Blogsearch
As you know, I designed this blog more or less as an experiment. I’ve used blogs in classes before, but never as a requirement for each class meeting. When I set this one up, I hoped it would be a space where we could both reflect on our emerging research projects, and also discuss the events of the Presidential primaries and elections. (I didn’t anticipate that, in late April, the Democratic candidate would still be in question!)
I’m curious about a few things:
1) When we didn’t blog at the start of class on Thursday, people commented that it felt funny to start class without blogging. Can you discuss this more? What role has the blog played in our class, for you? What would have been different if the blog had been required, but I asked you to blog outside of our class time?
2) How much relationship has there been, for you, between your research project and our blog? I originally hoped that we’d use the blog to share and discuss sources for your research … however, it seems to me that they’ve kind of evolved as two separate “tracks” within the class. Do you have a similar impression? Do you think they should have been integrated more? Why/why not?
Thanks, everybody … I’ve really enjoyed this part of class. 
I used my blog question that I asked and people answered for my research paper. I have enjoyed this blog as a part of class time. I don’t thinkI would have enjoyed it if I had to do it at home. I learn more from an open environment where thoughts can be exchanged like this than just sitting and listening to a lecture. The Blog also kind of get us a little energized to get into what the class has in store
| Posted 1 year, 7 months agoWhen we didn’t start blogging on Thursday I think that the comments were the result of being pushed out of a habit. From the beginning of this semester blogging at the start of class allowed the students to adjust into a mindset for class. I know for myself after running from the science center to the 3rd floor of Cosby I just wanna relax and gather my thoughts before the teacher begins to ask questions.
The connection between my research project and the blob…well there is no relationship as far as I can see. The blog is random and changes with new updates in the news but my project is set in stone…kinda
| Posted 1 year, 7 months ago1) You know how you always get stuck in sort of like a role or a habit and once that habit is broken it just feels strange. Like something is out of place. A good analogy was you recently stated that you quit smoking again and as a result I am sure you felt maybe out of place by breaking the habit.
The blog for me has been so informative. There are so many things that I learned from this blog that quite honestly I would go back and tell someone like “hey did you know that….” and most of the time they were like how did you find that out or I even got the comment “how do you know so much pertaining to the election?”
2) I agree… I think the blog did take more of an expressive “how we feel” about the election than incorporating our research questions and sources. However, I do not feel that it was a bad thing. As a matter of fact I really liked the blog and I’m not a blogger!
| Posted 1 year, 7 months ago1) I think it felt funny not to have a blog because it’s something that we see as routine for class. I enjoy it because it allows me to ease into the class without having to jump right into things. The blog has really made me informed about issues regarding the elections. I have to admit that I don’t always have time to watch the news or search the net for recent news. I think that if the blog would have been assigned out of class, it would have less meaning. People would write responses at different times and it wouldn’t be as interactive as it is now.
2) Honestly, there really hasn’t been a connection between my topic and the blog. Which I like because it allows me to be acknowledgeable on different issues besides the same one throughout the entire class.
| Posted 1 year, 7 months agoIt felt odd to start class without blogging because it’s like a daily icebreaker for class, and its been a great source of information for me about events during the election process. The blog has also kind of helped us to get to know each member of the class better by reading what she comments on and how she responds to the blog prompts. For me personally there hasn’t been a direct relationship between the blog and my research project. I feel they are separate but both are kind of fulfilling their roles best apart. If we talked about the research projects on the blog as well it could have become overwhelming to focus so much only on the research apect, i think the general conversation is just as important and has helped alot of people to form new viewpoints about our election process and issues that arise from it, in our country.
| Posted 1 year, 7 months agoClass did feel funny not blogging on last Thursday. Blogging has definitly become a habit for me. Blogging outside of class time would have definitly another plate on my back. Im am glad you didnt require that Dr. Price.
There has been some relationship between the blogs and my research project. I have learned alot about this election through blogging. I liked the topics that people posted they were great.
Thanks Dr. Price
| Posted 1 year, 7 months ago1) The blog is my real current news as opposed to what the media shows us and how they interpret things involving the election. I felt like something was missing when we didn’t blog. Unfortunately I had to attempt to watch the news to fill that gap. With the blog we take the highlights in the media and find the reality in them.
2) It may seem like the blog has become a different track from our research but I really think it has shaped my research. Things that we talk in the blog motivate me to constantly revise my own research project and the way I organize my information.
| Posted 1 year, 7 months ago1. Blogging has become a routine part of the class, its the time in the class that our minds get to relax and we are free to think and respond to the world as we see fit. Bloggings helps me focus my mind and prepare for the next part of the class….blogging ouitside of classtime is more of a hassel because you’d have to remember to blog and each person would have had to create more than one blog prompt
| Posted 1 year, 7 months ago2. Since our blog was primarily focused on the media and its focus on the presidential candidates, it has been rather beneficial for me, though I still see the project as completely separate from the blog…I guess it could kind of relate because both were on the presidential elections of 2008. More integration need to happen in order for me to actually understand that the blog was suppose to be a part of the project. Maybe if you alternate between student’s blogs and progress on the projects that would be more helpful
It did feel awkward not having the blog at the beginning of class because it has become a class ritual. As for me, the blog has allowed me to ease into class and get my mind together before actual class time began. If the blog would have been required for me to do outside of class, I would have seen it as just another homework assignment and not something that allows me to prepare myself for classtime.
| Posted 1 year, 7 months agoI feel that the blog and the research that we did were kind of two separate things only because we didn’t really use the blog to talk about our research projects. I saw the blog as an outlet to vent the things that we saw that were going on in the election, and to also learn about things that were occuring in the election that some of us might have missed. I don’t think that they should’ve been integrated more because it was nice being able to just voice your opinions.
I don’ think i would have enjoyed blogging if we were required to do it outside of class. I think it would have been an annoyance and thus I would not want to answer it as in-depth if i had to use time outside of the classroom. I think that by making it apart of the classroom experience we were able to get richer, fuller viewpoints from everyone. I think that there has been little correlation between my research project and the blog. The blog was beneficial in keeping me up to date on all the latest news concerning the election and without it I would not have probably kept up as much. I think it helped serve as a sort of backdrop to the study, enabling the students to be informed of what the current issues are and what arguments were being placed forth concerning this election, which helped us formulate a topic or know the background to our respective topics. No, I don’t think I wouldhave wanted them integrated more because I think it was nice to have a break from the study. If the whole semester was just focused on our respective studies, I would have pulled my hair out and have gotten sick about talking about the same things over and over again, honestly.
| Posted 1 year, 7 months agoI personally think that the blog allowed time for us to slowly work or way into class I mean after running across campus from my previous class its a nice kind of cool down then warm up for class. I think that they blog would have been worse if it was done at home because we have enough homework as it. Therefore, the blog would have just been writing something because I had to not because I actually cared to speak my opinion. I think the blog did help me write my paper.
| Posted 1 year, 7 months agoThe blog has been really informative when discussing the election, without it I would not have been aware many of the incidents concerning the candidates. So in that way the blog is like informal station that gives information about the election and allows for expression.
| Posted 1 year, 7 months agoIf the blog had been required out of class I think it would be more of a burden. Because then it would change the entire connotation associated with the blog. It would have become more of a homework assignment rather than the opportunity to learn about the election and express your views
As for my research there really hasn’t been a lot of correlation between it and the blog. Therefore I do think that my research and blog are two separate tracks. I really didn’t mind the fact that the two were separate. I really didn’t even notice it, which is probably because we talked a lot about both aspects in class.
1. Not blogging on Thursday felt funny simply because blogging became a habit for this class. It allowed me to settle in and to really get focus on the presidential election (something that I am often unable to do because of a hectic schedule). So not only did it interupt my tuesday-thursday behavior, but it kind of made me feel disconnected from whatever issues that may have came up since our last class meeting. Also, if I was required to blog outside the class room I do not think I would have paid as much attention to the thoughts of others as I have this semester. I probably would’ve just wrote my own ideas and logged out.
2. There has not beeen much relationship to the blog and our research projects mainly because the blog is cocnerned with current issues and not necessarily our research projects. At times, I do feel that blog and our research projects should ahve been integrated me to allow us with more opinions on our issues. But then again, I think it is fien the way it is because it keeps us aware of whats going on currently.
| Posted 1 year, 7 months ago