Day 18:

Nothing new to comment on today otehr than the fact that today was first sign-out day and only Clarissa took advantage to go to the Burlington County Library. I suggested to the rest for them to consider how these days can and should be used for field work. This prompted Daniele to decide that she could use this period to go out to study halls to distribute her survey.

Day 17:

Just responded to a request from the WISE organization for information about exciting things we are doing in this class. I explained how the entire class is experimenting with the use of blogs as formal journals for the class. As I was writing about this, reflecting on and then explaining the benefits I'm seeing already, I became even more excited about how this format is going to benefit everyone in their journeys of self-discovery. Yippee!! And the resulting presentations are going to be amazing.

Day 16:

I found a really phenomenal article that provides answers to some of my essential questions and ones I hadn't even thought of yet: Writing for Friends and Family:
The Interpersonal Nature of Blogs

Michael A. Stefanone
Department of Communication
University at Buffalo

Chyng-Yang Jang
Department of Communication
University of Texas, Arlington



These researchers assert that blogging actually benefits interpersonal relationships as suggested in the following abstract of the article:
"This research explores variables related to the use of personal-journal style blogs for interpersonal goals. A random sample of bloggers completed surveys exploring how the combination of extraversion and self-disclosure affect strong tie network size, which in turn serves as motivation to use blogs as an alternative communication channel. Bloggers who exhibit both extraversion and self-disclosure traits tend to maintain larger strong-tie social networks and are more likely to appropriate blogs to support those relationships. Age, gender, and education have no relationship to network size, blog content, or the use of blogs as a relationship maintenance tool. These results contribute to the continuing discussion about the impact that the Internet and its tools are having on relationships by suggesting that, rather than promoting isolation, computer-mediated communication tools such as blogs often function to enhance existing relationships."

Day 15:

Ok, I have to admit, I'm exhausted so this post is going to be brief. Next week is the first one in which students can sign out 9th period for research. This is always a very beneficial thing when they use the time in planned ways, rather than flying by the seat of their pants. I hope I'm going to see plans on getting out into the field for research on those days!

Day 14:

Interesting article on why people blog (the article I've been trying to post).

Hopefully 3rd time is a charm!
Ok, that is wonderful...thanks to Daniele and Kim for helping me through the process of both attaching the hyperlink and editing the post once it was published. It is very frustrating to me when I can't use logic to guide me in troubleshooting. I usually get close to accomplishing the task, but I end up switching the order of steps or not do something simple like highlighting the text or something. I hope that it gets easier as I gain more knowledge and confidence.

So, as far as class progress goes, the students are making great strides in primary research (surveys, interviews, letters, site visits). It is exciting to see them dig their heels in.

Day 13 revised):

http://socialmediatoday.com/hotblogtips/364064/why-do-you-blog-getting-most-blogging-wpoll


This is the link I was trying to post the past two days - hopefully this time it will work.

Day 13:

Day 12 Part 2:

Don't know what happened to my link to the article - my job for tomorrow.

Day 12:

Read my first "source" on blogging as a means to an end. I Googled "Why do people blog?" and this was the first listed article. What was interesting were the many ways people use blogging for marketing. Not much about blogging as journal-keeping - at least not much for the way students in this class are using it - rather personal journals or diaries, although I don't understand why anyone would want to make public their personal journals.

Worked on the use of interviews as research sources. Seems promising avenue for some in the class and less for others.

Day 11:

I like having journals online like this. It allowed me to check on my students' progress with their journals, real time rather than waiting to see when they turned them in. I was able to write and publish comments directly on their entries rather than providing written comments once a week. Cool!!

Day 5:

Talked with Joe and Matt about how this blogging project can be used to keep in the information loop of my students progress as well as to act as facilitator for them. Since I have asked all of them to become a follower of my site and I have become a follower of each of their sites, I can now read (daily, if I want)their blogs to find out how they are doing. This way I will know how I can assist them. Also, I will be able to write and post comments regarding their "journals" as they are working on them. (Matt wonders if that will become more labor intensive than providing weekly written comments on the more traditional paper journal). I'm thinking it should be more efficient and allow me to be more proactive. Having all the students utilizing the blog instead of paper journal is really nice (Evan gave in and is doing a blog also)not only for me, but also for them. They can become more of a learning community by staying in touch with each others' projects through this method of documenting. Finally, as I look ahead to the presentation scheduling that will have to happen in late May,I'm thinking it will be so much easier to get the journals to the community members who will be on evaluation panel. That's all for now.

Day 4:

Today missing 2 students but the 4 who were here were productive. Spent some time helping Clarissa figure out how to get to the right type of sources (not just blogs) for information about how couponing works from a marketing perspective. We also talked about how she could use interviews with store managers to gather information she wanted. Have to remember to check with sister about contacts she may have in food manufacturing that Clarissa could contact with questions.

Day 3:

About my blogging goal:
I am awesome...worked my way around my first big blog glitch!! I mistitled my blog URL. for some reason I typed in SSR for Senior Research Seminar, instead of SRS. Got a little help from Danielle to start, but I navigated blogger to find where I could make the change. Yea!!!

About class:
Had individual student progress updates yesterday. Everyone (except Evan who wasn't in class) shared his/her blog journals and gave an overview of what he/she has done and what he/she plans to do this week. I am impressed with their commitment to their projects thus far. Each had decided on blogging instead of traditional journal. And their blogs are really cool. Both John and Danielle are extremely thorough in their narratives. James has included pics in his blog of the progress he is making with band set up and production studio design. Really cool! Kim's titling for her entries and writing style really reveal her unique personality. Clarissa had decided to use Tumblr as her site but it wasn't working that well so she redid her blog, this time on blogger. The layout and font style she chose is very fitting for her topic and personality. What I'm really interested in learning more about are the pros and cons of the familiar but very personal writing style for blogs. It's cool but is it appropriate for all situations? These questions and more will be investigated and hopefully answered through the next few months.

Day 2 (Monday, Feb. 13):

My essential questions:

How can I use blogging as a form of record keeping for my class?
What is it like for my students having to keep a regular journal of their class experiences?
How can technology actually improve my communication skills (rather than destroy them, as I have tended to think, being from a generation raised on writing by pen and paper and interpersonal relationships by face to face interaction or letter writing)?

So, there it is.  My goal will be to write every day, excluding weekends, recording my students' SRS progress, reflecting on the class, the teaching/learning of it,  researching the capabilities of blogs, and trying out some of the things I learn on my very first blog.

Day 1 (Friday, Feb. 10):

So, I thought it would be a great learning experience for me to blog while my students in Senior Research Seminar blogged (their required journal) about their experiences this semester.  And then I thought, even better, I could create and maintain a blog (way techi for me!) as my own sort of "senior" research seminar (well, I'm not quite eligible for AARP yet, but I'm pretty darn close).  And what a perfect choice for someone like me who has only dangled her toes in the frigid waters of the internet world.  I mean it wasn't until very recently that I even knew what a blog was, let alone creating one - prior a "blog"was just some other thing on the internet.  So now I'm ready to plunge right into the frightening but exciting unchartered waters of the internet.

Preview for next time:  My essential questions!