Before having the students dive in to the blogosphere I had them take Poynter Institute’s FREE online class designed to teach bloggers the ins and outs of online Media Law. The great thing about this course, besides being free, is that it covered the important topics of copyright infringement, defamation and invasion of privacy in an engaging format. At the conclusion of the course, the student is led through a brief 20 question quiz and provided an immediate evaluation of the content of the course. Students can email their scores to whomever they choose (me) and within the space of about an hour, complete a hefty assignment designed to prepare them for journalistic blogging.

Students are beginning to create their blogs, slowly, but surely. Most have worked through their Blogging Commitment Sheet, but only a few brave souls have actually created their WordPress blog and written that first post. I’m wondering if they are suffering from Writer’s block or Snow Day doldrums. 

Lucky for us, most of our class readings and assignments can be done virtually. We have missed two class days thus far this semester due to inclement weather. Our small college resides in what is affectionately known as the “snow belt” of NE Ohio. Yeah. We have managed to stay true to the spirit of deadlines, however, despite the absences. Blogs are popping up.

The collection of work is as diverse as the student body. If you would like to follow these young writers I know they would love to chat with you. Check out: The216Artist or Pawforacauseblog for a sampling of their work.