I’m excited to have an opportunity to serve academia and get benefits, an office, and a regular salary. Of course, it’s bittersweet not to get to teach the blog class or Women’s Studies–they’re both exciting and challenging courses.

At Franklin Pierce, I hope to continue to incorporate social media into my work, but am not sure yet how I’ll do that or on what platform I’ll maintain my online presence–I start the new job next week and will see then what’s in use at the school.  If they don’t have academic tech I might use Netvibes  or Pageflakes.

There’s a possibility I’ll be able to teach at Keene State in the spring or summer–we’ll see how it goes. I love the classes I get to teach at Keene.

If you’d like to stop getting emails about comments on your Keeneweb blog, here’s how to do it:

Sign into your Keeneweb blog (http://keeneweb.org/wp-admin) and from the dashboard click on the Settings tab (it’s one of the three smaller tabs on the right side of the screen), and then click on the Discussion tab. The second box on the Discussion page contains the “Email me whenever” options. Uncheck the two boxes there and you’ll get no more emails.  Don’t forget to scroll down the the bottom to hit the Save Changes button.  You will still be able to receive comments on your posts, and you can manage the comments whenever you sign into your Keeneweb account.

Here’s a link to a YouTube video about WordPress 2.5 that Russ Cobb in our IT department told us Keeneweb users about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxZLkTnUn34&feature=related.

I think summer is a good time for me to experiment with different templates, so this blog may have a different look every time you come to it for a while.

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This is how the final grade is calculated:  semester-long project 40%, blog 25%, attendance and participation 25%, and drafts and peer review 10%.

As you’ll see, I’ve used the KSC grade scale (A, AB, B) rather than A, A-, B+, B, since that’s the scale that is used by the Registrar in records and transcripts. The percentage equivalents are:

A 95%

AB 90%

B 85%

BC 80%

C 75%

CD 70%

D 65%

F 0-60%

I’m pleased to say that I had to use the upper end of the grade scale much more the lower, this semester!

Sincerely,

Tau Pod

The instructor for this class is very knowledgeable of the information that is presented. She is very excited to teach the information, but if you get on her bad side watch out. Don’t arrive late to class, its only respectful towards your proffessor and classmates. Remember to turn off your cell phones because no one wants to hear your new ringtone. The professor expects you to be respectful and to partake in class discussions. By doing your homework and keeping on top of the reading, you’ll be able to partake in class participation a lot easier.

Also, for your 20 page paper you are required to go to the Writing Center with your work. At the center, students are there to help you with your new paper that you are in the process of developing. Getting another perspective and set of eyes on your paper will only help to being successful with this course and will leave you with a A+.

I wish you the best of luck!

Love,

Bryant Hoard

Caillee Maestro

Kate Kelleher

Sigma Pod

Our advice for you next year in this class, is to use as many resources that you are given. The Writting Center is a good way to get the advice you need for your semester long project. They do a great job of helping you edit your paper.

The library is another quiet place to get your work done without the distractions of being in your room.

We strongly suggest for you to check these sources out, it really can make a difference in your grade as well as quality of work.

You  need to expect to put time into your work. What you put into it reflects on the quality of your work. A skill for managing your time. Keep up with your blogs. Don’t get behind. If late, it will reflect your grade.

This course is tedious work, but not hard. When completed semester long work, it pays off, just don’t leave all of it for the last minute.

Sincerely,

Rho

There are a lot of things you need to know about this class before you get overwhelmed. Make sure you keep on track with your blogs and the readings. Scheduling and time management are huge factors in this class. Reading will take up a lot of time and never forget your book in class.

The work in this class was fairly easy, but very time consuming. Be prepared to work on your research paper as soon as it is assigned, that will be to your benifit. Make sure you keep up with all the deadlines and it should help you stay organized.

We have learned good research skills in this class. The library secessions were a big help when we were researching for our projects. We also learned about different cultures and how blogging affects many other countries. We hope that they enjoy the books and not get too stressed with all the blogs. Stay on track and GOOD LUCK!

Love, the Pi Pod

PS: Beware of Virginia Woolf.

Expect homework for every class. These assignments can vary in length depending on how long you take to read the material. The assignments are usually not hard. If you read slowly allot more time for assignments. Pertaining to the semester long paper, if you meet the deadlines you will be fine. Do not save this paper til the last minute because you will wish you hadn’t.

You will certainly take away a lot from this class. Most people learned the most about their research topic. Then you will learn how to use a blog and post blog posts. This class also focused on politics and voicing individual opinionated responses after watching selected YouTube shorts. Next yr’s class will hopefully become more political and enjoy the class!

What I learned first is what a blog actually was. We learned that blogs are important in many successful corporations. We learned from Blog! about all the different types of blogs. We learned that if you text in class you will get kicked out. We also learned from Baghdad Burning that Iraq & the U.S. are more alike. We hope that next year’s class takes blogs and pod-casting to the next level.

Visiting the Writing Center is a requirement for this course and it is in your best interest to attend. They will help to make your paper better than it was to begin with. The library can help you write your research paper. They will guide you to useful resources. When you go on the field trip to the library it is a great idea to pay attention because Deng Pan is very helpful.

Megan Breen

Meagan Bullett

Melanie Canfield

Chris Colbert

Erin Coyle

Jimmy Ahern

We wish we realized all the work were getting ourself into. It really never stops until the moment you leave class. We would never get behind on the work. Take advantage of the resources we have, like the Writing Center, going more than once, because you get extra credit. Always keep up to date with the blogs, because once you get behind it just makes it harder. We would also want to start researching early and organizing the research. Starting your portfolio when you start working and keep all of your drafts together.

You should expect to spend about two hours on each assignment, due ever class. The semester long project will take at least a month to complete. The readings and writings can be time consuming, especially when you have two at once. Taking other classes, you should plan a time to do the blogs every night.

The end, good luck!

-Lambda Pod

Students completed a survey on attitudes toward information literacy for Professor Yi Gong, the post-test complement to the one from the beginning of the semester. Portfolios and final instructor drafts of the semester-long project were handed in, and students did a group letter writing assignment reflecting on the course and providing advice for next semester’s Blog of One’s Own Students. (I’ll post these here on my Keeneweb blog.)  Now, students are all done with their work for the semester, since there is no final in this course–all the work is mine now, as I read and respond to final papers and portfolios.

Thanks, Spring ‘08 students, for a challenging and rewarding semester!

Peer Review Method: 1) Carefully read your classmate’s essay. 2) Identify two of the elements from the Grading Standards Sheet that they’re doing well with and the highlight the parts of the essay that demonstrate that. 3) Identify two of the grading standards elements that you think they could most fruitfully work on. 4) Write your classmate a half page note (on notebook paper or on their essay) explaining what two standards they’re doing well on and why you think so, and what two standards they could work on, and why you think so. Sign your name return the essay to your classmate.

I also handed out the directions for submitting the final draft to the TW Blackboard site and handed out portfolio checklists and grading standards sheets to students who didn’t get them last week. Just as a recap, you put your final draft and all previous drafts with the instructor and peer feedback in a portfolio with a printout of all your blog posts (you don’t have to print out Keene-Ning) and hand in that physical copy on Wednesday.  For Wednesday you also have to submit your instructor draft electronically to the digital Dropbox on Blackboard for this course, and submit an anonymous copy of your essay to the ITW site on Blackboard. 

Finally, we listened to the podcasts students recorded in our section for the final homework assignment, which I thought provided a perfect final discussion of Riverbend’s Baghdad Burning. I was proud of the thoughtful responses students had to the book.

On Wednesday you’ll complete another survey on information literacy for Professor Yi Gong like you did at the beginning of the semester, complete a “Letter to Next Year’s Class” assignment with your group (your choice of written or Gabcast response), and hand in your final portfolios. Portfolios are due at the beginning of class.

In class today I handed out a portfolio checklist that tells you everything you need to hand in the last day of class, and a Grading Standards sheet that tells you how I will evaluate your final draft of the semester-long research and writing project. We went over them, then discussed the reading in Baghdad Burning, students’ impressions of it, and I asked for students’ thoughts on what it’s like reading one blogger in depth and at length, and now that you’re all experienced podcastters, I asked for students insights on how audioblogging compares to text blogging.  After the break we did peer review of 15-20-page drafts. Today’s method was to read the essay, identify two of the grading standards that it was especially successful in, highlight the parts of the essay that show that success, and then write a note of about half a page to talking about what two elements from the grading standards the essay was most successful at, and what two might be the most important to work on to create a successful essay.