Online Blog Assignments

Personal Blog

You will post one personal blog at an assigned time during our time in Thailand. A blog entry can be from three paragraphs to one page. Cite all research and/or images.

The online blog writing is a first person narrative that is aware that others will be reading. A blog posts retains the feeling of a writing journal, but is shaped for an audience, meaning that you should revise it so that it begins in one place and evolves to another. It should be free of spelling and factual errors, and revised for vivid, specific prose. Your online posts should be shaped by your personality, written in your voice, should be honest and true, and also culturally respectful and anticipate what readers who are not journeying with you in northern Thailand will need to know in order to engage with your insights.

Choose a focus or theme to shape your insights and observations. For example, if you are struck by the different texture that Time takes here versus your life in the States, share some of your experiences through that lens. If the fact that Thailand is a Buddhist country, and you are fascinated by how you perceive that playing out in your experiences, especially in light of the monk chat, shape your blog writing around your thoughts about that. You may choose to examine your idea through one of the theoretical lenses we are using this course – the Human Ecology Model or Social Justice Principles. There are many options. Please include at least two photos that illustrate your ideas. Be sure to create a relevant, interesting subject line for your post that serves as a kind of arrow into your thinking/focus.

Team Blog Project

Your team project will identify a topic to focus in on while in Thailand. Team will collectively bring you observations, experiences and interactions in Thailand along with Internet-based research to inform your topic. You should have your observation/description hat on the entire time during the course – when you shop at the markets, interact with students and teachers at schools, meet and learn from elders, eat in restaurants, and visit with community members, guides, van drivers, hotel staff, students, and peers. You also may come up with some specific questions that you want to ask key informants in Thailand.

Each team will create a one-two page blog post that will include at least two images on the selected topic. You will be asked to share your outline at the end of the time we meet for this assignment in Chiang Khong. Your peers, Zam, and I will provide feedback that you can use to revise your blog. You need to post it by the deadline on our itinerary. Create an inviting, even provocative title to invite readers in. And, be sure to quote and cite outside research.

Digital Story Assignment

Individual Digital Story: Once you return to the U.S. and you’ve had some time for reentry, each of you will create a short (10-12 minutes) digital story reflecting on your experiences and what you learned in Thailand. First you will create a storyboard, a kind of visual outline or map of your digital story that includes key points of your narrative, photos, videos if relevant, music, text. This will help you think through the ‘story’ you will tell digitally. This is not a travelogue; I don’t want to see a montage of beautiful photos of places you went, people you met. That is something else you can create for a different purpose. Rather, this is a story of your learning. It should have theme, a thread that connects the ideas, experiences, and images you will use to tell your story. You will narrate the story with the ultimate goal of communicating to others an important ‘thing’ that you learned.

You can use a variety of programs to create your story. I will share resources that the College and the University have to help you with this. It must be uploaded to the Google Drive folder as an MP4 file. Finalized digital stories are due June 30, 2022.

Requirements for Individual Digital Story

• At our final group meeting in-country, share your initial ideas about a focus for your digital story.
• After returning to campus, begin to develop your story, create a storyboard, write the script, and collect photos to include in your digital story. Feel free to consult with Acharn Cathy as needed.
• Upload your final digital story as an MP4 file to Google Drive (link will be provided). Stories will be uploaded to our Thailand course website digital story page.
• Watch classmates’ digital stories after they are posted on our website.