Hi Steemit!
I am Stephi, a 28 year old creative writing teacher based in Vienna, Austria. I am always on the lookout to increase the scope of my courses by introducing new elements into our curriculum. While this usually means reading new authors and helping students to adapt their writing styles accordingly in order to broaden their personal abilities, I am also fascinated by the possibilities of new technolgies. In this context I absolutely had to investigate Steemit once one of my students brought it up in my class, last week. To be quite honest, I am amazed.
Seeking adequate rewards for your work has always been one of the harshest aspects of any writer's career and I know from my personal work experience that many prolific writers refrain from further building on their talent, simply because they fear their work would not earn them enough. Generally, the advance of the digital realm has been a double-edged sword in this regard. Maybe technologies like Steemit can help to motivate unsure writers again to further explore this beautiful and powerful form of communication.
I currently have my classes on Tuesday and on Friday and today I let my students know, that we will start our one-week Steemit project on Tuesday! Our principal has given her ok, although she made it clear that financial rewards should not be earned during our courses. Therefore we have agreed, that students will either give back the rewards earned during next week's project to the owners of this site or destroy them at the end of the week (if this is possible). Legally, this should be the best approach to avoid any conflict. This post is intended to serve as a sort of announcement, already bridging the gap between the classroom and the digital realm. This will give me enough time to work out the details of the project over the weekend.
My courses usually focus on german writings, but for this project we will switch to English, as this should increase our prospective audience, I hope. I am inclined to not make this a contest for rewards between students (as they wouldn't keep them anyway) but to encourage free experimentation. So Steemit, prepare yourself for sixteen young and eager writers, their poems and and their verbal exuberance!
If any one of you has any specific ideas of what this project could entail or which guidelines I could set my students please feel free to let me know!