Using the blog

I really enjoyed using the blog because it allowed me to connect my ideas with other classmates. It was a way to get great feedback and stay connected with the class. If I could improve one thing about the blog I would make the assignment of blogging feel more natural rather than an assignment to take care of. Overall I thought it was a success that provided me with helpful feedback from my peers.

blogging on blogger

I had never blogged before the beginning of this class and I see what I missed out on. It worked because it was an outlet for ideas, a place where I can see what my ideas are. However, the comments given by other people were subpar. I found that people just commented just to say something, rather than give help or reasoning to what I was writing on. I found that I did the same thing when I was lazy. It was an effective way of learning because it was a reflection technique it makes me think about what I am doing or just did. However, in the end, the blog was a glorified assignment. If the blog had more feedback, or more constructive feedback, it would have been better.

Blog over view

I like the blogs because it was easier to give other classmates feedback and do assignments. I like my peers looking over my posts because they gave me many new ideas that I could incorporate in my papers and brought up some counterarguments to address in my papers to make them better. I would have that my favorite post was the song post because it was interesting to see the perspectives at which other people made their analysis. I also really enjoyed reading the discoveries in research post because I found out new information.

When posting, the fact that my peers were going to read what I wrote did influence my writing and making sure that it looked good. Another good aspect about the blog is that it helped me pick topics for writing that were going to be interesting to other students because of the responses and suggestions to the blog post.

Blogging

Having a blog for an English class is different and for that reason my interest was peeked in the beginning. Most of the assignments were relevant and helped in brainstorming ideas, outlining papers, and learning the interests of classmates. There is this odd sense of bonding and friendship with classmates by using a blog and having to post comments.

Two blog posts that stand out to me as the most interesting included the music post and ideas for our first paper. When people voiced their personal opinion, commenting was a lot easier. The longer the posts, the less I read. The shorter-the better. I felt like this addition to the class added another outlet for writing. It didn't replace the papers, but it allowed us to write to a different audience. While I found myself hurrying to comment on others posts and, like others have said, the comments were a little forced, the outcome of the blog was still beneficial.

I feel a sense of camaraderie with my English 150 classmates that only comes from using the blog together - not because we've seen each other in class 3 days a week for the last few months.

Blog Evaluation from my point of view

When I first found out we had to blog, I had no idea how that was going to turn out. I haven't posted a blog before, and I didn't understand the grading part at first. I was thinking how am I going to get 3 comments from people? They might not even not like what I wrote, after speaking to Sister Cowley of course she explained that I had to write comments, I felt kinda dumb afterward, but got my work done and enjoyed reading what people had to say.
The blogs really helped me stay focused on my papers, and the revision plans helped as well. Although the blog posts for the revision plans did seem repetitive, it helped me to have it written down, because I would actually have to do what I said I was going to do. Another thing I enjoy about our classroom blogging is that I got to see what other people were thinking and their opinions; it made me know the person a little better in a way. I also like reading my comments.

What I didn't like about blogging, is that sometimes I would forget that we had a blog assignment that day. Or some assignments weren't as clear to me, and sometimes I just didn't want to blog. Comment responses, are they really sincere? I didn't want to hurt anyone feelings, so I wouldn't comment what I originally was thinking or I had to find ways to word my comment(s) so I don't offend anyone.

Overall I like the blog, it was something easy to do, not that much stress. I wouldn't make my own blog, because I'm not sure if I could keep up with it or even want my personal information out there on the internet.

thoughts on the BLOG

THE BLOG!!!!!!!!!!!

In general, I really don't like blogs, but this class has helped me learn how to use them and understand them.

Using this blog was a cool new way to learn and I don't think that there is really an aspect of it that didn't help my learning.

I like being able to turn something in that is not on paper, I mean I think it helps me to use this online tool because I'm used to working with things on the internet. I like how flexible the blog is. We can get on anytime and add whatever we want to it. I am new to college and I'm trying to get better at time management but when I slip up, I'm glad my blog homework doesn't have to be in a certain place on paper by a certain time. I can add to the blog from the comfort of my own home. I really like the revision plan blog posts. I think it's interesting to look at all the different ways people respond. Some are very detail oriented and some are quite concise.

A problem for me with the blog is that I do not check it everyday. I rarely go back to my own posts to see what other people have said about them. I feel like although it is cool to be able to see what other people say, I usually pick the shortest looking posts to comment on. I just really don't read the blog very much, so I don't feel like I have true discourse with my peers.

The end. The blog was a pretty fun way to do homework. yay!

How was the blog?

I was a little skeptical at first. Wasn't sure how it was going to work. But overall I thought it was fun. Made the class different from just the normal english class that we're all used to. It helped me realize that the things we learn in english apply to more than just academic papers.
One thing that I didn't like too much about it was the required number of comments. I understand why it has to be that way (I can't honestly say that I would have commented, or read other posts for that matter, if I wasn't required to). But a lot of the time they seemed empty of any real meaning. Too formulaic "I agree with _____" etc. If the posts were on things that everyone would be curious what the other person would say, then they would read and comment easily, but that's the hard part I guess.
Maybe if we had been given an assignment now and then to just write on anything we wanted, it would have made the blog more personal and fun.

Yay!

I must say, at the beginning of the semester I was not too hip on this idea of blog posting. I saw it as busy work, something I wouldn't have time for. But as we started to post things, I really started to like it. It helped me to more effectively communicate the thoughts that were going through my head about the papers we had to write. I'm the kind of person who likes to think about what to write for a while, then sit down and just crank it out. And, I hate outlining, so this was a great way for me to get my arguments down without really making a formal outline, but still help to organize what I was going to write. I also really liked that the blog posts were usually things that would help us to get our papers done, like when we would have to post our intro or a paragraph or two of our papers, then have people comment on them.
Speaking of comments, I didn't really see their usefulness. Personally, I just did them because I was getting points to write things, so I don't think I put as much thought into it as I probably should have... and usually none of the comments I received on my posts were very helpful in the writing process. I mean, I can see how they COULD be really helpful, if people were actually writing whole-heartedly, but otherwise it was just something else we had to do. I don't know, maybe I'm weird and I was the only one, but that's just my take on it.
Overall, blogs are awesome! I liked it a lot! :)

Blog

This blog has helped tremendously in my writing. It forced me to actually start writing my paper before the day it was due. I am a big procrastinator. This blog has forced me to at least think about writing almost everyday. It also gave me an opportunity to have other opinions on my writing. I usually don't ask people to read my paper but having a second opinion opened my eyes to flaws i didn't see myself. I also seemed to write better when I knew that other people would actually be reading it.

My favorite posts have been the drafts of my papers. That way I could get opinions before actually turning it in for a grade. This way a lot of my problems were fixed before my review with Sistrer Cowley. My least favorite posts have been the revision plans. It always felt like I was saying the same thing over and over. I always needed to work on the same things. I think the blog is better then handing in paper assignments because it saves trees and allows the entire class to be involved in helping everyone else with their papers. This way there is lots of differing opinions instead of just a few opinions. It is like a better way to peer review. And you can do it on your own time instead of having to wait for someone else to have time to read your paper.

Blog Evaluation

Upon the completion of this semester, I found the class blog to be a very helpful and fun to use tool. It allowed me to post my own opinions on how to write and revise the papers that we have written as well as receive feedback from others. Through the blog, I was able to understand people's opinions better. By reading other's posts, I received advice on how to go about writing or revising my papers. I also was enlightened by different ideas that I would have never thought of myself. I enjoyed how easy the blog works--the format, the user-friendliness, and for the New Media Classroom link to help us understand what we needed to do. I liked the comment system and how others could comment on your own posts. However, I feel that some posts were not really that important or relevant, such as the song lyrics. Besides this, the blog was a great tool. It was especially helpful to submit some of our drafts and paragraphs of our writing onto the blog in order to get peer feedback as well as to help discipline me to get parts done at a time. While it was a bit impersonal to communicate through comments, it was still an efficient and simple way to do so. Publicizing my thoughts to the class helped me with refining my writing. Overall, I enjoyed the blog and would encourage that it be continued for future classes.

Blog Analysis

I have really enjoyed using the blog. I like it better than traditional assignments because of the freedom of it. I am able to log on where ever and start typing, rather than have it in print form due a certain time. I like being able to work on it whenever I have time. I also like that we have the opportunity to comment on each other's blogs. What I do not like about the comments is that our grade is somewhat dependent upon the other students. Sometimes I have had to wait for the other students to post something before I can make a 4-5 required comments. And a lot of the time, the comments would be pointless, saying something obvious just so that they commented and got the grade.

My favorite assignment was doing a small rhetorical analysis on a song. Doing that small assignment made me think of what my music is trying to say, so now I listen more intently to the lyrics and the message of the music. So that was a cool assignment that I enjoyed, but some of the assignments seemed pointless. They felt like busy work, which no one likes. So maybe if the assignments were more legit - NOT HARDER, just with a greater purpose :)

Overall, I enjoyed the blog and hope that it is continued because of convenience and freedom of it.