blog

I did a presentation on this blog comparing it to another blog/open forum I have in another class for my ENG 474 class, which is about problems with/ opening up public discourse. to sum up the presentation I basically compared how and why ours works as apposed to the other one in the class and would like to pinpoint my reasons as to why I think this blog works and whether or not you all agree.

1. we have an in depth rubric that states what the teacher is looking for. even to do the minimum to pass this assignment we must post often and critically think about our posts, not just regurgitate what the last person stated

2. There is an incentive/grade attached to it.

3 Though given a strict rubric based on mechanics, amount of postings, and other things we are given a lot of freedom on what we can post, from personal stories to Simpson clips.

4. most of us have a vested interest in this topic because of our major, because of this it makes us want to know more and contribute from other sources ( as apposed to a gen ed class where many of the pupils could care less about what is going on)

5. We have a small class where we must sign in and be accountable for our posts.

Some of the reasons why my other blog didn't work well in creating discourse, or even barely getting basic participation is because it is in a large class, where people don't know each other so they don't care to leave meaningful comments, or even original posts worth commenting on. It is also set up in angel showing that the teacher doesn't have the time to care about it, and also with such a large class there is no way the teacher can keep up with all of them.

I feel as though our class is a set up for "the perfect situation" and my other class is more of the reality that is faced for educators, big classrooms with kids that aren't motivated. But how can you spend time motivating a class of 80 (or more) kids when you have to grade them too?