I was very excited to read about the blog option for an on-line course. I will be teaching an undergrad Organizational Behavior course on line, and would like to incorporate a blog. Can I hear from some of you experts on how to set it up, how much structure to give it, and how many entries and of what length to require? Also, how do you grade the blog entries? What are the criteria for grading, and how much weight do you give the blog entries when assigning course grades? TIA for your replies.
I make all course blogs open to all participants. I allow constant tinkering with blogs provided that the students comment on one another's blogs in substantive ways. I use elaborate prompts and often provide extra resources. Basically, I treat the blog tool like a take home essay. I use word counts based on MLA page definitions (so for a blog worth a potential 10% class grade, I ask for 1,200 words). I use the comment box to write my comments on the blog (as do all the classmates). I do not put a grade in the comment box, but use the gradebook for it.
I use blogs primarily in full on face-to-face classes and when I'm supervising students more directly (I group my kids together in a cohort and make them help one another).
