The weekly blog posts give me a chance to synthesize the weekly readings, to think about the connections and the bigger picture these sources provide, and to push me to create a product by class time each week. Blogging about the readings makes me more aware of where I stand and determines which of the readings triggers a reaction in me and why. In turn, I’m able to observe the reactions of others to the same readings and to comment and to challenge each other to think more in-depth about the reading. My classmates’ comments and replies increase my writing efficiency by providing a means of getting feedback on each blog post. In addition to providing emotional and professional support, their constructive criticism is very helpful to improve my next blog post.
Although I have my reservations with the issue of considering blogs and wikis egalitarian spaces, I appreciate the opportunity of having a personal, a (non-threatening?) writing space of my own in which I can voice my opinions and comment and respond to different ideas and thoughts. By visiting, reading, and commenting on my classmates’ blog posts, I feel like a member of a community of learners (Dr. Rouzie and my classmates); however, I know that my immediate environment is not my only audience.
In addition, the search for images and videos that correspond with my post can be sometimes time-consuming, but I have discovered that browsing for images trigger other related ideas that could be included in a blog post. For example, while I was browsing Google images for an image that captures the theme of the child’s innateness of multimodality to include in my blog post, I came across this image (click here), which made me think of how this innateness was suppressed by the educational system and the need to standardize citizens.
Unlike wikis, blogs are not collaborative educational tools, or perhaps they are collaborative in a different way—through the sharing of links, resources, ideas, etc. I find it helpful to read the blog posts before class because they usually highlight certain points that I didn’t pay attention to in the readings, show different understandings of the same material, introduce new perspectives, and provide me with a good recap of the readings. Also, the immediacy of the nature of the blog means that I don’t have to wait months for feedback or for publication.
Blogs are wonderful and everything, but I don’t trust them! Blogs delude us to believe that they are safe and reliable spaces. Let me explain. For me, the writing process itself doesn’t take place directly on the blog. I do it on a word document and then copy and paste it to the blog. Last year, while I was fixing the sound effects of one of my blog posts, everything was erased and then the blog saved an empty page automatically! I had to reconstruct the visuals, hyperlinks, etc. from scratch. Another problem that I have with blogs is the same as the one that I have with wikis and with other open-source applications: lack of closure, which, I think, functions on the positive and the negative level. In “Working with Wikis in Writing-Intensive Classes,” Michelle Cleary et al. report that one negative aspect of the wiki according to one student is that “wikis made the student feel like class was never out of session.” Blogs are demanding! They demand our attention most of the time. We need to compose, read, respond, think, reflect, search for images, etc. in order to effectively engage in this activity.
Over all, I feel that the blog experience has been useful for me to develop as a critical thinker and writer. It makes me aware of the diversity and the similarities that we have as a community of learners.
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