Willie ,
I think you have a great plan for assessing blogging. A rubric is a tool that can be so helpful for both the student and the instructor.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Kimberly,
I love your term "guiding lights" I will use it (and cite you). I have used rubrics for most of my grades particularly if it is action or project based. It sets the expectations for the students and it allows me to grade in a more objective way .
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Thomas,
I really like your assessment questions. You do need to them to reflect on their post to determine if they have met expectations.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Thomas,
You make such a great point. You should have a purpose and assessment for EVERY tool you use in teaching.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Personally, I would have to review the netiquettes of blogging; however, blogging does sound to be more quaint than microblogging and appears to provide more substance, but does not fuction in realtime as microblogging, unless the students are informed to go to a blog site on a particular day and time, it would function more as a discussion board but on a variety of topics (which sort of defeats the purpose of the classroom setting). I think the same rules would apply to blogging as it does to other media outlets more importantly as you would assess students work in the classroom, with guidance and direction.
Mike
Michael,
Before I would have my students blog, I would have them follow blogs and then discuss the content. there are so many opportunities to follow experts. I would start there.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
The content and how the student is leveraging other sources in the information that they present.
Milka,
How would you measure it? Would you create a rubric?
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Create a rubric based on objectives
Creating a rubric to assess a student blogging is and effective method. Also, creating blogs that are engaging for everyone in the course. Follow each blog and provide positive feedback on student performance.
Garry,
What would be a part of the rubrics? What do you want to assess in using a Blog?
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
For the particular courses I teach, I would focus on assessing content and writing quality. First and foremost, as we learn through this course, it is important to provide examples of a good blog post so students know what to model after and what the expectation is. I would also assess student sharing of ideas and reflections on other blog posts as I find this is equally as important as assessing for content. Of course, the use of rubric will help students to see the purpose of the blog as well as the expectations for participating in the blog. Rubrics are clear guidelines for students to follow in these cases and set the expectation from the start.
Stephanie
Stacy,
Find a couple of blogs that students can follow for a while that are experts. This is a great way to model certain behavior without recreating the wheel.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Stephanie,
What a great post You want to make sure the blog will assess objectives of the course. You want to avoid the thought of the blog as busy work; it has a purpose in learning.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I would post questions and minimum requirements for participation so I could assess if the student understood how to get credit for the assignment and how to use the blog. I also would provide an assessment to test on student's understanding.
I use rubrics for all of my assessments. For blogging I would assess number of blogs, quality in terms of content, and how well it fits the topic we are studying. Although I prefer formal writing, I know blogging does not require it in general. Is it ok to require formal writing in a blog for an academic course?
Suzanne,
I would! It really does depend on the objective you are trying to measure with the blog assignment. If you are establishing yourself as an expert, you may want to use good communication skills.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Eryn,
That is a great point. Do students really understand the power of the tool?
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I have not used blogging but I agree with the rubrics in this lesson as a great starting point. I agree the main goal should be the content and how the student’s comments relate to the learning objectives.
I think the best way of assessing students' use of a blog is to develop a specific grading rubric. This rubric should define exactly what you are looking for from your students including: content, grammar, length, time, format, commentary and more. Also, I liked the idea of provided sample posts for students in order for them to have a baseline to follow. We want to set our students up for success.
