Well ladies, I have made blogging on a weekly basis a goal for myself. It is also a required goal for my New Media Journalism students.
Yes, I have been tapped as the "Communications" teacher. I decided to re-name the course "New Media Journalism" because the former title did not match what the administrators articulated as the expectations.
So, here I am at the beginning of a new semester teaching a brand new course in writing for brand new media, most of which I am barely familiar with. I figured this blog would be an appropriate location for my first reflection.
So, how is it going? Surprisingly well. One of the gifts of early middle age is my newfound ability to "wing it". I find myself comfortable with setting a goal, doing a bit of background research and jumping in! Our first project is to be a class blog. So far, I have set up an account with 21classes.com. If you need a blogging platform for a class, I recommend checking it out. It is a bit more complex to begin with than blogger, but allows for a "two layer" blog. The first layer is a portal with a homepage for students to check out what's new from you. The second layer consists of the students' individual blogs which the administrator can choose to have listed on the portal page. This way, each student can design and write to their "own" blog and I can easily see what is new that each student has done.
Our blog can be accessed at DWSJournalism@21classes.com
We haven't posted yet, but I'll let you know when to check it out.
So far, I have immersed the students in gmail, google documents, and googlereader. I am committed to making this a completely paperless classroom and I am loving it.
I am a "digital immigrant" in this brave new world. You know what? I'm liking it!
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2 comments:
Wow! I don't know much more to say in response to all that you have done in such a short time! I mean getting that new media class up and running for the new semester, not to mention, jumping over to a new platform, way to go!
That you changed platforms comes as no surprise to me as you become more familiar with the possibilities, working through frustrations that are inherent in "some platforms", and as you just discover newer routes. After all, the folks who spend the most time in that space with rhetorical literacy are always thinking up more and better ways of utilizing the capabilities of the technology.
I am so amazed at all that you have embedded so far in this new media journalism class. I am so glad that you are sharing your journey in this space. As you pointed out in your contribution to the grant report, we should all be recording more of our journeys here. Thanks so much, by the way, for the work you have done on that as well.
Today I am adding this blog to my RSS feed (duh!). I have countless others there, but not my own!
I certainly sense the high level of enthusiasm in your posts! It is most refreshing to my tired old bones...and brain!
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