Comments on: Should Professors Recruit Students To Blog For Money?

By: Jez

Jez — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 21:42:41 +0000

On the whole I agree with Trent, there are a number of Universities that run successful blogs with no advertising which have very good content,
I have added my own thoughts on the matter to my own blog if your interested

By: Trent

Trent — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 00:59:30 +0000

Although I agree with Brian that there’s likely very little money to be made in this situation, I still think there are other benefits. One of the problems I’ve faced in USC business classes is the disconnect between the course’s lessons and current events. Blogging immediately changes the paradigm of submitting course work from a instructor-to-student relationship to a student-to-world scenario. This means that student’s ideas are immmediately made public and can be incorporated or reviewed by one’s peers–as well experts and newbies alike the web over.

I’m working on a project trying to completely revamp the way we learn in school — and embracing a digital toolset is key!

By: Scott

Scott — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 14:49:46 +0000

I run my own company but I’m old adsense user.

I do not time know to write but I’m still really interested by this kind of stuff. I was thinking to take students in my company to do some summer internship to write for me.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 00:03:07 +0000

Brian,
You’re totally right. It’s the same problem with the Newsvine/Squidoo setup.

By: Brian Balfour

Brian Balfour — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 18:46:34 +0000

The problem I see with this idea is that as a whole a lot of the content can make some money, but on an individual contribution level the amount that can be made is extremely small.

So this means that even if there was rev sharing an individual student who writes a few pieces is going to make next to nothing, which means there is no motivation.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 17:31:34 +0000

Levi,
There are a bunch of issues.

For one, with your suggestion the ethical issue becomes: “Ah, so you structured your class in order to identify the best bloggers for your business.”

Also, there are the prospects of having them in a future class.

There’s also the fact that one of the attractive aspects of having students blog *while* in class is producing lots of content. Students are a lot more likely to write if they are required to for the class. Plus, they’ll get in the habit of blogging if they start in class.

Finally, what is the context in which you approach a student if not during a class? Do you evaluate which students to approach based on their performance in class? Do you make a blanket announcement on the last day of class?

By: Levi

Levi — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 15:58:55 +0000

Why not recruit them after the class is over?