In Core class, blogging lasted two semesters. Throughout these two semesters, I have learned that I have used my blog the same way. I have used the blog to relate to a quote, explain a quote, compare two quotes from different works, to understand an author’s ideas by pretending to be that author, and to develop thesis statements for my papers. This year I have learned about the importance of blogging as a way of developing ideas. I also feel that my blogging itself has changed in three ways in the second semester: the community of bloggers has helped me to see different perspectives and helped to expand my ideas, my blogging has become based more on analysis rather than summary, and the POW feature has inspired me to raise the quality of my blogging.
This year I have learned about the importance of blogging as a way of developing ideas on a daily basis about different works. These ideas are of the utmost importance because they are where one’s paper will ultimately originate. There is a saying that, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” The same is true of a paper at the University of Richmond. Quality papers require much grappling with the text and are a weekly process. First, one thinks about several different ideas that he or she is interested in. Then he or she develops them into blog posts. When it comes time to write a paper, this individual has a variety of developed ideas which he or she can use to create a paper. I have found that the ideas I have blogged about have helped me to produce the best papers I have written. I think that blogging is a great resource for any type of class that requires textual analysis and essays.
The main difference between the blogging of last semester and this semester has been the element of the blogging community. Last semester, there was not nearly as much commenting on one another’s blogs because not every student had other classmates’ blog URL’s. This resulted in past blogging being isolated. A student’s blog was just for the individual student’s needs, not that of the community’s. Having so many different perspectives this semester helped students to understand the text and spread new ideas. This helped many students including myself to form new ideas about the text. After the first semester had been completed, and the blogging system had moved to the more community-oriented system present in the second d semester, the blogging system changed for the better.
Through my blogging, I have noticed that my textual analysis has progressively gotten better. I think that this is most evident when comparing my ideas about Gandhi with those about Freud. I was surprised that I struggled with philosophic works in general, but especially when I first started analyzing them. Most of my posts about Gandhi were chiefly just summarizing the main concepts: Varna, the Hindi beliefs, Gandhi’s ideas on English culture and non-violence. However, I actually analyzed Freud by taking his ideas and applying them to characters with sexual issues like Giovanni and Mrs. Curren. I think that this is a substantial achievement for me because I will be less hesitant to take courses where textual analysis of philosophic texts is involved.
The POW (Post of the Week) feature was by far the most beneficial factor in my blogging this semester. This feature inspired me to make better posts. I wanted to win this award every week. Although this did not happen, I significantly raised the quality of my blogging as a result of the POW award. When comparing the posts of the first semester with those of this semester, one would see that in general, my posts are much longer this semester and much more insightful. I think that the POW award resulted in much positive competition among my classmates and me.
I have to say that I am pleased with having the blog as a resource for Core. It has helped me to better develop textual analysis which has made me a better writer. In the second semester, this is evident. I feel that in the second semester, the blogging community has forced me to put more effort into my posts and also exposed me to a variety of different perspectives. I would not change anything about this blogging and I hope that other teachers also use blogging as a means for students to explore their ideas.
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