Thursday, September 13, 2007
Cuaderno Latinoamericano
Well, now that the Fall Semester has started, I have once again foisted blogging onto my students. They are required to put up postings on the blogsite Cuaderno Latinoamericano. Check it out and leave some comments there for them. It always amazes me that these students, who can text message on their phones like it's second nature and who have very elaborate MySpace and/or Facebook pages, have very little experience with or exposure to blogging. This is my little effort to get them to build up some interest in the medium and to learn a little about the region we are studying in our class. I hope you visit the Cuaderno Latinoamericano and encourage these students in their foray into the blogging world. Hasta pronto!
Huck
ReplyDeleteDo you want them challenged with political positions?
don_cos - Absolutely! Let them hone their chops. The only way they'll become critical thinkers is if they have some challenging criticism to think about!
ReplyDeleteI think you need to encourage them to actually give an opinion or connect a few dots, so far they are just linking to media pieces.
ReplyDeletecelsus - Yes, I know. I will continue to encourage them in the direction you suggest. But baby steps are a good thing. At least they're posting something. The next step is to challenge them to interpret, hypothesize, and analyze. Thanks for leaving a comment for one of them, too.
ReplyDeleteHuck
ReplyDeleteI have had professors who (after establishing what your stance was) required we argue for the opposing view. Though this can cause some backlash if not handled properly (such as having a Christian argue for atheism) I find it to be a very interesting exercise. Do you use this strategy?
don_cos - Yes, I do that on occasion; but not as often as I might. I find that students need to be mature thinkers before they can handle this without making a mockery of the exercise. More often I generally assume the role of challenging a student's position by countering it from the opposite side. From within the class at least, my students, I think, would find it difficult to pinpoint me to any particular ideological viewpoint.
ReplyDeleteGood point. Knowing your students would be a must in that type of assignment. If you missjudge, it could turn counter productive. However when handled well I have really enjoyed the results of these exercises.
ReplyDeleteThat may be what set the groundwork for my "blog addiction!"
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