Welcome to Blogs at Suffolk University!

Two new blogs have recently made an appearance here on the Blogs@Suffolk University College of Arts & Sciences pilot. The first is the S.O.U.L.S. Alternative Spring Break blog. This blog recounts the experiences of a group of Suffolk University students who sacrificed their school breaks to travel to other parts of the country and give their time and energy to families in need. While the group is just beginning to gather its content and post to the blog, be sure to pay a visit and view the recently posted photocast with student interviews, recounting the experience in El Paso, Texas, building houses with Habitat for Humanity. Reading the journal articles, seeing the photos and hearing the students speak brings this event to life for the rest of us. Thank you, ASB’ers, for sharing your experiences with the rest of us, and we look forward to more posts!

Another new arrival is Suffolk Scoop, a class project by Journalism 1 students under the direction of Sherri Miles, course instructor and Director of Communication at Suffolk’s College of Arts & Sciences. The students covered various Boston and Suffolk “beats” throughout the semester and have contributed their skills and talent to bring this project to life. What a sensational beginning! If you haven’t taken a look, head on over and check out the features, stories, categories, interactive map and images, and definitely visit the archives page where you can find a brief bio of each student in the course!

Back in the 3rd week of March, CAS Suffolk blogs added its 100th user, and since that time we now have over 130 CAS Suffolk blog users! Some have just begun, some are in exploration phases, and some users have been blogging since the pilot began at the end of January. Some blogs have a single author or user only, and other users contribute to one group blog. There are some really informative blogs located here, and as the pilot expands and the user base grows, a dynamic picture of the rich and diverse community here at Suffolk University’s College of Arts & Sciences is beginning to emerge and take shape.

As word of this pilot project spreads, interest has been growing and we’ve received requests for blogs from all different parts of the University. Right now, this pilot is limited to the College of Arts & Sciences only. We look forward to helping others explore the potential ability of expanding the pilot and its support to allow for more access and even greater representation of the Suffolk University community. Read more about this pilot and stay tuned as we will keep you posted on the status of this exciting project.

The pilot has been running 6 weeks and we have 60 blogs so far! This is amazing since we have not formally spread the word aside from one email that went out to faculty after the break. Faculty are using blogs for their research, programs, and courses, and some have students blogging as part of the course curriculum. The students range from new freshman to final semester grad students. Right now you can’t see all of the blogs; only visible are the most recently added blogs and the most recently active blogs. We are working on a way to show a directory of all blogs on the server so the Suffolk Community (and others) can find them.

We currently have over 50 custom templates to choose from, many with the ability to add custom header images. On the top right of this blog, our home page, there is a support section tab. We are developing more support and will be adding video tutorials in the near future.

To sign up, just click “Sign Up” over on the right and get started!

Need Help? Visit the Support Page.

Want to Learn More? Visit the About Page.

Any comments or suggestions so far? We’d love to hear from you!

We are ready to go with the blogging pilot at Suffolk University College of Arts and Sciences. Learn more about the pilot and familiarize yourself with the Policies, Procedures, and Guidelines. CAS Faculty and administration can register for a blog on the right and start experimenting now.

We are excited about the pilot and the pioneers who will make this a success. See the support page for further assistance, or sign up on the right to get a blog and check out the support page later!

We look forward to working at making this a success and are open for feedback and suggestions. Please feel free to contact us for assistance, support, and ideas.

This is the home of the new blogging pilot and will host blogs for the College of Arts & Sciences community at Suffolk University. We are working to get this up and running for use by the Spring ‘08 semester so stay tuned and check back for updates. For more current information:

Please visit our homepage now at http://blogs.cas.suffolk.edu