This semester, I had all of the students in my digital design class start a blog on either Blogger or Tumblr (.com) where they would be posting all of their work for my class. I then had them send me the web address in an email so I could subscribe to it with a blog reader like Netvibes (or Google Reader, if you prefer). This allows me to look at a page full of student work like this:
From this screen, I can view any post on any student’s blog, and I can leave comments & grades on their work. I have already divided this screen by student class meeting, so I’m looking at only students in “C Block “right now. I can also make this screen public, so the students in my classes can view each other’s work and comment on it.
When I click into one student’s blog feed, it looks like this:
I can look at all of her posts in the Netvibes interface, and then I can click over to her blog if I want to leave her comments.
This week, we will be getting familiar with the grading rubric used to grade students’ work, and they will be applying it to one another’s work. They will be using this interface to give each other comments (constructive, I hope!) Wish me luck!
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This is a great idea, and wish my professors were tech-savvy enough to do something like this. The best we had was a forum which no one participated in, because the professor himself was never interested in trying to facilitate conversations on it.
This is a great tool to use really. Harness the power of the internet and keep up with RSS feeds. But I think if you opt for a blog using your own domain, your data would be safer in the long run. Blogger or WordPress wouldn’t close your blog down if they want. I hope you understand what I mean.
Yes! I have used it on a few projects now and it has revolutionized the way students work.
Before, when doing group projects, students had to elect a “Writer” because the Word doc could only be worked on by one person. Usually, the person elected was the overachiever in the group who ended up doing all the work.
Now, all students can be responsible for contributing to a central document. I’ve even used the “comments” function to give students feedback as they write! It really helps me, a paper-phobe, keep my grading organized (an added bonus).
Ever wondered whether students help each other via the likes of Google documents? It’s the tool available to make the best essay ever written.