01 - The Why: Introduction to this unit
Technology for its own sake is useless. Using it to speed up old ways of doing things and to connect people are both good reasons for adopting it into your daily life. A common criticism of technology is that it is impersonal and isn't as good as making personal face-to-face connections. There are many people who would be willing to challenge this idea. Here's an example of how a student was able to use this assignment for something more than earning a few points in this class...
A student enrolled in this course because she needed a few more credits to graduate. The problem was that she had such severe anxiety that finishing out the year in the public school just got to be too much to handle. Online classes were determined to be her only option.
She started a blog for this course and wrote a post about a book that was helping her to get over some of her issues of anxiety. One day while googling herself, the author of that book found the student's blog post. She left a comment and the two started talking. It was an amazing example of how these tools can be used to connect people beyond classroom walls. By the end of the semester the student had a job at a coffee shop and was enrolled in college courses.
I would challenge you to develop your blog into something worthwhile instead of just writing a few sentences to get the assignment over with. What's important to you? Is there someone you'd like to help? Is there an issue about which you'd like to direct attention? Use this as an opportunity to connect or allow others to connect with you.