Evaluating student blog posts as part of learning experience has always been unclear to teachers (including myself) who are new to integrating weblogs into their lessons. Readings about assessing students’ blog post and comments on the Internet and Will Richardson’s “Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms” (2010) have provided me with an insight into how weblogs can be a useful tool in course delivery.
Richardson (2010) advises using the number of blog posts made by students as one criterion for assessment. Reading posts for form and content based on the rubric developed by the teacher go a long way to encourage students participation and collaboration as well as ensuring effectiveness of the writing. Jeff McClurken and Julie Meloni’s joint blog on classroom weblog evaluation sheds light on how dependent the evaluation methods are on the assignment goals. In whatever the goals however, the two bloggers advise to “look for thoughtful responses, good writing, original ideas, taking advantage of the medium (linking, video, audio) where appropriate, and, of course, actually posting the blogs on time”.
Mrs. Yollis’ Classroom blog post Learning How to Comment! is devoted to the skill of composing a good comment. That gives an idea about what is expected of students as they comment on blog posts. A good comment adds something to the conversation by way of providing extra information or making a connection with a real-life experience. It also asks relevant questions to keep the conversation going.
The evaluation criteria contained in a blog rubric should be aimed at achieving the best blogging experience out of the students. In asking an Art class to blog on “The Life and Works” of selected artists for example, the rubric below can be use:
Richardson (2010) advises using the number of blog posts made by students as one criterion for assessment. Reading posts for form and content based on the rubric developed by the teacher go a long way to encourage students participation and collaboration as well as ensuring effectiveness of the writing. Jeff McClurken and Julie Meloni’s joint blog on classroom weblog evaluation sheds light on how dependent the evaluation methods are on the assignment goals. In whatever the goals however, the two bloggers advise to “look for thoughtful responses, good writing, original ideas, taking advantage of the medium (linking, video, audio) where appropriate, and, of course, actually posting the blogs on time”.
Mrs. Yollis’ Classroom blog post Learning How to Comment! is devoted to the skill of composing a good comment. That gives an idea about what is expected of students as they comment on blog posts. A good comment adds something to the conversation by way of providing extra information or making a connection with a real-life experience. It also asks relevant questions to keep the conversation going.
The evaluation criteria contained in a blog rubric should be aimed at achieving the best blogging experience out of the students. In asking an Art class to blog on “The Life and Works” of selected artists for example, the rubric below can be use: