My favorite part of this multi-university blog has been the dialogue. This dialogue takes place in the comments on posts and in the ways we respond to each others’ ideas. Sometimes its imperceptible, but I believe most of us read a few of our peers’ entries before writing. Through that process we pick up on some new ideas that we might build on in our own entries. We also pick up on the tone for the blog, based on what others have written. In that way the blog was a blank slate upon which we could create our own discussion space.
That dialogue has other imperceptible effects. When we write, we write for an audience of peers rather than for a professor’s grade. I believe this is reflected in the informal tone we often strike and the pop culture media we add. We write much differently when we know that others will read and perhaps even think about our posts.
Although I enjoyed the dialogue of the blog, I didn’t find it terribly helpful for serious analysis or reflection. It was more like a casual reminder to think about something related to writing tutoring. I think the heightened interaction might come at the expense of deeper thinking.
Tutor Musings 2.0 