Before entering this class, I had absolutely no experience in the blogosphere (the world of online blogging). In fact, my notions of blogging were indeed quite stereotypical. I had never truly considered how blogs might be used in an academic setting. Participating in "rouzieblog" this quarter has completely opened by eyes to the potential for blogging as an educational tool in the composition classroom. After composing my blog entry "Work v. Play: (Re) Defining the Pleasure of Learning" I began to discover how the multi-modal aspect of blogging calls for a measre of critical engagement and rhetorical awareness that is simply not found in most traditional forms of academic essay writing.
Reconsidering my Blog Entry: Work V. Play: (Re) Defining the Pleasure of Learning
In creating my blog entry, my overall goal was to demonstrate how the works of James Paul Gee, Geoffery Sirc, and Albert Rouzie take up the challenge of mending the gap between work and play. Because my blog came later in the quarter, I was able to observe the blogging practices of my fellow classmates and consider how I might present my work in an interactive (multi-modal) format. Melanie's post helped me discover how embedding youtube videos can add a recursive element to one's argument. Lydia's comic book post also gave me the idea for my work v. play IComic.
Analyzing the Comments of Others:
Though I appreciated all of the comments given to my blog post, a few responses stand out in my mind. For example, when Brett posted a "gammer nation" video after my James Paul Gee presentation I began to see how blogs allow for discussions to continue and build outside the classroom setting. I also appreciated the box-art image that Lydia posted after my blog. I felt the image related to my presentation of Geoffery Sirc's "Box-Logic" piece by visually demonstrating some of the concepts I was attempting to discuss in my post. I also appreciated the playful nature of the blog responses to my presentation. Dave, for example, was particularly good at adding comments that were both entertaining and thought provoking.
My Blogging Response Techniques:
After reviewing my blogging responses to the posts of others, I began to notice a consistent pattern. More often than not, I would begin by offering praise to the author. I each post I tried to do more than simply give my fellow classmates an electronic pat on the back. I can honestly say that all of the blog posts were innovative and informative (this process definitely helped me understand the course readings). I felt that we, as a classroom audience, had an obligation to tell our fellow bloggers how much we enjoyed their work (this is why I began each post with some sort of praise). After doing so, I would typically move on to give the author a few brief analytical statements that I often referred to as "my random thoughts." These were usually comments in regard to interesting points or arguments raised in the post. At the end of each response I would close by giving the author question that pertained to their interpretation of the course readings. For instance, I ended my response to Russell's post by asking if others wondered if Hocks was attempting to argue that all rhetoric was inherently persuasion-driven.
Blogging Problems:
At first, I struggled to understand how one is to behave in the blogosphere. I was not sure if we, as a class, were to post before or after classroom discussions. I was also unsure of whether or not our blogging conversations should be addressed in the classroom (ex. sometimes I would forget to bring up a point raised on the blog). I will also admit that I sometimes struggled to keep track of both the course readings and blog posts (this was especially true between Tuesdays and Thursdays). However, after the first couple of weeks i began to fall into a routine and gain a better understanding of how these blogging assignments fit into our course objectives. Despite my early frustrations, I truly came to enjoy participating in the "rouzieblog." In fact, I plan to do away with my Eng. 308J (blackboard) discussion board. Next quarter I am going to use some form of blogging website to allow my students to post their reactions to articles, conversations, and classroom discussions. After experiencing the multi-modal aspect of blogging I doubt that I could ever go back to the simple (restrictive) format of discussion board posting.
