getting students to use class blog more

I discovered that Blogger doesn’t allow for multiple email notifications of updates. It does support RSS feeds, but as I noted before, not many of my students are currently using a news reader. In some ways, I am back to square one. I did find out that Blojsom does support multiple email notification, so next semester I will definitely switch to Blojsom. But that means I will need good handouts that explain how to use it since it is not as intuitive to use. There are other blog software options, but I would like to use the one supported by our ATS.
And still the question lingers: how do I get the students to be engaged in the class and help them understand what is due and when. I did midterm evaluation today and asked the students to tell me what is working well for them and what is not. In the “not” column is a feeling that they are not clear what is due and when. There is frustration with shifting due dates. This is one of the problems that I had hoped the blog would help with. We do work on multiple projects at a time with staggered due dates, so it is inherently confusing. I have considered changing this format, but for various reasons, I haven’t. I may consider it again for next semester. But for now, I try to walk that narrow line between sticking to due dates that don’t make sense given what happens or how we progress in class, and confusing some people by changing due dates. I have tried to keep the major portfolio due dates stable and shift the small “class participation” activities so that they reflect what is actually going on in class. That is what I hoped the blog would help with–the daily activities that support our large projects. SO–again–how to improve blog use? I will try forwarding to them the blog updates as I get them in my email. And I will try to encourage those who are feeling frustrated to use the blog more and see if that helps. And I will keep thinking about how to reduce their frustration so they can concentrate on their writing.