Blog of Jami Bryan

so my big plan was to watch ocean’s thirteen last night. on a whim, i got it from one of those red rental things in the grocery store. which means i was supposed to return it today (why i have a roving rental eye and don’t just stick with netflix, i’ll never know) so i was under a bit of a time constraint.

but my libs101 students had topic declarations for their pathfinder projects due yesterday. and i was curious to see what topics they chose. i thought i could give them a read and post grades to blackboard in under an hour and still watch my movie. i thought this because i had no intention of commenting on their topic posts.

on monday, i posted an announcement to the course blog stating that if they didn’t hear from me personally about a problem with their topic and they got a grade in blackboard, all was well. i was really hesitant to comment on their topics because i didn’t want to publicly discuss something tied to their grade that could possibly need revision on their part. what if they had picked a topic that was too broad or not workable? i wouldn’t want to say that in a public comment. i didn’t want to call anyone out. so i decided that i wouldn’t comment on any topics at all.

but i came across a student post about really liking the discussion aspect of course blogging, and that got me thinking. i really like the discussion aspect as well (which is one of the reason we are using blogs) and i enjoyed commenting on the student’s introductory posts. their posts put a face and a personality with a name and gave me insights into their needs that normally would have taken most of the semester, if we were lucky enough for it to happen at all. i also wondered if by commenting on their first post, i had set an expectation that i would comment on future posts.

i realized that i had started a dialogue with them and i didn’t want to lose that. so i set about commenting on their topics. it took a while, even though my comments were often short. and i lucked out because there was no need to call anyone out. i missed the movie, but i think it was well worth it. 20 undergrads beat george out for my attentions.

i am curious how other teachers deal with these issues. anyone out there have any thoughts?

At some point during the ELI Conference this week, I decided that I needed to blog along with my students in LIBS101. I often say that I won’t ask anything of my staff that I wouldn’t do myself - so why should my relationship with my students be any different? Why should they blog when I don’t?

Now, of course, I maintain the course blog as the instructor. But that is more about course management and instructional content than about what is so personal and intimate about “blogging”. It is about what the technology of the blog makes possible and not about being a voice among voices in the larger community.

In a related “awakening” this week, I also decided that I would try to take my course along with my students. While this is not entirely possible or desirable (I have a feeling I would have a decided advantage on the Final Exam!), my goal is to try the blogging assignments out for myself. My students have to post an introduction, a topic and 14 entries for their Pathfinder Project, and a farewell. I intend to do the same.

The decision to blog seems sound to me. The decision to do my own Pathfinder Project is one I am not entirely sure about. I can see some great value in experiencing the course from another angle, but I also don’t want my project to over-influence the projects of the students. There may be some ways around this, such as posting after the due dates or not aggregating my posts to the course blog. I’ll have to work this out and will ask for student input.

As this is my first post, I feel like I should give some intro or background - that I should be setting the scene a bit. But I think I will save that for later. And I will have lots to post about ELI as soon as it all forms in my head (I haven’t had much time for reflection since I got back). Stay tuned!