Mozuku

In an introductory writing course I teach, the textbook asks students to make a scrapbook to introduce themselves. There is even space provided–in the form of topic titles and empty square boxes to write in located in the last few pages of the textbook. There are  interesting and exciting topics such as “My Favorite Holiday” and “What I Do to Stay Healthy” and “My Daily Activities.”  But the best part is the big blank title page, a full-sized blank page with nothing on it but the words, “My Autobiography, by ______________.” Students simply add their names and then apply their creative energy to filling up all that blankness by drawing pictures or pasting in pictures to illustrate their activites, health tips and favorite holidays, etc. The lockstep nature of the whole thing is distasteful. It squelches creativity. And while I do sometimes ask learners to write on some of the topics fixed for them in the autobiography, I have never asked them to do the whole thing the way the writers of the book suggest. I find the whole thing really uninteresting, from any perspective I try on it (with the possible exception of the publisher who is getting paid for mostly blank pages). Instead I get learners to write in their journals and I give them different topics or similar topics with a different focus we all agree are more interesting. But it is still text.

Blogs can be a better alternative, if you intend to make a lot of use of them in a course. But for lower level learners and learners who don’t have the computer literacy, or when we just want to allow for a little more creativity in a face to face classroom-based situation, there is a flexible tool available. It is called Glogster and allows you to make a digtal multimedia “poster.” Like the autobiograhy title page in the writing textbook, it is a single blank page. But unlike that page, it screams out to be filled up with images, video, info or poetry.  As a platform it forces the learners to think about design and content. And the results are engaging. The posters on display at the site are now organized by categories (rather loosely, however), and you can take a look at some of the ways others have expressed themselves: travelogues, interactive calendars, cartoons, movie intros (with the preview, critics’ opinions, etc.). A great resource, no registration and no downloading required.