Introduction to Blogs

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to AVT 422 Senior Seminar! My goal in this course is to give you some practical and useful tools that hopefully will give you an edge as you venture into your aviation careers...or any careers for that matter.  One way I have decided to do this is through the social media of a blog. I know a several people in the aviation world who have utilized blogs to advance their careers in various ways. Like other social media tools, (such as Facebook and Twitter) writing, reading and commenting on blogs allows you to create a social network of aviation professionals that you may not have otherwise created. Also, this is yet another thing you can put on your resume - "aviation blog writer". I'm not kidding. As long as you keep the topics professional, many employers would be quite impressed with this initiative.

I will assign a weekly aviation topic - which I will post on this blog. In addition to career development, I also use senior seminar as a course to discuss current and global topics in aviation.  Each week you will be required to do the following:

1) Write a post about the topic, approximately 3-5 solid paragraphs. I will usually provide a list of 4-5 questions that you need to answer through research of the topic. In addition, opinions are encouraged. Proper grammar and spelling is expected - remember that all of your class peers (and, if you wish, other aviation professionals and employers) will have access to your blog. Use in-text citations when necessary and remember that there must be at least one in-text citation for every reference. Failure to use in-text citations or plagiarism will result in 0 points for the post. Also, failure to include 2 references in APA format and the corresponding references will result in a loss of all 4 points (see rubric). Posts must be up by the Friday before class (@11:59pm) to allow time for peers to read and comment. The assignment will remain open on Canvas until the Sunday after the due date, however, any assignments posted after Friday at 11:59pm will receive a 3 point deduction.

2) Again, you must include APA references and citations in each blog post (2 references minimum).  Please make sure that the sites are reputable and include a link so that your classmates may easily access our  information.

3) Each week, in addition to your own post, you are required to read and comment on at least 2 of your classmates' blogs. Please post these comments to Canvas (indicating which blog they were posted to) by 1:59PM Monday (before class) to receive full credit. Comments should at least be 3-4 full sentences and indicate that you have thoroughly read the blog post that you are commenting on.

4) Come to class each week prepared to have an in-depth discussion of the topic.


Have Fun!