Blogs, Term Papers, and Effective Pedagogy
Since Matt Richtel published “Blogs vs. Term Papers” in the New York Times on January 20, much has been written on the value or lack of value of assigning term papers. Unfortunately, Richtel confuses the issue by setting up a false dichotomy. His either/or fallacy forces a debate concerning whether or not blogs are better than term papers. Instead, we should be discussing if the goals of a particular class might be better met by assigning blogs (or some other research based project) instead of a term paper.
I must admit that during the past few years, I have become less enamored with the primacy of the term paper for reporting on research. My main problem with the traditional research paper and most other assignments is that they only have an audience of one—the professor. The second problem is that students adopt the strategy of doing just enough research to write a passing paper. The goal becomes getting the task completed instead of learning from the research and writing.
When I am assigned to do a mindless piece of writing such as the Final Travel Narrative I am required to submit after attending a conference, I only invest a minimal amount of effort. Why should I bother to spend time polishing a document that is not going to be read? Therefore, I do not blame students for not putting forth more effort than is minimally required to write a paper that is only going to be read by the professor.
However, after attending the HASTAC Conference in December 2011, I spent hours drafting my Final Travel Narrative so that it would be a quality piece of writing. What caused my change in attitude? What caused me to invest such effort? The answer is simple. I had decided to publish my narrative as a blog.
Instead of having virtually no audience, my final narrative—which was published under the title “The Best Professional Development that $150 Could Buy”—was available to colleagues at my college, my students, individuals with whom I interact at HASTAC, and anyone else who finds it on-line. Given the public audience, the Final Narrative became a serious piece of writing and I therefore treated it seriously.
Over the years, I have done what I could to give students a public venue to display the results of their research. Generally, I have done this with poster sessions open to the college community. But, this semester I am experimenting with multi-author blogs that will allow students to share their writing with a larger community outside our classroom, asking students to create a website on student success, and encouraging them to do identify other venues for publication. In fact, during Winter semester, I have built the expectation into my courses that most major assignments will be published.
Because students are thinking in terms of publication, they are already taking a more serious approach to their research. For example, one of my undergraduate students is conducting preliminary research that will lead to a very valuable article which will assist the graduate students and university faculty members who are the primary readers of HASTAC blogs. Even during their first day in the library, students working on the Ocelot Scholars project are already framing their research in terms of how it could benefit others. From day one, writing for the professor–an audience of one–is not their goal.
Richtel and others who argue for the primacy of term papers incorrectly assume that blogs are somehow frivolous or do not rely on research. A well written, well documented blog entry could require even more research and writing than a traditional term paper or documented essay. The analyses assigned to my film students serve as an example. While I do not really care where students publish their film analyses this semester, I care greatly that academic research is incorporated into the analyses. Without serious research, students will not get credit for their blog entries. Asking them to write blogs is not asking them to sacrifice academic content.
Arguing about the form in which the research is presented—blog, term paper, video, et cetera—is not very useful. We need a discussion about the virtue of publication and the benefits that result from students interacting with a real audience; something that is generally not possible with the traditional term paper assignment.
By publishing blogs instead of traditional research papers, students can write for real audiences, get real feedback, and contribute to real academic discussions. And, like me, they will put more effort into assignments designed for publications than they will for papers or Final Travel Narratives which have virtually no audience.
–Steven L. Berg, PhD
Suggestions for Further Reading
Bauerlein, Mike. “Blogs and Term Papers” (Chronicle of Higher Education. 23 January 2012).
Davidson, Cathy N. “Davidson at Dartmouth: ‘Distraction is Our Friend‘” (YouTube video).
Davidson, Cathy N. “Should We Really ABOLISH the Term Paper? A Response to the New York Times” (HASTAC. 21 January 2012).
Fister, Barbara. “This Short Blog Post is All About Me or, Term Papers on Trial — Again“ (Inside Higher Ed. 2 January 2012).
Jacobs, Alan. “Are Research Papers Obsolete?” (Atlantic, 25 January 2012).
Marshall, Eric. “Blogs in Class.” (A Memorable Fancy, 21 January 2012).
Pannapacker, William. “Invisible Gorillas Are Everywhere” (Chronicle of Higher Education. 23 January 2012).
Richtel, Matt. “Blogs vs. Term Papers” (New York Times. 20 January 2012).
“Blogs, Term Papers, and Effective Pedagogy” has been cross posted at HASTAC.
Sam Hays
As the original post and the post by Sam Hays make clear, research can be effectively incorporated in diverse formats.
Blogging as a classroom approach challenges the instructor as well as the students, and can obviously bring new types of rewards. It seems incumbent upon us, as instructor/learners to use all of the skills at our disposal to adapt to a hyper-connected world in many ways, communication being one of the most crucial. Our students must also learn to take hyper-connectivity and global competition seriously.
I wish we had thought of incorporating a short video presentation on your research blogging at the Global Roundtables, “A Global Wake-Up Call,” on Monday, March 19th! Although we are not organizing the Roundtables specifically around the core abilities we use at Schoolcraft, we are operating under the assumption that the core abilities ought to be consciously “marketed” to students, and expanded upon in new ways so that students will REALLY make them part of their lives, We are all being forced to adjust, and challenged to flourish, in a quickly evolving global world in which every person is “other.” You are helping us all do that with the “communication” core ability. Thanks!!!