The blogs for the Winter 2009 course varied substantially, but also differed considerably from the previous time this course was offered, and the reason for that is in part due to a change in the technology: "following" is now built into the blog structure, and I encouraged following explicitly in the course blogging guidelines. As a result, many students in the class made a regular practice of visiting and commenting on each other's blogs, which was very refreshing to see as it extended class participation beyond the confines of the physical classroom (enough that it caused me to revise several grades for course participation -- in the future, I might make the participation component of the grade entirely dependent on blog comments). The previous time I offered this course, we had such restrictive comment moderation and blog privacy that in most cases students were not able to either comment on or even see other students' blogs.
As I mentioned, the blogs varied considerably. One of the most keenly ethnographic of the blogs, taking us step by step into a virtual world, sharing personal reflections, reactions, emotions and insights into various actions and experiences, was Thinkardin's blog. On the other hand, one of the most exhaustive blogs (with more than 40 posts), and one of the most theoretically involved blogs was Moving Online. Snowrunner's blog seemed to be a combination of the strengths of both of the last two. Exploring a book-length ethnography, which differed from the other projects because it was not rooted in the student's own ethnographic research, had its own successes, making respectable and interesting what in hindsight I think is a flawed assignment. On that blog we see a link to the student's very interesting interview with Jenny Ryan, author of The Virtual Campfire.
In terms of shortcomings, and I cannot generalize across all blogs here, what I noticed was a strong reticence to use the blogs for the purposes that they were intended or, shall I say, mandated. The purpose of the blog was to lay the massive foundation for a research paper, which would be shorter and more focused than the blog. Indeed, I mentioned early on that if the research paper was longer than the blog, it meant the blog was underutilized, used as an accompaniment for afterthoughts, or kept as a formality to ostensibly meet a course requirement. As I outlined in my guidelines for course blogging, and right here on this blog, there should have been little standing between the blog and the final paper. The blog was to be a scrapbook, a journal, a non-confidential diary of sorts, basically anything and everything of potential relevance to the final paper that did not violate the confidentiality of informants. Yet, in many cases we find students writing of their reticence to blog to this degree, reluctant to share too much, and reluctant to write in a way that was not for a formal paper. In addition, I preferred to maintain a safe distance (while the T.A., Owen Wiltshire made regular appearances on all the blogs), posting at most one or two comments on most blogs, leaving it in the hands of students to arrange matters for themselves, hoping that their blogging would evolve into what was required for the course. In some cases, that never really happened.
I have begun the process of revising the course for its third "incarnation," with a planned "overhaul" of the list of assigned readings, as well as the assignments themselves. Should I continue asking students to blog, it is clear that I am going to need to dedicate more time to "indoctrinating" students into the nature and purpose of blogging for this course -- this is funny because I already think of myself as a very emphatic speaker who often likes to repeat himself. What the course as a whole cannot become is a paper-only, standard kind of course with readings, some library research perhaps, and exams -- but then we have the problem of students without Internet access at home, or who do not own a computer. The course also has to maintain a methodological focus, as a follow up to the rich and theoretical Sociology of Cyberspace course offered in the Department.
The challenge will be to again communicate all of these things to students in advance of the start of the course. I tried each time that I offered this course so far -- however, thanks to Concordia's policies, and to students who use the first two weeks of the semester for course tourism, not settling down until a significant early stage of the course has passed, it is almost impossible to communicate with anyone who will receive the message and for whom it will matter, except for a small core of students. Many who receive the early messages either leave, never show up, or later drop the course. Some of those who remain until the end, arrive late. Hopefully as our Department website is being revamped, students will make a practice of using online means for their course shopping and perhaps we can look forward to more settled classes in the future.
As I mentioned, the blogs varied considerably. One of the most keenly ethnographic of the blogs, taking us step by step into a virtual world, sharing personal reflections, reactions, emotions and insights into various actions and experiences, was Thinkardin's blog. On the other hand, one of the most exhaustive blogs (with more than 40 posts), and one of the most theoretically involved blogs was Moving Online. Snowrunner's blog seemed to be a combination of the strengths of both of the last two. Exploring a book-length ethnography, which differed from the other projects because it was not rooted in the student's own ethnographic research, had its own successes, making respectable and interesting what in hindsight I think is a flawed assignment. On that blog we see a link to the student's very interesting interview with Jenny Ryan, author of The Virtual Campfire.
In terms of shortcomings, and I cannot generalize across all blogs here, what I noticed was a strong reticence to use the blogs for the purposes that they were intended or, shall I say, mandated. The purpose of the blog was to lay the massive foundation for a research paper, which would be shorter and more focused than the blog. Indeed, I mentioned early on that if the research paper was longer than the blog, it meant the blog was underutilized, used as an accompaniment for afterthoughts, or kept as a formality to ostensibly meet a course requirement. As I outlined in my guidelines for course blogging, and right here on this blog, there should have been little standing between the blog and the final paper. The blog was to be a scrapbook, a journal, a non-confidential diary of sorts, basically anything and everything of potential relevance to the final paper that did not violate the confidentiality of informants. Yet, in many cases we find students writing of their reticence to blog to this degree, reluctant to share too much, and reluctant to write in a way that was not for a formal paper. In addition, I preferred to maintain a safe distance (while the T.A., Owen Wiltshire made regular appearances on all the blogs), posting at most one or two comments on most blogs, leaving it in the hands of students to arrange matters for themselves, hoping that their blogging would evolve into what was required for the course. In some cases, that never really happened.
I have begun the process of revising the course for its third "incarnation," with a planned "overhaul" of the list of assigned readings, as well as the assignments themselves. Should I continue asking students to blog, it is clear that I am going to need to dedicate more time to "indoctrinating" students into the nature and purpose of blogging for this course -- this is funny because I already think of myself as a very emphatic speaker who often likes to repeat himself. What the course as a whole cannot become is a paper-only, standard kind of course with readings, some library research perhaps, and exams -- but then we have the problem of students without Internet access at home, or who do not own a computer. The course also has to maintain a methodological focus, as a follow up to the rich and theoretical Sociology of Cyberspace course offered in the Department.
The challenge will be to again communicate all of these things to students in advance of the start of the course. I tried each time that I offered this course so far -- however, thanks to Concordia's policies, and to students who use the first two weeks of the semester for course tourism, not settling down until a significant early stage of the course has passed, it is almost impossible to communicate with anyone who will receive the message and for whom it will matter, except for a small core of students. Many who receive the early messages either leave, never show up, or later drop the course. Some of those who remain until the end, arrive late. Hopefully as our Department website is being revamped, students will make a practice of using online means for their course shopping and perhaps we can look forward to more settled classes in the future.
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