(via Kairosnews) Ok…it’s official. I’m quitting my high school job and gonna snag some part-time professorship at a local community college where I can do this: give everyone on campus a Weblog and just sit back and watch my aggregator get filled up with all sorts of wild writing from students who write cool stuff without having administrative and board fears (I was going to say paranoia but changed it…hmmmm…) make me sweat over how things will be monitored and approved so as not to tick anyone off. I want so badly to put
We do not take responsibility for any of the writing on this site.
on my homepage and let all heck break loose. (Pitiful isn’t it?)
Joe Moxley, the professor who is doing this, is also into Wikis and all sorts of other cool things dealing with writing with tech. He says the site “Writing Blog is intended to be a creative community for people who write and for writing instructors.” Word has it he’s requiring first year composition students at the University of South Florida to have a blog. Could be an interesting development. Still, Terry asks “Still…where’s the proof (other than anecdotal) that blogging actually helps students write better than in a ‘traditional’ non-blogging class?” Good question. Terry’s starting to dive into this question, and I’m waiting to get a link to his research site so I can follow along.
Reading your comment about looking for evidence about writing blogs helping writers develop made me think of this interview (http://iron.wootest.net/matt_haughey.php) with Matt Haughey, creator of metafilter. It’s more anecdotal evidence, but his answer to the question “What would your advice be to new web writers?” is interesting, as he comes to it from the background of a non-writer.
Terry is asking the right question. I’m waiting to get a link, too!
The desire you express is very similar to mine. I lie in wait daily for my principal to burst (he likes to burst) into my classroom and discuss the content of my students web logs. Even though I’ve warned them, some of them are still having to be reminded that they can only post within limits. However, limiting them in their posts may just be limiting them in their creativity. The students I’m teaching are seniors. Oh well…