extend and develop my own thinking. What is most useful is when I encounter ideas and perspectives that I had not yet considered, which help me to view a subject from a different lens or with a new eye. Anything that gets me to see the topic in a new way works well for me!

I would like to receive honest comments based on thoughtful reasoning and constructive criticism. Flattery or exaggerated praise is not necessary or helpful; I’d rather hear exactly how my ideas strike my readers, as long as they are framed constructively. I would also like to give others honest, authentic feedback based upon my initial impressions and prior experiences. Informal/conversational language is fine, and usually creates a more intimate communication experience.

I would prefer that a minimal amount of blog reading and commenting be required; I don’t think that I will have the time to read each student’s blog, let alone to comment on each of them (although if I had the time I would like to do so). So I hope that the requirements for blog reading and commenting are not an extensive part of the homework assignments each week, as long as the reading continues to require the same workload as it has. Breaking into small groups and following a few classmates’ blogs would work well, I think, and would be less overwhelming because it would allow us to offer more focused feedback.

Hmmm, I’m not entirely sure about how blogs should be evaluated; would a rubric work well in this situation? Maybe if a short rubric were created, it would help to clarify the expectations for blog posts. I think qualities such as clarity, relevance to the topic, and ability to engage the reader are very important and should be part of a rubric to evaluate blogs. But ultimately, as long as the blogs are completed on time and answer the question(s) being asked, I think that full credit should be received.