For some reason I still find myself in a Seussian mode. Thus the title “Slog Through Blogs” instead of “Hop On Pop.” I think that the word “Slog” has the appropriate tone, phrasing, and connotation for how I feel after plowing my way through the edublogs. It conjures images of people working in mud pits hoping to find the rare diamond hidden in the muck. There are some useful ideas out there in the blogosphere but you have to sort through a lot of detritus to find them. I will have to activate the equivalent of a nitrous oxide boost to the “creative pathways” in order to find a use for blogs in my courses. One way of utilizing them might be to assign each student a concept or topic from a unit and have them post a review guide for that topic on the blog. In that way students could amass a broader review in less time. This would also allow classmates to critique and add to the original posts to assure accuracy.
My major concern is that much of what I find in blogs is of limited use to me because it is either too personal or too much opinion.
"Everybody is entitled to their own opinion, but they're not entitled to their own facts. The data is the data."
Dr. Maria Spriopulu, NY Times,
Sept. 30, '03.
I've been reading through your posts Russ and I have to agree with you. The real trick is to determine what is beneficial for the students. In the Humanities blogs are useful as an online journal or a place to post research findings. I've had a hard time getting students to post comment on eachother's blogs though. Your idea about study guides may give them the incentive they need. If you do it, let me know how it works.
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