I’ve set myself a task this semester: experience the blogs platform in much the same way my students will as we embark on this Technical Writing pilot program. So this means I will blog for the first time in my life. The students’ first prompt is this: “Talk about the rhetorical situation of your E-portfolio, and imagine some of the various audiences who might come across your work.“
At Thanksgiving dinner, while pouring the wine and passing the rolls, I mentioned our e-portfolio project to my uncle, an engineering professor recently retired from Norwich University in Vermont. His face froze. “You mean they have to post their writing so everyone in the class can see it?” “Not just everyone in the class,” I said, “everyone on the planet.” He began shaking his head. “No, no, no, that’s not a good idea at all. I’m glad I’m not in education anymore. I couldn’t go for that.” When I asked him why, he seemed a little sheepish, this 60+-year-old, accomplished professional. “I’ve never felt good about my writing. I know when I was a student, I would have HATED to have my work put up for everyone to see.”
I can understand this feeling. I like to think, though, that today’s students–who grew up with computers, e-mail, peer review, Facebook, and other means of electronic sharing and publishing–are more comfortable with the concept of making oneself visible through words spread across the World Wide Web. I like to think, too, that the exercise will push them to think more seriously about the importance of crafting, revising, and polishing good writing that will be viewed by peers as well as potential employers. To think about the “face” they put out to the world before the world ever sees their face in person.