YOUR ONLINE JOURNAL—We’ll call it a “Blornal”In the past, I have required students to keep a personal writing journal for the duration of the semester, only to have them ask me at the end of the semester, “So, how many journal entries should I have?” You can tell that they have not been keeping up with the writing requirement, which defeats the purpose of the class. For this reason, I am utilizing the latest in “Big Brother” technology to monitor these journals by requiring students to maintain a blog for the duration of this class. Every week, you are required to post at least one journal entry about the readings or topics that we have discussed in class. These may be reflective or argumentative, but, regardless, they must be substantive and give your subject as full treatment as is possible. I will receive them all automatically and will be able to keep tabs on your work.
The topics are up for you to decide. Blog entries should be several paragraphs long, and may include hyperlinks, photos from the web, or other data. Postings are due by 7:00 on the Monday night before class; this is so I have a chance to read them all before we meet.
You will turn in 5 carefully revised and edited versions of these entries with your final paper. I leave it to you to give me the best version of your best work. The version you turn in will count as 20% of the final paper/project grade.
Go to Blogger.com to set up a new account.
(https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount?sendvemail=true&followup=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogger.com%2Floginz%3Fd%3D%252Fhome&continue=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogger.com%2Floginz%3Fd%3D%252Fcreate-blog.g&service=blogger&naui=8&hl=en)
• Type in your school email address (or another one that you already have) and fill in the blanks to set up your account. WRITE THIS INFORMATION DOWN NOW AND SAVE IT—HECK, WRITE IT IN YOUR BOOK!
• Next you will name your blog. It needs to be simple so I can easily recognize whose blog it is just by looking at the title, so put your first name in it somewhere. Example: Herod’s Blog (If your name is Herod. Or, for that matter, if your name is Blog). You will get to pick the first part of your URL: for instance, WeLoveHerod.blogspot.com
• Then you will choose a template. (You will be able to change this later if you like, so spend almost no time on it.)
• Next you will create a very brief greeting, publish and view your blog.
Adding an RSS feed (this is how I will retrieve your postings without visiting every page—this is soooooo easy.)
1) Go to www.feedburner.com
2) Type in the URL of your new blog and hit enter.
3) On “Identify Feed Source” page, select the RSS option.
4) Create your Feedburner Account (and write down your information, of course) and click “Activate Feed”
5) You will get a message that reads: Congrats! “Your FeedBurner feed is now live. Want to dress it up a little?” I do not care if you want to dress it up or not. I want the URL that appears below the question. I need to type that address into my feed reader in order to retrieve what you have posted. Write it down. Print it up. I do not care, just get it to me. Save a copy of this page for yourself as well.
Blogging and PrivacyThere is no privacy. It is a blog.
For your own safety, do not include any personal information (aside from your first name) on your blog or in your posts. (This includes the name of your school and my name, by the way). No personal pictures. No contact info. Nada. For the duration of the semester, this blog will be devoted to this class. Remember, I will be grading whatever you are posting, so if you have pictures of you and your fraternity brothers doing keg-stands, your are going to hear about it. Whatever you want to do with it after the semester ends is your business.