November 24, 2003

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  TOPIC: AN ARTICLE IN THE MAKING

  
  

  AN ALUM GOES BLOGGING

  
  

   

  
  

             Did anybody read my last article?  Did any of the 5 articles I wrote last year, and the one I wrote for the November 19^th Student Life paper mean anything to anyone?  Did people like them, hate them, or were they indifferent to my articles.  On the website, www.studlife.com students can leave feedback on articles, but this is not common practice, and I have never got any responses.  Occasionally, somebody I knew would catch my article and respond, “Hey Dan, I saw your article.”  I averaged 1 to 2 comments per article, which was enough to motivate me to keep writing.  I figure if just 1 person acknowledges the fact that I wrote an article, it’s worth it.  The week my last article was published, I returned to St. Louis to visit old friends and get some more writing done.  I saw several people looking at my article on campus, and wished I could organize a forum or discussion to hear what people thought about what I had written.

  
  

              That same week, a professor advised me to explore the online world of blogging (a word which my computer spell check does not yet recognize) as a way to share my writing.  After searching online, I found a site called Xanga, which apparently is gaining in popularity similar to using Instant Messenger.  Within minutes of stumbling onto this site, I had created my own free online site to publish my thoughts and writings, and have people only respond as they pleased. 

  
  

              Xanga is one of several sites that allow people to publish online journals for free.  They are able to do this by charging a small fee for premium memberships that gives people extra features to use on their sites.  However, for now cost, people can join the Xanga community that includes 1000s of real people.  I say real because online journals uniquely give anyone with a computer access to much more than a screen name, birthday, and list of hobbies.  These sites reveal people’s descriptions of their daily lives, their creative writings, feelings of despair, and visions of hope.  For example, one site I discovered brought me into the life of a mother who home schools her children, and describes at length the work and experiences of her children, as well as her beliefs and experiences involving home schooling.  Within the larger Xanga community are smaller weblogs organized by interest.  A little searching will lead you to your own community of like-minded people and writers.  Currently, there are 78 people under the Wash U webring.  At the time I’m writing this, conference rivals NYU has 676 active sites.

  
  

              Blogging could be how ideas are shared in the 21^st century.  The religious checking of people’s away messages might be supplanted with checking people’s online journals.  Writers like myself will find a place where they can expand their audience, and receive useful feedback and ideas to become better and more developed writers and thinkers.  However, the benefits to sites like this are not limited to young writers.  In addition to the reasons most people probably blog, being the therapeutic benefits of journaling and the feeling of connectedness to other people, blogging on a site like Xanga cold help make a school like Washington University a better place of learning.  Here’s how it would work:

  
  

              Students would first have to create an online journal.  This could be purely for educational purposes, separate from a personal journal, if a student had things on their site they did not feel was appropriate for class.  After each class, students would be asked to blog.  They should include things they learned, things that they didn’t understand, as well as any additional thoughts about class they had.  From time to time, students do have questions or comments that, for various reasons, they do not bring up in class, and are left ignored out of class.  By having students and professors redefine class to be a place where people learn and exchange ideas, rather than the 3 hours a week when students and teachers get together, all will benefit.  Students who want more from a class will be able to express this, and the class can help make that happen.  For students not too excited by a class, they will have unique opportunity to connect and view more aspects of the class, which has the potential to move that student to a level where they are more interested and engaged.  Finally, for students who hate a class, and have no interest or reason to be there, they can share this and hopefully teachers will find ways to help make the student experience better, or help that student get into a different setting where this might occur.

  
  

              When I said all would benefit, this referred to professors as well.  Teaching, like anything else in life requires practice and experience to become good at it.  The current system allows students to give feedback to teachers when the course is over.  Students spend only a few minutes and have just a few lines to give general feedback about the entire semester.  What if students could give specific feedback after each class, helping the professors see places for improvement in every lecture, and helping them respond to the unique individuals that comprise every class?  Couldn’t this lead to better teachers?  Of course, students would have to learn how to give good feedback, including important tools such as giving specific feedback, giving constructive feedback, as well as giving necessary feedback, rather than simply venting.

  
  

              Most opinion articles desire certain change.  Each author and article has a different measure of success, this one hoping for the increase of feedback and discussion amongst students.  The success of this one will hopefully be marked by the increased use of blogs, and discussion of this very article on my blog, www.xanga.com/dansjournal. 

  
  

   

  • 1:53 am
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