There are so many ideas buzzing around the internet that the hard part becomes learning how to take it all in and make sense of it in your own mind.  It takes practice to tell what ideas are worthwhile and how to synthesize and build on these ideas to create your own original voice.  But think about it as a two-step process and things will be easier.  In order to join the conversation you must first read and listen to what is going on and then, when you are ready, speak up with your own ideas.  Let’s look at this two-step process in more detail.

Step One - Taking In Ideas

RSS feeds are a great way to get information on subjects that interest you.  An RSS feed is a little chunk of information that is sent out to you when there is something new on the site that you are watching.  For example, say you like to keep up to date on the local news.  You can visit pressdemocrat.com and subscribe to their RSS feed.  Whenever there is a new article, the headline will be sent to your RSS reader (see below) and you can see that something new has been added to the conversation.  All kinds of websites, blogs, wikis, forums, and other sites have RSS feeds - there are millions of conversations to which you can subscribe.  You can dive into technology news, scientific debates, environmental and humanitarian causes, or just about anything you can think of.

So what is this RSS reader thing?  Think of an RSS reader as your personal newspaper.  You can set one up for free from many different sites, Google and Yahoo being two of the best.  Your RSS reader acts like a personal homepage that lets you see what is going on in the conversations you are watching.  I too will be monitoring the conversations you are following by reviewing your RSS reader.

Once you set up your RSS reader you are ready for...

Step Two - Contributing Your Voice

Will Rogers said that you can be headed in the right direction, but you will still get run over if you don’t get moving.  This is the spirit that will move us through the second step.  It’s time to start blogging.

A blog is simply a person’s, or sometimes a group’s, writing online.  You will be setting up a blog at a site called EduBlogs.  Blogging is many things to many people, and I have no desire to squash the versatilely of this tool by being too proscriptive in how I ask you to use it.  However, there are a few guidelines.

Many students have worked to develop this project, and many students have been empowered by the act of self publishing.  Those that have come before you have pioneered the process and have fine tuned the structure and requirements of the project.  Here is what years of evolution has created...

What we need to see is writing and thinking at a high level.  In order to maintain a high level of writing and also give you freedom of expression that blogging demands, our requirement is that your blog entries must be thoughtful, passionate, and/or intellectual.  What it boils down to is you must create quality work.  If we can handle this somewhat loose phrasing, life will be great.  If the level of work drops, we will be forced to make an adjustment.

The minimum length requirement is 2,000 words per grading period (approximately six weeks).  This frees you up to write numerous shorter entries or to write fewer but longer entries.  Remember, short or long, your writing must be of strong quality.

If you would like, half of your word count, meaning 1,000 of your 2,000 words, may be left as comments on others’ blogs.  The key to making this work is to leave a link on your main blog site so that a reader of your blog (i.e. me) can find your comments.  If I can’t find your work, I can’t give you credit for it.

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Evaluation

Your blogging will be graded in all three grading categories; Work Ethic, Writing, and Reading.

Work Ethic points are based on the amount of writing and the depth to which you explore your topic with original thoughts.  Writing points are earned based on writing conventions (i.e. grammar and usage) and on the logical structure of your writing (i.e. what comes first, second, last and are your ideas connected to each other).  Reading points are earned based on how well you incorporate the conversations you have been following into your original thoughts.

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What To Do Next

It all might sound a little complicated, but it is pretty simple once you get down to it.  Here is a quick recap of what you need to do.  We will go over all of these in class as many times as needed to get all of you in the conversation!

1) Check out the much needed and very important note on Online Safety.

2) Set up an RSS reader (use Google, Yahoo, or something else).  Find and subscribe to RSS feeds.

3) Set up your blog at Edublogs.

4) Blog loud and clear about the ideas buzzing in your head!