RSJ Faculty Blog

Monday, August 28, 2006

RSJ student writing via J101 blog?

J Faculty: Our writing group at the retreat talked about getting J students writing right off the bat--in Jl0l. So, a question is:

What about having Jl0l students be assigned to create their own blogs, then write papers in the class (all? some?) in their blogs? This would result not only in their writing immediately upon entering a journalism course (l0l) but in their publishing for fellow students and, of course, the profesor who would grade the papers in a private response to the students.

Too intimidating for brand new freshman students? A realistic introduction to them showng the RSJ is serious about writing from the very beginning of their experience with us?

I am not personally advocating this but thought about the idea as a follow through from our good retreat.

Any thoughts?

Warren

posted by wlerude at 1:48 PM

4 Comments:

  • I think its a great idea. My only complaint about J101 was that there wasn't enough writing.

    By Blogger Jake, at 5:00 PM  

  • It's important to consider the issue of public vs. private posting. Anything that's posted to a public blog is likely going to become part of that student's permanent record... and not the student's academic record, but the one that will really matter after they graduate and are applying for a job. I'm referring, of course, to Google. Most public blogs are archived by search engines like Google and Brewster Kahle's Internet Archive exist even after the original blog is deleted. A recent grad could request archived content be removed, but that would require the student to diligently monitor the results "googling" their name. It's possible a potential employer could find these early writing samples and without bothering to investigate their context, pass on hiring that student.

    It's possible to host blogs within the RSJ that would only be available to other students and faculty. I know a number of schools are using modified blogging software to track student progress from year to year. Students are required to post certain assignments from every class. These are reviewed by the students advisor before graduation. These "weblogs" of progress are also very helpful in accreditation and curriculum reviews.

    Things you think (or wish) were gone forever, still live on. Take a look at early versions of the RSJ website...http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.unr.edu/journalism

    Or postings I made to Microsoft listserve back in 1997...http://tinyurl.com/ftjy7

    A censorship debate I had back in 2000... http://tinyurl.com/zkcto

    Just something to consider before moving forward.

    ---

    Kevin Reynen
    Integrated Media Coordinator
    Reynolds School of Journalism
    and Advanced Media Studies
    University of Nevada, Reno

    By Blogger evankai, at 1:47 PM  

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