Extra Credit Blog Post

Prior to taking RTF 305, I had never before used a blog.

The positive aspects of using the blogs in the course was how it forced the writer to utilize knowledge gained through readings and lectures and apply it in a concise, functional blog post. This helped reinforce concepts so that when it came time to review for a test, most of the most important concepts were already ingrained in the mind of the student.

Technically, I had very little difficulty in using the blogs after the initial set up. When I first received the email saying that we would be doing a blog I was a bit confused about the process of creating one since I had never before, but after setting up my blogger account it was not technically difficult. Conceptually, I had no difficulty and in fact the blogs helped me immensely.

I had no real difficulties in the blog process and therefore had nothing to overcome in order to accomplish the blogs.

The most interesting blog prompts were the ones that allowed us to specify contemporary examples from our own personal knowledge because they required more creative thinking than simply rewording concepts from the book in our own words. A good example was the blog prompt asking us to specify an example of the hollywood’s three-act structure. The least interesting blog prompts were the ones that were only based on history and a good example of this was the prompt asking us to identify forces that acted on the development of radio, such as government intervention. None of the prompts were particularly difficult.

I would recommend using a blog in a future course, particularly a course that requires extensive reading for the reason that it keeps students accountable for the information in their reading and rewards those that do keep up by making the blogs far easier. In addition, the blog posts were an interesting and interactive way for students to express their varying opinions.

In regards to improving the blogging experience, I would highly recommend closer consideration of the blog prompts. It is essential that the prompts be intriguing and inspire creative application of class concepts. Other than that, I felt that the blog process was overall very helpful and effective in keeping students involved and in the know on class information.

Yes, you can use my blog in a paper or report.

Just for grins, this is a video I had been wanting to share with the class for a while: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzRKEv6cHuk