About blogging....

As a writer, a good blog post for me is one that is clear, has supporting evidence, and thoroughly answers the questions asked. It is useful for me to have clear guidelines and questions that help frame potential responses. It's is also helpful to have a resource to respond to that is thought-provoking and interesting.

As a reader, I like to read blog posts that are straightforward, clear in their writing, and fun/interesting to read. I don't particularly like to read blog posts (or anything for that matter) in overly academic language (yes, I know we are in the education field) because I feel the ideas and what is being expressed is more important than the form. I think relatability is also important so that one finds the blog posting relevant and interesting to them.

In terms of comments, I find constructive feedback on my blogs helpful. Where another student can shed new light on an idea I've written, or agrees/disagrees with what I've said, I've found those types of posts to be most useful. I like to provide posts agreeing/disagreeing with others' posts and giving some explanation for my point of view. I do have to say that I tend to post on posts that I agree with more than those I disagree with.

I think it would be overly-onerous to be required to read every students' blog in the class on a weekly basis. I think it would be easier, and we would perhaps get better, more thoughtful responses, if we were to follow a few students throughout the term or had to comment on a few a week of our choosing.

I think in terms of evaluating and grading blogs that we should consider the blogs holistically. Some key questions to consider: Did the blogger/student complete the assignment? Did the student answer thoughtfully? Did the student express his/her ideas?

I don't think it's fair to grade students based on, say length and whether the student wrote in academic language. These are blog posts and the language and style that are commonly used are less formal than that found in academic texts. I think students should be graded on the quality of the ideas expressed, not necessarily on the formality of their writing style or prose.