Student Blogging

During the Student blogging panel--from K to Ph D at the Conference (actually, the session I enjoyed the best of all - and that is not easy as all the sessions were fantastic), a point came up about the way universities are slowly changing their attitudes toward students blogging. Actually, one of the panelists, Sarah Wallace, is a direct beneficiary of a recent 180-degrees turn by Duke University. Instead of looking askance at student blogging, Duke is now actively encouraging students to write blogs about their research, providing them with the platform and tech support and faculty guidance.

So, it is nice to see that another batch of Duke students is blogging right now - from Hawaii - Nicholas School Students Visit Hawaii's Marine National Monument:

A group of our Master of Environmental Management students, professors Andy Read and Dave Johnston, and environmental journalist Eugene Liden are exploring Papahanaumokuakea, America's largest marine wilderness, through Jan. 25. As they make their way through the Northwestern Hawaiian islands, they will be sending back regular blog posts and photos about what they are learning. They also are videotaping the experience, and we will make clips available soon after the trip. I thought you might want to check out the site and share it if you think people in your area might be interested. So far they have spent three days in Oahu, and yesterday they flew to Midway and should post from there by tomorrow.

Check them out - the new generation of science bloggers is coming up! And they are good!

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All writers write best when they are passionate about somethiing. And not all students are passionate about the subject of the course in which they are asked to keep a blog. I think that simply saying, read someones weblog and comment on it isnt enough. But perhaps the week that I ask my students, blog a current event as it unfolds over several days, someone else could assing, read the current event blogging on these student websites and evaluate their technique, or something like that. Just a thought.