Why have a blog for the course?
The course philosophy is to 'train' in the same way that we actually engage with the world. A classroom separated from 'the world' or 'life' is a fallacy.
Even when we isolate ourselves within a windowless room to 'learn' at a university, we remain connected to the influences, relationships, and thoughts that compose our lives.
Keeping a blog helps recognize this connection and offers the opportunity to practice the art of critical thinking and ethical argumentation in relation to the actual methods and venues of interaction that we use. Additionally, it offers students both the challenge of writing to a 'live' audience and the comfort of expressing ideas that they already 'own' and are familiar with, rather than trying to think, argue, and compose in the isolation of a classroom.
The ultimate goal is not to 'teach' students compartmentalized information about writing, but rather to write and improve the logic, persuasiveness, and delivery of students' writing by having to ethically convince, or sway, a discourse community's views on a given issue.
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