I have reading blogs all semester now. One popular entry is linking or embedding a YouTube in their blog. Now I have no problem with YouTubes; many of them are funny, and some have valuable scholarly information. I think it would be fun to make a video for one of my lectures and post it online. It would be a good way to get content into my students' heads!
My problem is that when a YouTube is posted, the author often makes little or no comment about the YouTube. Saying "this is funny" or "watch this one!" is unsatisfactory for me. I want to know why the person posted it. Why did they think it was funny and worthy of a post?
Blogs remind me of journals. Before computers, many authors wrote in journals as a great place to jot down ideas, write a paragraph to be used later, doodle, record their thoughts and make observations of the events and world around them. Blogs can serve those purposes as well. While an author may have written down a poem that struck them, they most always commented on why the poem was important to them. They commented on what the poem meant.
When I use blogs as a graded activity in my class, one of my stipulations would be that my students comment on the YouTube when they post it. I don't think they should get credit for someone's content. They need to write their own content or reaction to the material. This stipulation would not just be for YouTubes, not also for outside poetry or pictures. If a student is writing on a blog, then they need to write and not just stick something in the blog like it is a bulletin board.
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