I don’t want to just sit here and begin talking about how I have been writing all of my life and how I have kept a diary for years, so I won’t, I will simply begin my first weblog entry, by saying, “I am stepping into new territory, and I do not know the ins and outs of this weblogging-blogging-logging-bloggorama that my college professor loves.” —Amanda Cochran
—First Time for Everything (Girl Meets World)
Stand back — here come new bloggers!
Amanda is taking both of the classes in which I introduced blogging this week. She’s distinguished herself by her enthusiasm and her love of writing (and by the fact that she happens to be in all three classes I teach this term).
She’s everything that I love about Seton Hill — the positive outlook on life, the cheerful enthusiasm, and the eagerness to roll up her sleeves and get to work. Amanda has confided a few private worries, as well — and that’s part of the game. Here’s hoping that Amanda’s weblogging excursion is a rewarding one.
If you have the chance, check out some of the other student blogs on a new group site, New Media Journalism @ Seton Hill University.
Plugs: Thanks to the administration at Seton Hill University for giving this project the go-ahead. And thanks to the good folks at MovableType, who are letting me set up a free blog for any student or staff member at Seton Hill. Dave Cornelson of Placet Soultions, Inc. is hosting the site for a very reasonable fee.
Dennis and Rosemary, Thank you for letting me know what to expect in San Antonio. I am most looking forward to my trip and opportunity to present my research. The PCA conference is one mile away from the Riverwalk and I also plan on checking out the Alamo.
I visited San Antonio on my first business trip years ago and enjoyed the 1.5 hrs I had free for sightseeing. I liked the riverwalk and also saw the Alamo, but was greatly disappointed to find that it is right downtown next to the mall and not out on the plaines like I imagined. There was a Ripley’s Believe it or Not museum which I didn’t have time for but it looked cheezy and fun.
San Antonio is a wonderful place… if your conference isn’t actually on the riverwalk, don’t miss the chance to visit it. It’s really beautiful. A bit muggy, but still very nice this time of year.
Go Dennis! Someday I hope my drive catches up to your motivation. I wonder sometimes if you are not a human Duracell. Maybe you could give me some travel hints about San Antonio before I go there in two weeks after the conference.
Yes, I’d also like to map the grades the student received in the blog component of the class (if appropriate) and so forth.
The presentation went well, I think. When I get home I’ll put up a version of the presentation.
Did you ask your students to rate how happy/satisfied they were with their blogging experience? If so, it would be interesting to see if those who said they had positive blogging experiences had more entries and/or comments.
If you have time to do so I would like to see the chart sorted by number of entries. Just interested in seeing the difference.
Rosemary, you’re right, that graph is impossible to read for any one particular blog, but I did think the shape was interesting. The biggest figures, for both comments and entries, are on the left. It’s a smoother curve when sorting by comments than when sorting by number of entries, though at the moment I don’t know what that means!
Actually Bobby, I’m in San Antonio right now, typing this from a public library. I plan to be back home long before then! Still, it would have been nice to meet up with you.
Dennis,
Hey! Here again you mentioned an upcoming conference in San Antonio. I plan on being there from April 6-10 for the Popular Culture Association conference presenting one of my research articles on DC Comics’ Green Lantern. Will your 4Cs conference take place then?
Ok, I clicked on the expand icon and the chart was easier to see but some bars still looked black not red or blue.
Interesting figure. Can you make the chart larger or the bars wider since it is difficult to tell what color some are. Can you also do one sorted by number of entries?
This blog entry got me thinking about what would eventually turn into a presentation at the 4Cs in San Antonio.