In a talk at a GEL conference in 2011, Anil Dash explains the importance of 'New Tools, Better Networks' (That's a link guys!) to create this period of multimedia and the connectivity of peoples on the interweb. Dash makes it clear that now-a-days with our tweeting and our poking and our otherwise zealous use of the world wide web, our potential to grow and gain better global connectivity is at an all time high-- thanks to our fancy new tools. In our case for History and Theory of Rhetorical Studies, we have the same opportunity to utilize these new tools and create better networks, and we have seen the impact of this all semester through using this blog.
This blogger site is absolutely our best 'tool' for the class. The blog allows us to have collective voices, to elaborate and collaborate on topics we didn't understand, or that required more attention to make meaning. In many cases, I came to the blog first and would browse through to give myself an idea of how my classmates and colleagues approached the text. Eventually I came to see who approached thinking about rhetoric in a similar way as I did, or who was able to do something more or different with the text that I was not. For example, after a reading like Quintillian's excerpt I couldn't make a relative connection to the text, and instead of waiting for the next class period and holding up the learning of the entire group, I was able to use the blog as a tool for understanding and to look up Sadie's post since she most often approached the texts with modern, relevant connections that really helped me make sense of what was underneath all the damn wordiness. In this case, Sadie used the blog to express a 'mind-blow' revelation she had during the reading, and once she shared, both I and other students (as noted in the comments) were able to make that relevant for our learning purposes, too. It's not often that we have an opportunity to learn in this way, and it gives the reading a whole new dimension to work with.
One of the most versatile tools we have is the functionality of the Blogger site. We can bring in texts to directly reference them in links like I did in the first paragraph, or incorporate photos and syllogisms directly into our text. There are very few limitations here in this space and what that means for us as writers is-- a whole new ballgame. This is an exciting ability, to be able to connect as a group of students with our thoughts and our work and be able to share them on a mutual text in a productive space. Though the timeline of posting could sometimes be a limiting issue for reading all the posts, what matters is that they were there when we did need them-- like when we were really thinking critically on one of the paper assignments and wanted to use this network to try to tackle a rhetorical study from a new perspective.
One of the most predominant benefits of the blog this semester was the way the posts each reflected individual interest in a collective topic. To be brutally honest (sorry, Kate) I don't think anyone was TOO excited to read The Rhetorical Tradition... but I can now easily name a few who DID get excited while posting about something that struck them from the text( I'm thinking about Kelsey's feminism, Adam's interest in the Sophists, etc.). But the really interesting and unique thing about this was that it didn't stop on the blog. This enthusiasm flowed from the blog into the classroom, and that made it even easier to interact in the classroom when we had already had some exposure to each others interests. Crossover like that is invaluable in an academic setting.
Overall, despite the difficulty it posed when a text was particularly challenging to think through, the blog was a wonderful tool for our class, and I would not recommend teaching this course without incorporating something very similar.
New tools + student network = better learning. Who knew? Now, what's next?
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