Thoughts on the blog for the class I'm teaching this term

As I mentioned in an earlier post, thanks to the help of Jon Dorbolo and Mark Dinsmore, from my university's TAC (Technology Across the Curriculum) program, I've been able to set up a blog for the class I'm teaching this term, ENG 495/595 Language, Culture, and Technology.

It's been a fascinating experience, and in multiple ways. Since I've only required students to send two posts to the blog, it's been interesting to see what they choose to write voluntarily and what kind of comments they make. I definitely feel that the blog is adding another layer to class discussion.

Before I forget, our class blog is called The Presence of Others. This is meant to evoke Hannah Arend's comment in The Human Condition that "For excellence, the presence of others is always required."

Here's the URL for the blog: http://blog.cmc.oregonstate.edu/mtblogs/lisa/

I'll just add a few more thoughts here. The first is that I was originally very intimidated about the new blog since I'm now used to Blogger and the class blog is on Movable Type. But what was originally a limitation or problem turned out to be a strength since I have actually, with the help of Mark Dinsmore, Emily Nashiff, and Michael Faris (Emily and Michael are students in the class) learned a few things. I actually went into the blog and made some administrative changes. For most folks this would be inconsequential, but for me it was huge.

Our blog also has categories, which really make it easier to move around the blog.

On Thursday the students are going to do some in-class writing on their experience of the blog, which I expect will be mixed as some have been more and less involved. I'm really looking forward to seeing what they have to say.