One slogan kept coming up in our discussions about training and blogging pedagogy: “This isn’t a how-to manual; it’s an invitation to engage.” In fact, there can never be a comprehensive how-to manual for blogging while teaching and teaching with blogs in the feminist classroom because blogging technology is always changing and because blogging defies rigid rules. I can (and do) offer up strategies and suggestions to my students, but they can only ever scratch the surface of what is possible for blogs in the feminist classroom.

In my classes I devote serious attention at the beginning of the semester to training students on some basic blogging skills. Then I spend the rest of the semester trying to instill in them an excitement about blogging and a willingness to try out new ways of expressing themselves. I focus considerable attention on the blogs and on discussions of the benefits of blogging. I participate on the blogs a lot and experiment with categories and ways of expressing myself. And I encourage students to be as creative as possible in their entries and comments. The goal of this training is not to tell (or even show) them the right way to blog. Instead, it is to provide them with some tools for learning how to engage in collaborative work and shared knowledge production.