Discussing Course Readings
During spring semester 2005 three different courses used a blog as the place to discuss their course readings.
English department Ph.D seminar The professor structured the course so that the blog was used to discuss readings related to two of the practicum’s main themes. In his syllabus, the professor described how they were using the blog. He wrote:
"In the second part of each class, we will read the Weblog entries. Borrowing explicitly from them and from the readings, we will develop another entry that develops our own extended definition of literacy and our arguments for it."
This professor reported that the students had no difficulties using the blog and that he observed much “cross-fertilization.” Students learned from each other and it furthered discussion of relevant class topics.
Philosophy department graduate seminar on epistemology This course was led by a senior professor who has not in the past used educational technologies. This professor found that he preferred how, compared to using email in the past, the blog enabled everyone to respond in the same place. For this course, students submitted detailed analyses of course readings on the blog.
Spanish (300 level) conversation course The instructor explained that there are four skills emphasized in learning Spanish: listening and speaking which are accomplished in class; reading and writing for which the blog was used. The instructor structured use of the blog around having her students answer 3-4 questions that she prepared for them. Of interest to instructors and faculty considering blogs in this fashion, is that this instructor felt that her students took more ownership of what they wrote because their names appeared with their entries and comments. She described it as “learning by communicating.”
