I have had such a terrific experience as a guest blogger, not only for the thoughtful commentary I received but also for the inspiration it provided: I set up a blog for my Civil Procedure class. Although I don’t want to get ahead of myself, the blog has been a tremendous teaching tool. I post tips for our class discussion, questions, news, and links to other interesting commentary in the blogosphere related to our discussion. For example, I use Nan Hunter’s Power of Procedure, a study of the Paul Jones v. Bill Clinton sex discrimination lawsuit. I linked to Orly Lobel’s blog post on the recent sex scandals involving the Israeli President and other top officials. That posting provided a terrific platform to discuss the implications of such scandals, and related lawsuits, on sitting government officials like former President Bill Clinton and governments generally. The students commented up a storm, and their discussions showed how much they had already invested in our course. So if your school can set it up (we do it through our BlackBoard page), I would consider doing so. I also would love to hear from anyone who is blogging for a course and can impart some tips to me.
Posted by Danielle Citron on February 6, 2007 at 11:25 AM
Comments
Bruce, Yes, I think the enthusiasm stems from its free-flowing, non-mandatory set up. This is the scoop. Only I can post; the students (and I) comment. The class is not required to read it; I just strongly recommend reading it since I convey many tips about the material both before and after class. Commenting is definitely not required. Some folks like to just read it and give me their thoughts in person or in class. (I relate to their reluctance; at first, I was hesitant to guest blog, but Dan can be pretty persuasive). So far, it has been a seamless thread between class time, office hours, and blogosphere discussion. And it sounds like you can set it up via Twen as Orly has done. I also like Orly’s discussion forum idea.
Posted by: Danielle Citron | Feb 6, 2007 2:55:30 PM
Danielle, it sounds like you managed to get an organic (i.e., not required) discussion going on your civ pro blog — how did you do that? Do you say that reading the blog, but not posting, is required? Both are required? Neither?
Posted by: Bruce Boyden | Feb 6, 2007 2:19:11 PM
I use TWEN which is a free service of westlaw and has a discussion forum for the students which works well. This semester, in both my consumer/commercial law class and my advanced employment law seminar I also assign each student to follow a relevant webblog during her/his week and report back about a couple of interesting posts.
Posted by: Orly Lobel | Feb 6, 2007 2:07:58 PM
In case you don’t have Blackboard available, faculty can also setup a blog (for free) at http://www.classcaster.org which is a blogging/podcasting network for law faculty. Classcaster is run by the non-profit CALI (www.cali.org) and there are dozens of faculty blogging and podcasting their courses there.
John Mayer Executive Director, CALI
Posted by: John Mayer | Feb 6, 2007 12:37:39 PM