Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

Advertisements
Advertisements

Classes utilize blogs

Professors at the University of Wisconsin are increasingly utilizing weblogs, or blogs, as a communication tool for their students, with many students agreeing it has helped them to better understand the course topics.

For professor Greg Downey, his easily updated website became a resource to enhance his students’ understanding in his Intro to Mass Communications class in fall 2004.

He used the site mainly to share insights, post announcements from teaching assistants, raise discussion questions and elicit responses from his students.

Advertisements

“We have pretty good discussions [in the blog],” Downey said. “It has by no means replaced the discussion section, but it allows students to bring up ideas or topics we did not cover in the sections.”

Brett Watson, a UW sophomore and student in Downey’s course, said he found the online forum useful.

“It is a very efficient way to get the class information. Instead of waiting for e-mails and handouts, you can go online to get the class updates,” he said. “People also learned a lot about current events from the blog.”

Downey added the blog made a positive impact on his class by adding to class discussions. Without the blog, he said students’ in-class discussions would have had less input from students.

The author of one of the assigned articles, Marshall Sella, a working journalist at The New York Times, found out about Downey’s blog through a search in Google.com. Downey said Sella continually contributed to the blog by sharing his thoughts on journalism bias, one of the issues covered in Downey’s course.

“He gave the students a real-world perspective of journalism,” Downey said. “[That] would never happen if we did not have the blog.”

Downey said he was also fascinated students used the blog as a group-study tool before exams. He said it surprised him that hundreds of students logged in to discuss terms from the review sheets they did not understand.

According to Watson, the blog was at its most useful during exam times.

“I think it improves everybody’s grades,” he said. “You just go online and you will get tons of answers from other students. It really helped me prepare for the exams.”

Students also use blogs for purposes besides academic aid.

Zachary Wyatt, a UW law student, created a blog to connect with other law school students as well as to keep his families and friends back home updated about his life in Madison.

“I met a handful of other law school students from my blog. I post my thoughts on issues I learned from school and some people commented on it,” he said. “I also met some new people who talked to me about coming to the UW Law School.”

Despite this, blogs also have some disadvantages. Downey said the anonymity of any online communication, including blogs, makes it easy for people to be rude, uncivil and start arguments in unconstructive ways.

“That is the hazard of electronic communication,” Downey said.

Despite the drawbacks, Downey said the use of blogs in his class was a great success and the trend will continue, at least for him.

“I will definitely use blogs again for my other classes,” he said.

Advertisements
Leave a Comment
Donate to The Badger Herald

Your donation will support the student journalists of University of Wisconsin-Madison. Your contribution will allow us to purchase equipment and cover our annual website hosting costs.

More to Discover
Donate to The Badger Herald

Comments (0)

All The Badger Herald Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *