WEEK1 – PROJECT O1 – THE BLOGGER

Welcome, Class!

In this course, you will be asked to keep a “blog site” through the entire class. You will be responsible for your blog as a single author with the objective to link it in your website at the end of class. This blog is your space to upload your weekly class assignments, reflect on readings and discussions, and exchange information throughout the class. You may post ideas, thoughts and opinions, links to news articles you find on the web, questions you have about the material, etc. You should also read other students’ blogs to gain knowledge and exercise constructive criticism.

The topic of each of the blogs will be provided weekly in every class in alignment with your student plan.

The audience of your blogs will be your classmates as well as your instructor and guests who want to learn more about your skills.

Weekly, you will be asked to write 50-100 words including questions for your audience and post a picture or link to support your class assignment (it is a good idea to write your posting on Word and then copy and paste it to the blog so that you have an extra copy). Be sure to site any sources you use when writing your blog (with a link to the website, for example).

Deliverables:

On week 3, you will have to present your blog in class. Plan your presentation for 5 minutes and make it professional and well organized. We will divide the class in two groups to manage the review of the blogs. Each group will name a team leader to assist in the blog moderation process.

On the following weeks, you should visit your classmates’ blogs. Visit will alternate both group's participants and comment on what they posted/wrote/said and answer any questions they might have left. If you as the author then respond to those comments left by your classmates, demonstrating in your answer that you read the comment, you will receive one point extra credit on your blog assignment per response.

All of your blog postings should be posted every Monday with the comments left by the following Monday. If you choose to respond to comments for extra credit, that should be completed by the following Monday.

On week 10, we will have a little contest and ask each student to vote on which blog they felt was the most informative, entertaining, and creative.

Recommendation:
While blogs are less formal than other kinds of academic writing, your blog entries and comments should be substantive and meaningful, reflect a respectful tone, and be written with attention to clear and error-free prose.

Resources:
To get set up a blog, you need to visit a blog-hosting site and set up an account. The process is simple and takes only few minutes. You will be guided in class during studio time.
Some free hosting sites are:

www.blogger.com
www.tblog.com
www.blogeasy.com
www.myblogsite.com

Welcome again, CLASS and Enjoy It!
Ragan