Blog Evaluation

Before my RTF class, I had never used a blog in my life. I had used MySpace and facebook, and even twitter for a while, but never proper blogging. I think that it is a great opportunity for students who, like me, had not been exposed to blogging, to learn about it and get more comfortable with it before trying it out for themselves. This is probably the most positive aspect of blogging for RTF 305, just learning how to blog. I found only one difficulty with the blog prompts in general, and it has nothing to do with conceptual or technical difficulties. The concepts are not hard, and the user interface for blogging is easy, so everyone should be able to blog effortlessly, but of course there is procrastination. Blogs are probably the ideal form of assignments for a class, because they eliminate paper handouts and as students, we can work on them when we have time. Other than procrastinating, I think that there should be no problem with students using blogs. If it does come down to procrastination, like it did for me, then the only way to overcome it is either to do work, or learn from mistakes when the grades are posted.

Personally, none of the blog prompts seemed hard in a mentally strenuous way; it's not calculus or quantum physics. However, the blogs which I did enjoy writing more were ones that I felt related to and that I felt I was invested in. For example, one blog about comedies where I compared and contrasted how issues and themes are presented in two comedies that I watch regularly. Given that students are disciplined, which they should be, then blogs seem to me like a great way to include participation grades in classes, especially for undergraduate students. Having a blog made me feel like I was in complete control of my grade, because I decided whether I wrote my blog or not; for graduate students, I feel, the continuation of their studies in a given field seems to depend on their contributions and understanding of that field. So, I think that blogs are great, especially for incoming freshmen like myself. I have no recommendations, but I do have a couple of things to say. The blogs should be organized, and the person who is to read and grade the blogs should do so promptly, as well as posting grades. In my case, this was true and it made my class less stressful.

Yes, you may use my blog in a paper or report.