Encouraging the Development of Students' Voices through Blogging and ePortfolios: Stacy Stuewe
I believe it's important to have a web-writing component in my Composition and Technical Writing Classes. We live in a digital age in which individuals have the ability to publish their own writing. This gives our students and individuals in our communities more power than ever before. It also requires that we, as educators, take time to work with students to help them become responsible, thoughtful public writers. As a writing teacher, I want students to gain confidence in their writing and to understand that if they can be articulate, persuasive public writers, they have the ability to create change in their communities and perhaps even in the world; however, it's important that they establish credibility, that they anticipate how their message will come across to readers, and that they think critically about their audience and purpose. The blog assignment is an engaging way to provide students with a means to practice and refine all the qualities of successful writing that they'll need to apply after college in their careers.
I've found that blog-writing helps students develop their voices and become more confident, public writers. Students are able to write about a topic of their choice, and they contribute entries to their blogs on that topic throughout the semester. They tailor the writing to a specific audience that they select and identify their purpose for writing. Students focus on writing thoughtful content, creating visually appealing designs and images, sharing their site to increase visibility, and keeping track of their site visibility with analytics applications. Some students have told me that this experience has been so engaging, that they plan to continue to write blog entries even after the class is over. If this process helps them to see themselves as "writers," and to enjoy writing, then I consider that success.
Take a look at some of my Technical Writing students' work:
Safiya Maqueet's Blog, "The Art of Adventuring":
Dalton Ward's Blog, "Baseball Tips": http://daltonwardbaseballtips.tumblr.com/
Melanie Pechacek's Blog, "The Great Outdoors": http://melaniepechacek.tumblr.com/
Angela Poling's Blog, "A Girl and Her Dog": http://angelapoling.wix.com/webfolio
Nidhi Dand's ePortfolio and Blog, "Thumbs Up or Toes Up": http://88shahnidhi.wixsite.com/nidhi
