In this course you will establish and maintain a WordPress.org weblog (“blog”) which will be linked from the class blog. In your blog, you will be required to post some of your writing assignments.
In addition to these required assignments, you will post bi-weekly 100-200 word entries (“posts”) on topics of your choice. In these posts, you should practice critical analysis by reflecting on issues and texts you encounter in your daily life. These issues and texts may include, but are not limited to, television and films, print advertising, web sites, comic books, political debates, interactions with others, magazine articles, and the contents of your own mind.
In your reflection, you should unpack or discuss the text or issue. For example, you may respond to something you read on CNN.com, linking to the article and pointing out aspects of the story not covered. Or, you may write about how and why a film you recently saw gave you insight on your own life. You may even recount how you have been thinking more about something covered in this or another class.
A successful post will demonstrate that you are thinking deeply about the subject at hand. That said, you need not understand everything that takes place in a text; a very strong entry could discuss what you do not understand, asking more questions than it answers. On the other hand, a weak entry will merely summarize a text or describe an issue, failing to digest it in a critical manner.
In addition to your alphabetic writing, you should begin to experiment with links, photos, and text formatting.
You should also read the blogs of your classmates. Based on your reading, you should post at least one 50-100 word comment or “reply” per week on a classmate’s blog.
You’ll earn five points per week for this assignment based on the quality and quantity of your posts and replies.
