As of the spring 2009 semester, there are nine SHC bloggers taking part in the pilot program. ETS representatives meet with them approximately once a month to discuss the project and form ideas to move forward. Christian Brady, Dean of the Schreyer Honors College, has included setting up Web space as part of FTCAP and creating blogs during the freshmen orientation training for incoming SHC students this August. While not mandating, Dean Brady will highly encourage all incoming SHC freshmen to set up their portfolios and maintain a blog.

To keep up with the pilot group and their blog postings, you can look at or subscribe to the PSUHonors tag.  Other categories (tags) that are being used in this project are: academic excellence, civic engagement, global perspective, honor, integrity, and leadership.

The English 202 faculty would like to transform the course to a digital format. This will involve publishing student assignments online through students’ personal Web space, making multimedia versions of certain assignments, and having students work in teams.

As of Spring 2009, we are piloting a new course design in eight sections of English 202C. In these sections, we have updated five of the traditional paper assignments to a digital format. Early reports from the instructors indicate that while the students need additional help learning the blogging platform, they are getting more out of their experience and the assignments are “much more rich than in the way the course was previously taught.” If all goes well, the redesigned course will be implemented in all sections of English 202C in Fall 2009.

In addition to the redesign, ETS will assist with obtaining the technology required for successful implementation of the pilot project. We are working to integrate both the Blogs at Penn State and Digital Commons into this and future English courses. This project has started with a focus on English 202C with the intention of making similar changes in English 202A, B, and D, as well as English 15 and 30.

At the moment, the focus is on the integration of student blogging into the course flow. As we progress, we will examine several core learning activities, integrate digital media, and enhance discussions related to new forms of public media. The exciting thing about this project is that Comm 180 is a large-enrollment course, with about 350 students per section. Our challenge is to integrate blogging and digital media production (via the Digital Commons) while not producing any increased load on Dr. Jackson or his TAs.

As of the Spring 2009 semester, students are required to submit new entries, comments, and/or new resources to the Comm. 180 Class Blog. These posts determine the class participation grade for the semester. Students can also choose to maintain their own blog (with a minimum of one reflective entry per week) for extra credit. By the Fall 2009 semester, Dr. Jackson hopes to do away with the course textbook and rely solely on resources generated by the class and posted to the blogs. This will accomplish his goal to create an “open classroom” for students both inside and outside of Penn State.

At the beginning of the project, a short survey was given to all students and each Guitar Hero class session (as well as optional, after class Guitar Hero tutorial sessions) are being recorded as a part of a research agenda associated with the project. Assuming all goes well, the hope is to develop the project into a larger part of the course in the Fall, as well as potentially expanding it into the more advanced guitar techniques courses. The head of the music composition program, Paul Barsom, has also expressed interest in possibly incorporating the music games into his class in the future.