Monitoring the Quality of Posts
Microblogging is a time consuming venture for the professors as close monitoring of the quality and accuracy of the posts is required. For example in science course, the information has to be correct. Thus, the instructor must carefully monitor the microblog for accuracy and make corrections as necessary.
Miriam,
You make a great point. You have to have a degree of professionalism in the writing for the credibility.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I agree here as well. It can become very time consuming in certain subjects. It definitely does not apply in disciplines such as science, while it could apply in a subject like communications.
Morissa,
You have to decide the tool that works for you and for the discipline. You also have to spend time to learn how to use it and how to teach students how to use it. It needs to be a good fit to help learning; you don't want to use it just to be using it.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
The monitoring of content is the biggest hurdle to incorporating social networking into my classrooms. I am surprised there isn't more discussion about the risks. Maybe it is just me.
Ron
Ron,
There are risks and that would be addressed within the expectations of the assignment. You are right though, you can turn a blind eye to them.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Hi Miriam,
I agree with you that the most important aspect of microblogging is the quality and accuracy of the posts. One thing that I have noticed in my years of being an online instructor, is that with the discussion boards, students will often race through and write something they believe is relevant but is not necessarily answering the assignment question. My favorite part of this module was the example rubric they provided. Promptness, relevance and proper spelling and grammar should all be key factors in obtaining a good grade in a microblogging assignment. It ensures that students are fulfilling all the key aspects that an assignment on microblogging is designed to do. I am definitely going to use a variation of this rubric in the future.
Alicia,
Wow, I agree with you. Relevance is so important. I think it may have to do with the way we grade our discussion which is much like how students answering them.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I would like to try microblogging in my b. comm. class, but I agree that it would probably be fairly time-consuming -- especially now that I've seen the rubrics in this lesson. Do you think that, as my first time out of the box, it's better to use a microblog for assignment reminders, information dissemination and retweets of pertinent info than it would be to use it as a teaching tool? After all, I want to look like I know what I'm doing even though I'm actually a neophyte.
Eileen
Start small or use small. YOu can make it a pass/fail assignment. They either participate or they don't. It is a great way to start. All think replace not add.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
