Finals week
this is finals week at GVSU. i have 3 scheduled finals for my two online classes. i will have next week off (not really off — prep week) and then spring classes start the following week. that’s barely a break. hmph! but, i’ll probably only post this blog entry this week before getting back into the swing of things next week. i have a bunch of little topics i’d like to address, so stay tuned.
in my final survey of my students, i asked them to help me figure out how to better implement blogs into our class. many students commented that they would enjoy visiting the blogs of their classmates and making comments. i agree that this would be better than having me try and visit every blog and comment . . . every time. that’s way too difficult when i am forced to teach 24 students in each online section (but, that’s for another day to complain about). anyway, a few students suggested that i have my students create a blog more like this blog . . . so, instead of giving them a topic to blog about, i’d instead give them topics and have them use google and other sources to find current news articles to comment on. perhaps i’d give 1/3 of the class one topic and another 1/3 another, etc. and, then the following week they could visit some of their classmates blogs and add comments and i’d try and encourage dialog in this manner. i think i like the idea, so i’ll have to try it out in my one online section this spring (i am also teaching a section of thesis students this spring/summer, fwiw).
Tags: blogs, teaching online, gvsu
May 3rd, 2006 at 11:57 am
Hey Sean,
I do require my students to comment on each other’s blogs, but in some clsses, this can seem a little forced. A lot of students end up waiting until the last minute to post them.
This is less of a problem in my ED 331 class–the TAing semester. Here, students are eager to read and respond to classmates’ posts. It helps them to build a supportive community.
My students are experimenting with RSS feeds during Spring semester. I’ll let you know how it goes.
May 3rd, 2006 at 12:15 pm
Thanks for the response. I had my students responding last fall, and I had the same feeling with regard to many comments seeming forced and happening at the last minute. Then again, I use forums quite a bit and some of those responses seem forced as well — but I require postings on 2 different days with a day passing in between. This at least provides me with a chance to squeak a response or two in between their visits to the forum. In any regard, you’re probably right that this is more a symptom of the student and where they are in their program than anything we do. Ah well, doesn’t mean we can’t keep trying.
I am turning the RSS on and explaining it . . . and even encouraging it, but not requiring it. I’ll be interested in hearing about your RSS experiences.