Calendar of Events for April 28 through May 12

May 1 Friday midnight [needs some class discussion]

Submit your nominations for 3 best-of-class posts and 3 best-of-class post titles. Provide embedded URLs to your choices. Do not choose your own posts or titles; do choose from 3 blogs, not just 1 or 2.

In a private email message to me, say why these posts display or embody the arts of good blogging. Do not say only “I like . . . because . . . . ”; rather, analyze the arts to argue the case that a given post or title is effective. This assignment will count for your final grade (10 points).

May 5 Tuesday

Class meets face-to-face as usual.

We hear remaining oral reports and do course evaluations.

I distribute the final exam.

April 29 through May 7

Office Hours:

Wednesday April 29: 11-3

Thursday April 30: 11-3

Friday May 1: 11-3

Thursday May 7: 11-3

Email me to sign up for a time, as I have any number of appointments to keep this week. Come in to review your progress to date and to strategize your next moves. I’ll also accept technical presentations in my office.

May 8 Friday

Last chance to submit a final blog post. I’ll be going over your repertoire on the following weekend.

May 12 Tuesday 5 pm

Portfolio of your own posts and post titles and commentary due. Provide links to the specific posts and titles.

Note: Be SURE to email me separately asking for confirmation that I have received your message. I will not take responsibility for notifying you that I have not received it.

May 12 Tuesday 5 pm

Final Exam due electronically via google documents or email. Provide links to the specific posts and titles you may mention.

Note: Be SURE to email me separately asking for confirmation that I have received your exam. I will not take responsibility for notifying you that I have not received it.

Grading: Annotated Rubric

• 60 points: weekly performance grade (up to 5 points per week for doing the basic work, esp. class blog comments and in-class work). Note: you have in hand a mid-term grade where you earned up to 35 points plus 2 additional weekly grades emailed to you last week.
  
  
• 60 points: your blog writing. Note: These points are holistically assigned. See explanation below.*
  
  
• 30 points: research & reading journals: information you gather or produce to feed your blog. Note: You have already earned up to 15 points for your journals and have received a handout and personal feedback from me on how to produce a good journal.
  
  
• 15 points: technical project and presentation. Note: Those of you who have already presented have earned these points. You are expected to provide instructions to earn or retain full credit.
  
  
• 15 points: final take-home exam on arts of blogging. Note: Drafts of questions are posted on the class blog sidebar. This is a draft only and will be updated and augmented.
  
  
• 10 points: Portfolio of your own 5 best blog posts and your own 5 best post titles with analytical statements justifying your choices. Note: There will be overlap between exam questions on the arts of blogging and the comments you offer for your portfolio choices. See explanation below.*
  
  
• 10 points: List of 3 best-of-class blog posts and 3 best-of-class post titles—excluding your own—and your commentary on why. Note: This work is due May 8 at midnight.

Total: 200 points

Discussion

60 points for your blog writing.

No points yet distributed. I’ll be reading holistically; this means I do not assign a given number of points for each post, rather provide an overall score. Here’s what to consider as you review your own production holistically:

Quantity. Today, April 28, the class median is at 13. This means that 5 students have posted more than 13 times and 5 students have posted fewer than 13 times and 5 students have posted exactly 13 times. High number = 20; low number = 9. This should give you a good idea of where you stand quantitatively in relation to your classmates at this moment. Because you have one week left to blog, I’ll consider 14 the median number of posts. So if you are among the low producers, you’ll need either to post several more posts or simply count on the quality of your posts to see you through. If you are among the high producers, you’ll enjoy this benefit but note well: you cannot rest on quantity alone. Quality matters.

Quality. I’ll be looking for a balance between experimentation and learning—and placing high value on both. (The final exam and portfolio of selected posts will give you the opportunity to point to changes that mark experimentation and learning—and I’ll revise my initial evaluations after reading your exam if you persuade me that I should.) Experimentation means I see different kinds of posts—in content, design, prose style, and visual/verbal calibration. Learning means I can see decision points where you have begun honing your style in response to critical commentary and to what you see others doing well. I’ll also be looking at the ways you’ve adapted your writing to the form—working with length, embedded links, prose style, visual/verbal combinations, available means of citation—all of which = learning. There’s no single way to achieve excellence, but your more recent posts should show consolidation of your experiments—or—I should see good consolidation somewhere along the way.

New Knowledge or Old Knowledge in New Form

I’ll be looking for how you work at producing new and useful information or how you rework existing information in conformance with blogging arts.

Professional Standards

I’ll be expecting good editing: no typos; no misspellings—not a one.

Quality and Quantity in Synch. I recognize “filler” posts. Sometimes bloggers need to make use of marking-time posts in order to maintain a good rhythm when they have no time to post. Yet if your blog relies heavily on this move, it suffers. On the other hand, it is possible to be a very high-end blogger with a fewer number of posts if these posts are consistently well-researched, informative, stylistically sharp, and innovative.  

**Portfolio of Your Own Posts (10 points)

--You’ll use your portfolio of posts and titles and the final exam to argue for your own experimentation and learning. I’ll give you a set of topics and terms to draw from.

--You should distribute your analyses across your five selected posts. For example, if you want to showcase your uses of color, then discuss color in one of your 5 examples but not all of them. If you want to showcase your ability to combine educational with entertaining material, use one post to showcase and explain, not two posts. If you want to discuss your work with visual elements or explain how carefully you calibrate active/passive relationships, use one post for each phenomenon to do so.

--You should limit yourself to 2 or 3 analytical points for each post. Name the major strengths; then go on to the next selection and say something different.