A Practical Application of Tumblr
As evidenced in the section on "Tumblr, Multimodality, and Multiliteracies" and "Affordances of Tumblr," Tumblr can be used as more than a modified course management system. Instead, Tumblr can become an integral aspect of a research and writing assignment. This page provides context for the course I teach and how the Tumblr assignment fits into the thinking, research, and writing students do in the course. I have provided a brief overview of the assignment, but the full assignment is available for download in a PDF version. I have also linked to the culminating Tumblr account I maintained for the class, which includes links to my students' own individual Tumblr accounts.
Context of the Course
ENGL 211: Green Rhetoric in the Media is first and foremost a course about writing. The aim of the course is to help students further develop the reading, researching, and writing skills they will need throughout their academic and professional careers. In this course students will explore rhetorics of environmental and sustainability issues in various media outlets, including newspaper articles, social media websites, and television programming. This exploration will lead to a better understanding of how rhetoric works in texts they read and in texts they write. That said, this course requires that students learn to read and write objectively and unbiasedly. This course does not push students to become environmentalists and activists; rather, it pushes them to become critical thinkers, readers, researchers, and writers who are knowledgeable in a wide range of environmentally related issues as discussed in the media.
Context of the Assignment
The Social Media Apology (SMA) assignment is the second in a series of three major writing projects my students completed. Prior to working on the SMA, my students wrote an Environmental Literacy Narrative, which helped them reflect on where they receive information about the environment and how that information has shaped their understanding of and relationship to the environment. Students then completed the SMA, which encouraged them to explore environmental literacy further and with more focus by choosing an environmental "event" to research, analyze, and apologize for. After this assignment, students went on to complete a Media Genre Research Project, which drew on the rhetorical awareness and research skills developed in the SMA and allowed them to create their own genres that showcased arguments about environmental issues.
Overview of the Social Media Apology Assignment
After thinking and writing about your environmental literacy, you probably realized that environmental messages are everywhere. These messages come to us from a variety of mediums, one of which is social media. This assignment will require you to explore the ways in which social media is (or can be) used to share information about environmental and sustainability issues. This assignment asks that you think rhetorically about issues that received –or could receive—backlash from the public and that you write an apology for those issues.
The Social Media Apology consists of three components. Once you’ve brainstormed and chosen an environmental/sustainability event (an issue, accident, etc.) you will be prepared to begin working on these components:
Context of the Course
ENGL 211: Green Rhetoric in the Media is first and foremost a course about writing. The aim of the course is to help students further develop the reading, researching, and writing skills they will need throughout their academic and professional careers. In this course students will explore rhetorics of environmental and sustainability issues in various media outlets, including newspaper articles, social media websites, and television programming. This exploration will lead to a better understanding of how rhetoric works in texts they read and in texts they write. That said, this course requires that students learn to read and write objectively and unbiasedly. This course does not push students to become environmentalists and activists; rather, it pushes them to become critical thinkers, readers, researchers, and writers who are knowledgeable in a wide range of environmentally related issues as discussed in the media.
Context of the Assignment
The Social Media Apology (SMA) assignment is the second in a series of three major writing projects my students completed. Prior to working on the SMA, my students wrote an Environmental Literacy Narrative, which helped them reflect on where they receive information about the environment and how that information has shaped their understanding of and relationship to the environment. Students then completed the SMA, which encouraged them to explore environmental literacy further and with more focus by choosing an environmental "event" to research, analyze, and apologize for. After this assignment, students went on to complete a Media Genre Research Project, which drew on the rhetorical awareness and research skills developed in the SMA and allowed them to create their own genres that showcased arguments about environmental issues.
Overview of the Social Media Apology Assignment
After thinking and writing about your environmental literacy, you probably realized that environmental messages are everywhere. These messages come to us from a variety of mediums, one of which is social media. This assignment will require you to explore the ways in which social media is (or can be) used to share information about environmental and sustainability issues. This assignment asks that you think rhetorically about issues that received –or could receive—backlash from the public and that you write an apology for those issues.
The Social Media Apology consists of three components. Once you’ve brainstormed and chosen an environmental/sustainability event (an issue, accident, etc.) you will be prepared to begin working on these components:
- Maintain a Tumblr blog
- Rhetorically analyze the event
- Write an apology for the event
social_media_apology_assignment.pdf | |
File Size: | 71 kb |
File Type: |
How Students Used Tumblr
After creating a Tumblr account and designing their blogs, students began posting about their chosen events. To help students get started, I assigned posts as homework with specific instructions for the post. Ultimately, students were required to post using each type of media Tumblr allows (text, photos, video, etc.). For each post, they had find research that was related to and useful for understanding the context of their events. Along with the media post, they also to write a summary of the source and what they learned from it. These summaries were like short annotations for each of their sources.
Students were also asked to consider ways they could adapt traditional research strategies into their blogs. I required students to always link back to the original source as an introduction to the reasons why we cite in academia. Students were also to create hash tags for each of their posts, which made students think critically about the content of their sources and the most effective way to share that content. We discussed how hash tags operate similarly to search terms and key words in library databases.
Lastly, students were asked to frequently visit the class blog (http://greenrhetoric.tumblr.com/) to see whose sources and ideas were being reblogged as well as to find new sources that I provided based on their own research. Students also “followed” their classmates' Tumblrs so they could share sources and other interesting material. Students really enjoyed the reblogging aspect of Tumblr and frequently reblogged and used one another's sources.
After creating a Tumblr account and designing their blogs, students began posting about their chosen events. To help students get started, I assigned posts as homework with specific instructions for the post. Ultimately, students were required to post using each type of media Tumblr allows (text, photos, video, etc.). For each post, they had find research that was related to and useful for understanding the context of their events. Along with the media post, they also to write a summary of the source and what they learned from it. These summaries were like short annotations for each of their sources.
Students were also asked to consider ways they could adapt traditional research strategies into their blogs. I required students to always link back to the original source as an introduction to the reasons why we cite in academia. Students were also to create hash tags for each of their posts, which made students think critically about the content of their sources and the most effective way to share that content. We discussed how hash tags operate similarly to search terms and key words in library databases.
Lastly, students were asked to frequently visit the class blog (http://greenrhetoric.tumblr.com/) to see whose sources and ideas were being reblogged as well as to find new sources that I provided based on their own research. Students also “followed” their classmates' Tumblrs so they could share sources and other interesting material. Students really enjoyed the reblogging aspect of Tumblr and frequently reblogged and used one another's sources.
Some Examples of Tumblr Accounts
I created a Tumblr account, Green Rhetoric in the Media, to serve as a central space where the class could come together to find other students' blogs, to share additional research, and to pose questions to the class about the assignment.
I created a Tumblr account, Green Rhetoric in the Media, to serve as a central space where the class could come together to find other students' blogs, to share additional research, and to pose questions to the class about the assignment.
Below are a few of my students' Tumblr accounts. In their reflections on the course, the majority of students (22 out of 23) said they enjoyed creating their blogs and liked the whole process: from designing the layout, to finding and posting the res. Although we completed this assignment months ago, a couple students (in particular Brianna) continue to maintain their blogs and update them with more research.