Throughout the course of the semester my personal views on blogging has not changed very much, although I did learn more things that I do not like about blogging. I did not like having to read, then start my computer and get on just to write about what I read, when we always discussed it in class anyways. Nick did bring up a good point in saying that this is a writing class so I respect it in that way, but I would prefer to write what I thought about the reading in my own words, not forcing it to be 500 words or so when I feel that I covered the point in less than 500 words. I felt that I would get redundant and my writing would start to trail off when trying to achieve 500 words. I understand that this may be the only way people interact with others in the classroom by responding to others blog entries, but that is not teaching them people skills that they will need in the real world. I like interacting in the class room and talking to people face to face while discussing topics to get the full context from their facial expressions and body language, but with the blog you have to assume that language along with what they are trying to say. I feel it is easier to understand what a person wants to say in person.
A blog, to me, is still a portal for people to write whatever they feel like, whenever they feel like it. After writing about 20 blogs I still do not perceive them as a learning tool. I still see it as a myspace or facebook page. People decorate them all cute and post pictures; I just do not see how that relates to the classroom and the topics we discussed on here. I still agree with my first blog when saying that a blog is used mostly for hate crimes and people to discuss their personal views on others. I can see how some people use it to keep in touch with other far away friends and maybe family members, but not a learning tool. Even when our class used it for classroom purposes, people still personalized them and had discussions not related to class through responding.
I also had some problems with blogging when it came time to do the homework. I did not understand fully what I was to be writing about, or what exactly the point was that I was trying to make. When it came time to respond to other people’s in class it became very clear that I either was on the same page or not. Also when responding I did not like how it had to be formal writing and about 50 words. We use formal writing in the blog and in our papers, but when we are responding and making suggestions to others I do not understand why that writing had to be formal as well.
