Choose Your Topic

Each of you will be responsible for assigning questions or problems to solve for an upcoming topic on our schedule. Look at our schedule on the calendar on Blackboard and choose the topic you'd like to be responsible for. Your post here must be up *prior* to class time that day and deal with the topic in some broad sense. You may want to connect it to our reading for that day as well as link it to previous discussions we have had.

Select your day (and a second choice as well) and post it in the comments here, no later than Friday at noon. Check the comments before adding your own. The sooner you post, the greater the likelihood of getting the day and topic you would prefer. All dates after spring break are available. Once you've all posted, I will add your names to the calender so you have an extra reminder.

What Makes for an Effective Blog?

DUE: Friday by 5pm

Link to the blog you brought to class today and explain in detail why you chose it. Does it have one author or a team? Is it commercial or personal? Who is the audience? How can you tell? What's appealing about the visual layout? What about color choices? What sort of links do they offer? What brings people back?

Be persuasive.

Nominees: Most Effective Users of Social Media

Who is your nominee for most effective user of social media? Who wields the blogosphere -- or Facebook -- or Twitter -- with the greatest effectiveness? How does this person/organization reach a wide audience and energize their followers? How are they able to create a "brand" identity? How would you describe that identity? How are they able to increase their audience and effectively engage a wide range of people? What makes them a success? How broad is that success -- and what can we learn from them?

Sign up for Blog Posts

The topics (though not all the questions pertaining to them) are up for the rest of the semester. Choose the day you want to be responsible for posting a blog entry here. This will require talking a little bit about the topic as well as posing questions for the class to answer prior to class time. Look over the calendar on Blackboard and choose a topic that you find of particular interest. First come, first served.


UPDATE: For Monday blog posts, you will have until midday Tuesday to respond. For Wed blog posts, you have until midday Friday. You do need to post a follow-up to your own post; feel free also to comment as the discussion unfolds.

How Can You Be an Effective Blogger?

This week we have been reading blogs at ProBlogger. Our topic has been how to be an effective blogger. What did we discover about being effective as a blogger?