blah blah blog

For the most part the blog has not been a bad experience, but it hasn't been my favorite part of class either. I enjoy the actual comments given by peers that care. All too often I find myself making posts and comments just because I have to for a grade. I'm sure that is what happens to other students when I recieve a comment that has little or no importance to my post. I'm glad the required volume of comments has been reduced because it has greatly eased the unnecessary, invalid commenting. My favorite blog post would have to be the song lyrics because each one of us seemed to enjoy finding an application that writing had to our everyday lives. It was interesting to see how everybody's chosen song reflected their own personality.

Blog Reflection

In terms of facilitating learning, the blog has been helpful for me in that other people besides the teacher analyze my stuff and give their opinions. I can't say that I have used a ton of the suggestions given to me but some have been helpful. I don't think I have actually "learned" a lot from the blog and I think I view it as just something else to do. I am not bitter towards it, and I can see how it might help some students, but personally for me it didn't facilitate a lot of learning.

The Blog....

I would have to say that my favorite part about the blog is the comments. I find that they have really helped with my writing and have molded my writing to become better and more direct. Although I still have a lot of work to do, I feel that my writing has improved through both my blog writing and my writing overall in this class. I have to admit that sometimes I do feel very negative towards the blog, however, I know that overall it has helped me improve my writing in this class and has guided my thinking to more complex and acceptable ideas. Overall, I think the blog is a great idea and will help me, and the other students participating in this class, for the rest of our college experience.

The Blog

Like everyone else I thought that blog was going to be a lot of work added on to everything else in the class. However, even though it can seem like a hassle to get a comment in or post an assignment I have really benefited from the blog. Reading other peoples posts has helped me take qualities from their writing and improve mine. Reading the comments left on all of the assignments we do for the papers we're writing in class have helped me see how to improve my paper or what to change. The comments give you insight on the same things your audience would be thinking. Also the blog has helped me feel confident in turning in papers after getting positive feedback on them. On the other hand though I didn't get too much out of the assignments that didn't have a lot to do with out papers. I would forget to look at the feedback left on my post and knew it didn't really matter if I read it. Overall the blog has been beneficial and I have really enjoyed it.

Blogging

When the blog was first introduced to us, I had mixed feelings about how it would go. While I have had a love-hate relationship with it, it has been more positive than negative. I definitely prefer doing blog posts for assignments than "busy work" and most of the posts have been relatively easy yet fun and interesting. My favorite part would definitely be receiving comments on my work. Doing the peer reviews made it easier to improve my papers and connect with the other class members. I also like that when we have something big due in class that we don't have blog postst due so it makes for a nice balance. Because of this blog, I have stayed more connected with what we are learning in class compared to my other classes. While the blog can get a little tiresome and monotonous, overall I think the idea is a winner and would like to see this in my other classes where it could be a benefit to me.

The Blog

I have learned a lot by using the class blog. I have recieved really good feedback on my ideas relating to my papers. For me, the blog is very useful when we post a piece of one of our papers or if we post our entire paper. I almost always read the comments on those blogs, and I try to think more about the comments I make to be sure that they will be beneficial to the author. Some of the blog posts aren't very helpful to me and I don't put as much time into the comments. I have learned a lot about trying to appeal to a specific audience by using the blog. Generally, how classmates feel about my ideas is how most of BYU feels about my ideas. This is a good way to try out ideas and get a reaction. I have made many changes to my papers based on the comments that were made on my blogs. This also helps me to spend a lot more time preparing my papers before I turn them in. I find that many of the initial changes I make based on the comments of others are the changes I would usually not catch when writing papers in the past. I don't like to blog just because we are supposed to. Those blog posts are mundane and tedious.

check it out...

Sometimes the blogs have really helped me; other times I just felt like I was doing a meaningless assignment. I really like when our blogs relate to a paper we are writing (like posting a paragraph or rough draft) because it makes me stay on top of my work. I also like when we have to brainstorm about our topics (like when we had to do some basic research for our issue paper). These types of blog posts have really helped me develop my paper and my writing. However, when I wrote some other blog assignments I just felt like I was blogging for the sake of blogging. I felt like some of the blog assignments were only given because we were supposed to have an assignment. I think the blog has the potential to produce true discourse, however I don't think it always does. I enjoy reading some of what people comment on my posts and find it helpful and sincere. Other times I have felt like people didn't even read my blog post and their comments weren't helpful and didn't even apply to what I had written.

Blog Blog Blog

As I look back on my experience in using the blog to expand the classroom environment, I really have few complaints along with an overall appreciation for what the Rhetoric blog has done for me while in English 150. I know that when I first read the syllabus I was a bit taken back by the requirement to have us post at least 10 comments online. It wasn't until I actually began to read the comments and post them myself that I began to see what a useful tool they are to the class. I saw that as the semester goes on, the class as a whole has seemed to be more comfortable with expressing themselves online as well as in class. I also see a kind of comradery within the class that isn't there in most other classes. I think overall, that even though the the blog requires some sacrifice on our part as a class, the benefits it provides make the whole experience well worth it.

BLOGGING WORLD

Well to be completely honest I was the opposite of most people in this class. At first I enjoyed the blog, but as the year has progressed I have not liked the blog as much. This probably has to do with the fact that I just want school to be over so that I can go on my mission. Most of the blog assignments have helped me in class especially the ones that require you to post your rough drafts. As the semester has progressed I have seen an improvement in my writing and I contribute this to the blog entries. However my favorite blog assignments are the ones that really make us think, for instance the one where we were to write sentence variations.

Oh the blog...

Well I think everyone felt the same way about the blog when it was first assigned.  No one liked it and it seemed pointless.  I think now however people are beginning to realize how helpful it actually can be.  I like that most of the time the posts have something to do with what we're talking about in class.  It helps me to not just forget about what we've been talking about until next lecture.  It has helped me immensely specifically with my papers.  I have received great comments that have helped me improve my paper overall and do actually quite well.  It is also quite entertaining to read everyones comments.  Sometimes they are useful other times they are just obnoxious and funny.  But it is a good way to keep us active in this class and to not just sluff it off as another annoying class.  I find myself doing something for English 150 everyday which is probably a good thing!

Blogging Fun

When we first received the assignment of writing blogs throughout the week, I absolutely dreaded it. I did not understand the purpose of posting random paragraphs and commenting on each other's posts. However, as I actually began posting blogs, I realized how much it can help. I enjoy when our blog assignment has to do with the paper we're writing on. It encourages me to get working on my paper, and not procrastinate. I also like hearing others' opinion on a certain aspect of the paper I'm writing. I also enjoyed writing fun blogs, like when we had to write one sentence 25 ways. I do not like when the blog assignment feels like a waste of time, but overall I think the blog assignments have helped me throughout this course.

Blog to BLOG

Blogging for me has been one of those assignments that in most cases get very repetitive. In the beginning all the blogs were formatted the same and the comments were identical. As the semester has gone on I’ve learned that t he blogs have started to mold into the individuals writing them. It’s good to see a diverse group of peers from a across the country write on a common topic and see the possible outcomes. The blog shows the similar, yet different points of view we have as LDS members of the church. Another intriguing concept is I see my writing getting much better. Without seeing my writing improve I don’t think I would support the Blog at all. Instead I find myself working really hard on blogs to inform and voice my style and opinions to others. Overall, blogging has turned from repetitive busy work to a workplace to improve myself.

Blogging Blogging is so fun.....

Well to be brutally honest, I'm not a huge fan of the blog. There have been certain assignments on the blog that I have really thought have helped me to prepare to write the papers that we were working on at the time, but there have been others that seem to be there just for the sake of a blog post. This is one of those. I don't feel like I am getting any closer to writing my issues paper by writing this. I think that we shouldn't have a blog just for the sake of a blog. Granted the majority of the blog assignments have been at least somewhat helpful in my writing. But the comments I don't really find that effective, because most of the time nobody reads what others wrote about their comments and the comments are meaningless jibberish anyways.

Bloggers Delight

This semester has been a very interesting one with the blog. I have enjoyed the use of it in the sense that it truly makes our class more widespread and we can contact people easier. But i really do think that the comments mostly have just been tedious. Most don't reflect much. We just have to do them so we write something that sounds good. However, on occasion, there has been a couple blog comments that have been useful. Those in particular are the ones that help us in writing paper. Comments that leave feedback are useful. But most comments are not of that angle. I do approve of the assignments on the blog. Most have been very helpful in bringing incite and understanding. So i would just reduce the amount of comments and increased the amount of assignments. That would make the blog a better, more useful application.

Blogging

I did not like the blog at first because I thought it would be a waste of time, but found out after the first couple of weeks that is actually helpful. I think the most helpful posts are ones that relate to whatever essay we are working on at the time. Publishing our first drafts as a blog post is really helpful because I usually rush through my first drafts and write something really bad, but knowing that I have to publish it where people will actually see it, I do a lot better job writing it. Also, the comments on first drafts and other writing assignments are helpful. I also like that when we have a big homework assignment due in class, the blog post for that day is either canceled or just us posting whatever the homework assignment was. This is good because there is no need to turn the blog into a busy work blog. I think that as long as the blog assignments have a purpose and are not busy work, they are generally useful and I have enjoyed doing them.

An Audience

"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is."
      -- Someone really smart, circ. 1996

The blog has helped me in a way I really didn't think it would. I first understood that it was to make us aware of the "community" we had in class - which I thought was just part of experiencing what rhetoric is. But...

It actually made me aware of my audience. We always get told that it's good to have other people read your papers, and I've done that several times. Most of the time, however, I would get feedback and think, "Hmm... you have a good point, but I don't agree... Thanks for reading it!" My strategy changed because of the blog. I felt that in future posts, I was responsible to my readers for applying their comments. Even if I didn't agree completely, most of the time I thought, "Hmm... you have a good point, and even though I don't agree - I'm not the person I'm trying to convince."

So the biggest impact of having a blog was making me focus on what my writing was REALLY doing, not just what I THOUGHT it was doing, or what it WOULD do if I was reading it.