At last I am blogging. It seems like I have been talking about blogs all summer. The Sociology Department is piloting the blogging process, as a teaching and learning event, for the University. I have been talking to colleagues, explaining the merits of the system. Now I am at last using it myself.
Yesterday (28th Oct), I presented the concept of blogging to my Crime and Deviance students, with the help of Kay Sanderson. I want to use it extensively this year as part of my teaching practice. Exactly, how it is going to work I am not sure, but I have lots of ideas. I hope the students can suggest ways in which we can make it work. I have already asked them to review a crime novel or write a short crime story and put it on their blogs. This exercise is a sort of gentle introduction into the issues involved with the Sociology of Crime and Deviance.
While they are writing their stories and reviews I want them to consider the motivation of the criminal in the story, the social context within which the story is taking place and the role of the institutions of power ( e.g., police, courts, prisons…etc) in the process.
The system by which the students put their reviews/stories into their blogs is not yet up and running, but I hoping that it will be ready by Thursday (30th Oct), so that everything will be in place for the seminars next week.