While I have been working on blogging for nearly a year, during this quarter I started writing with more of a specific audience in mind. In the past, I have tried to simply write thoughtfully about topics that I found important with the hope that others would find it interesting as well. Here are some examples of earlier work that represents a more reflective or philosophical style of writing.
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Internet
In contrast to the posts above, the goal of my blog posts this quarter was to attempt to engage the reader more and encourage interaction. This took the form of asking more questions and leaving room in my writing for the reader to respond. I also tried to mix in a little more humor (especially through titles and visuals) that could make the posts seem more inviting. This of course is all a work in progress – especially the humor part.
While I have generated comments from other people in this class, I have not necessarily grabbed the attention or interest of everyone. Through the readings for this course I have also realized that it may actually be more powerful to engage people by narrowing the scope of what I am talking about. In the future, I could potentially specialize and create more robust discussions with people with like interests instead of trying to discuss everything poorly. Then again, this comes with the tradeoff of limiting who I may be engaging with and learning from.
One post that I have felt helped push some conversation forward and engage readers this one about ghosting. While what I wrote was not particularly profound, I think that a lot of people could also relate on some level to what I was saying. As a result, I think that it reflects a change in approach for my blogging. Likewise, these posts about the potential for using games in education and geeking out offered some opportunities for people to connect their own personal experiences, interests, and passions. While maybe not the best writing on my part, the responses seemed both authentic and useful.
Apart from simply blogging on my own, I also worked this quarter on responding to the work to other people in class. This activity contributed quite a bit to my own learning as it further exposed me to ideas that are outside my expertise (especially by reading the work of the CSE students in class). In addition, it forced me to actually take a step back and reflect on what other people were thinking and experiencing. Personally, this is a very important skill that is easily to neglect in education and life in general. While creating content is essential to learning, it is also important to be able to listen and be aware of those around you.
DeJoyofTeachingPortfolio 