Your blogging requirement

What is the assignment?

As part of your participation grade (15% of the total course grade), you must blog at least three times per week. (Since our classes meet on T/R, we’ll consider a week to run from Tuesday to Monday.) One of these will be a reading response, assigned by me. I’ll give you prompts for these as we go. The second and third will be up to you. One will be a response to something from class you want to think more about or are interested in; and the last will be a post on something you think is related to what we are working on. (This could focus on research, writing, OR y/our research topic. It could be a news item you read, a RELATED personal experience you want to share, a source you’ve gathered in your research, a research or writing resource you want to share with others, or lots more things. You might find the resources page on our website useful in this regard. I’ve set up links to lots of websites that follow health news, places where you can find out more about the counties we are studying, and etc.)

Be sure to keep up with these postings! I’ll read them each week, and grade them as either full credit, half credit, or no credit. (Full credit posts are thoughtful and focused, well-developed, reader friendly, and relevant to our research trajectory.) Please also check in on your colleagues. You will find this process even MORE useful if you read for/comment on one another’s blogs. They’ll be linked from the sidebar on the course website.

Where shall I blog?

Don’t post your responses as a reply to this, or any other post, on the course website. You will set up a blog of your own. You may use any blog site you want  (ie. wordpress.com, blogger.com, etc.). Just make sure the site you choose allows us to comment on your blogs (as that will become important later in the course).

I can support you best if you use WordPress, the same one I am using for our course.  (If you choose to use WordPress, you might find this handout, left over from another class, useful.)

Let’s get started!

Your first blog response should consider your readings/viewings thus far.  Here’s a prompt to help you focus your response:

• “We are conducting a study of health and wellness in Robeson, Scotland, and Hoke counties. What do you already know about these issues in our area? What did you learn from the readings/videos we’ve engaged with so far? What questions do you have about community health and wellness in our area?”

When you’re done with your first post (due before your class on Thursday 1/19), email me your blog address. I will link your sites to the blog roll on our course website, so you can read and respond to your classmates, if you wish. This should be very useful as your begin pursuing your individual research questions.

Happy blogging!

drL