After doing some thesis research, some tips I can share for now is that for a class blog, do not split into smaller groups. The students want to hear more voices and make comments on more than just a few people’s posts. Perhaps add another class to the blog. For example, add a similar writing class like two 191s here at SCSU or two classes that are studying the same novel or book. The students will welcome the interaction with students who are studying the same things.
Keep the guidelines simple. Ask for timely comments and for 2-3 sentences in their comments. Assign each student a specific week to make a post; they need the deadline. For grading, look at timeliness, length, and if they included thoughts about others’ comments or the post. Grading takes a long time if more criteria is given.
T
he biggest tip, I can give you, is to refer to the blog in the face-to-face discussion during regular class time. This encourages the shy people to speak up because they have already had time to think about the topic. It also allows people to clarify what they meant in their writing.
Individual blogs can substitute for the journal writing that I have done in the past. The blog will allow me to have a time stamp (helpful for grading) and a record of what the student has written. I would use the blog as the rough draft and ask my students to revise one entry. Individual blogs will give my students a safe place to write and more ownership of their online writing, but I have noticed it is a lonely place so I would like to have a class blog as well.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
A Good Read
I just finished reading the book, How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster. The short chapters are entertaining and stimulating. Foster gave examples of literature and explained how they were connected. Talk about remediation in literature!
As much as I like the computer and other technologies, I still like to read a book. I still want my students to read from books. (Did you know that one of the Twitter creators doesn't own a television? He says he doesn't have time to watch TV because he prefers to read!) For me, reading is as engaging as working on the computer. I can take a book and see on my porch; if the electricity is off, I am still entertained.
If I were teaching a class of college-bound high school students or a freshman level literature class, I would use this book as a textbook. (I will probably lend this book to my friend who teaches high school seniors and see what she thinks.) The short chapters would make this easy to use in a classroom and cover a wide range of ideas in literature.
I encourage you to check this book out. It is, as the advertising says, "A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines". You can find it at Barnes & Noble or Amazon.
As much as I like the computer and other technologies, I still like to read a book. I still want my students to read from books. (Did you know that one of the Twitter creators doesn't own a television? He says he doesn't have time to watch TV because he prefers to read!) For me, reading is as engaging as working on the computer. I can take a book and see on my porch; if the electricity is off, I am still entertained.
If I were teaching a class of college-bound high school students or a freshman level literature class, I would use this book as a textbook. (I will probably lend this book to my friend who teaches high school seniors and see what she thinks.) The short chapters would make this easy to use in a classroom and cover a wide range of ideas in literature.
I encourage you to check this book out. It is, as the advertising says, "A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines". You can find it at Barnes & Noble or Amazon.
Monday, May 4, 2009
One more technology I would like to try - AdobeConnect
If I were teaching next semester on campus, I would have tried a technology called AdobeConnect. The Mulitmedia Services at SCSU describes the technology like this:
Adobe Connect is an online Web Conferencing and collaboration tool. It provides multimedia capabilities that can be used for many activities such as group work, online office hours and interactive classes.
Here is the link: http://huskynet.stcloudstate.edu/multimedia/default.asp
My understanding is that instructors can request a "room" where there is a whiteboard, audio/visual box, and online chat component. All participants have the capability of having audio, if they have a headset and microphone. Or just the instructor could have the microphone and be the only speaker. I think there is a webcam capability as well.
Susan Montag used this technology in her supplemental 191 classes so I saw how it worked. She had her students do research on a collaborative paper in a computer lab the first time they used it. They were able to chat online (like MOO) and send each other links to research they found. I was intrigued by how engaged and active the students were when doing research together.
Montag presented a PowerPoint about the assignment so the students could refer to that on the whiteboard. She was going to use this technology again outside of the computer lab; I think she was going to add the audio component then. I would have liked to be a part of the class to see how it went with the students.
Our class did not meet f2f for part of the semester. Though I enjoyed MOOing, I am wondering what the experience would have been like if we had had an audio component as well as a whiteboard feature. Web conferencing is popular in business; my husband often takes web classes for continuing education credits.
Though I still want physically to see my students, I could also having one day or one time where my students and I conference on the Web. When they are working on a project together or on a large project, it would be good to answer questions that the entire group has. It would save me on repeating myself in several emails!
Adobe Connect is an online Web Conferencing and collaboration tool. It provides multimedia capabilities that can be used for many activities such as group work, online office hours and interactive classes.
Here is the link: http://huskynet.stcloudstate.edu/multimedia/default.asp
My understanding is that instructors can request a "room" where there is a whiteboard, audio/visual box, and online chat component. All participants have the capability of having audio, if they have a headset and microphone. Or just the instructor could have the microphone and be the only speaker. I think there is a webcam capability as well.
Susan Montag used this technology in her supplemental 191 classes so I saw how it worked. She had her students do research on a collaborative paper in a computer lab the first time they used it. They were able to chat online (like MOO) and send each other links to research they found. I was intrigued by how engaged and active the students were when doing research together.
Montag presented a PowerPoint about the assignment so the students could refer to that on the whiteboard. She was going to use this technology again outside of the computer lab; I think she was going to add the audio component then. I would have liked to be a part of the class to see how it went with the students.
Our class did not meet f2f for part of the semester. Though I enjoyed MOOing, I am wondering what the experience would have been like if we had had an audio component as well as a whiteboard feature. Web conferencing is popular in business; my husband often takes web classes for continuing education credits.
Though I still want physically to see my students, I could also having one day or one time where my students and I conference on the Web. When they are working on a project together or on a large project, it would be good to answer questions that the entire group has. It would save me on repeating myself in several emails!
Friday, May 1, 2009
Grading Blog Entries
At the start of the semester, I wrote some criteria for my students to follow as they wrote in the class blog. I wanted them to write thoughtful answers of some length. I wanted them to be organized and to develope their thoughts. I wanted them to engage in conversation by referring to other students' comments. I put a minimum length (100 words) and asked for only a few grammar errors.
Now at the end of the semester, as I am grading, I have a difficult time grading them on content. When reading their entries, I think they have done a good job being articulate and thoughtful, so I grade on promptness and length. Most of my students get 8, 9, or all 10 points.
When I taught 9th and 10th grade, I had my students write in journals using spiral notebooks. They had to write 5 sentences for every prompt I put up on the overhead. At the end of the semester, they usually had written 30 entries. When I graded, I just counted the sentences (and they had to be sentences, not fragments!) and the number of entries. It was too hard to grade for content.
I think it is difficult to grade content when the assignment is to write a short entry. It is hard to develope much depth when a person is only writing around 100 words. For me, the blog was a good way to practice writing for other readers. Rewarding the students for their participation this semester was enough for me. Maybe in the future I will try separate blogs for each student; perhaps content could be graded in that scenario.
Now at the end of the semester, as I am grading, I have a difficult time grading them on content. When reading their entries, I think they have done a good job being articulate and thoughtful, so I grade on promptness and length. Most of my students get 8, 9, or all 10 points.
When I taught 9th and 10th grade, I had my students write in journals using spiral notebooks. They had to write 5 sentences for every prompt I put up on the overhead. At the end of the semester, they usually had written 30 entries. When I graded, I just counted the sentences (and they had to be sentences, not fragments!) and the number of entries. It was too hard to grade for content.
I think it is difficult to grade content when the assignment is to write a short entry. It is hard to develope much depth when a person is only writing around 100 words. For me, the blog was a good way to practice writing for other readers. Rewarding the students for their participation this semester was enough for me. Maybe in the future I will try separate blogs for each student; perhaps content could be graded in that scenario.
Posting YouTubes as Content
I have reading blogs all semester now. One popular entry is linking or embedding a YouTube in their blog. Now I have no problem with YouTubes; many of them are funny, and some have valuable scholarly information. I think it would be fun to make a video for one of my lectures and post it online. It would be a good way to get content into my students' heads!
My problem is that when a YouTube is posted, the author often makes little or no comment about the YouTube. Saying "this is funny" or "watch this one!" is unsatisfactory for me. I want to know why the person posted it. Why did they think it was funny and worthy of a post?
Blogs remind me of journals. Before computers, many authors wrote in journals as a great place to jot down ideas, write a paragraph to be used later, doodle, record their thoughts and make observations of the events and world around them. Blogs can serve those purposes as well. While an author may have written down a poem that struck them, they most always commented on why the poem was important to them. They commented on what the poem meant.
When I use blogs as a graded activity in my class, one of my stipulations would be that my students comment on the YouTube when they post it. I don't think they should get credit for someone's content. They need to write their own content or reaction to the material. This stipulation would not just be for YouTubes, not also for outside poetry or pictures. If a student is writing on a blog, then they need to write and not just stick something in the blog like it is a bulletin board.
My problem is that when a YouTube is posted, the author often makes little or no comment about the YouTube. Saying "this is funny" or "watch this one!" is unsatisfactory for me. I want to know why the person posted it. Why did they think it was funny and worthy of a post?
Blogs remind me of journals. Before computers, many authors wrote in journals as a great place to jot down ideas, write a paragraph to be used later, doodle, record their thoughts and make observations of the events and world around them. Blogs can serve those purposes as well. While an author may have written down a poem that struck them, they most always commented on why the poem was important to them. They commented on what the poem meant.
When I use blogs as a graded activity in my class, one of my stipulations would be that my students comment on the YouTube when they post it. I don't think they should get credit for someone's content. They need to write their own content or reaction to the material. This stipulation would not just be for YouTubes, not also for outside poetry or pictures. If a student is writing on a blog, then they need to write and not just stick something in the blog like it is a bulletin board.
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