Before starting this project, I had only been exposed to blogging in one of my classes. In Dr. Young’s Victorian Poetry class, the students were required to participate in two different blogs. The first blog was on Blackboard, and only for students in our class. The second blog was a cross-cultural blog, where we wrote to other Clemson students, as well as students at a university in Sweden. To tell the truth, when I first found out we had a blog assignment I was really upset. I barely knew anyone in the class, it was my first semester in graduate school, and I really did not want everyone reading my writing. After that first blog experience I really changed my mind though. I think what really made me comfortable was how friendly everyone was in their letters. We were required to write our entries like letters to our group members, with greetings and goodbyes, and everyone really got into being funny and friendly. I think we actually had a lot of fun with the assignment. Overall it made me more receptive to the idea of blogging. When we had to our second I was much less apprehensive then before.
The cross cultural blog was a really cool experience because it was something I had never done before. We blogged with students from Sweden and it was really interesting to read their perspective on poems that our class for the most part was relatively familiar with. Since English obviously was not their first language, those blogs were unique because they were purely to share ideas. I am really happy when we are presented for opportunities like that because sometimes we forget to just “talk” to one another. There is so much pressure, and so many other factors, however important, they sometimes get in the way of sharing ideas with one another.
Overall I would say that my experience with blogs has been really positive. Even though at first I was really unhappy with the prospect of blogging, and am really glad that I was given the assignment. Had it not bee for Dr. Young’s class, I never would have had a chance to participate in blogging, especially a cross-cultural blog. I am definitely resistant to technology, mostly because I have trouble with it, I lack the skills and understanding so many of my peers have mastered, but I have definitely had a change of heart considering blogs.
