Clarkson Integrator

Issue date: 1/29/07 Section: Features

This Friday Professor Joseph Duemer gave a talk on the world of blogging and its applications. Professor Duemer came with no notes, or PowerPoint slides. Instead he used his blog (found at www.sharpsand.net) for all of his multimedia and note purposes. The talk began with Duemer explaining what a blog was and how it is easy to set one up. The majority of the talk was focused on the applications and possibilities of blogs. Duemer gave examples of scholarly blogs that he often uses. These sites offer a chance for scholars from all over the world to discuss and debate on all sorts of topics. These sites allow for "elevated hallway chatter" between the people who visit these sites. Here at Clarkson, Duemer is using the power of blogging to foster discussion in his classes. In the past he attempted to use blogs for his classes but found mixed results. The first time in his class, blog participation was good and then eventually dropped off. This semester he is going with a different strategy. For his Intro to Literature and Literature of American Popular Music Class there are no exams! However, to replace these exams, participation on his blog is a sizable portion of the final grade for both classes. Students are required to post quality responses to discussions on the blog a few times a week. So far the experiment has been a success. Students have been having creating good discussions on topics that are posted and have started to comment on other student's comments.

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