Blogging in the Classroom

Students who are participating in my AYV blog (see right bar) are required to regularly post reflections after major milestones of our media-making process. Sometimes I find getting the students to post to the blog is like pulling teeth. Even though the questions change, I regularly encounter eye rolling and sighing. I wonder if this is because they are struggling writers, are tired of the AYV project, or I am challenging them too much/too little.

I lean towards thinking that the students are not fond of writing to begin with, and that they don’t yet equate blogging to “real” writing. I find that students are not putting as much effort into their comments as they would to a paper-and-pencil reflection. Their responses are always short, very informal, and needing to be rewritten. I try to include pictures in my posts to make the assignments more interesting, but does anyone have suggestions to get students less resistant to continua, long-term blogging?