Britain going blog crazy—Metro article. Picture by Annie Mole
Over the course of the semester you will write a minimum of fourteen posts to our class blog, seven that reflect on the weekly assignments and seven that are in response to your classmates’ posts. In addition, the instructor may periodically post/assign a topic question for you to blog about.
Total points possible for your collaboration on this blog: 50 points (Average=35, Good=40, Very Good=45, Excellent=50)
Reflective Blog Post Evaluation: 25 points
Quantity
You will write a minimum of seven reflective posts during the semester. Each of your posts should be anywhere from 250 to 450 words.
Quality
Your blog posts should reflect on class discussions, projects, course materials and/or the impact of Web 2.0 technologies on language education. Any reference to the readings, web sites, videos, or any other external materials must be referenced appropriately and, where appropriate, linked. To the extent possible, your posts should include any insights you have connecting these technologies to the development of linguistic and cultural competencies in your students, your ideas for ways in which you could use these technologies in your classroom, and what you see as the promises and pitfalls of these technologies for teaching and learning.
Response Post Evaluation: 25 points
Quantity
You will respond to at least seven blog posts submitted by classmates. These responses should be anywhere from 100 to 250 words.
Quality
Your response posts should add to or extend the discussion and can include an experience or example (these can include hyperlinked references to other sites) that helps illustrate your point.
Beyond WebCT: Integrating Social Networking Tools Into Language & Culture Courses 
December 13, 2007 at 6:35 pm
Renato on class projects.
This semester was very interesting because I actually used the material from this course to implement some of my classes. The first experience was with composing a song on “subjunctive” which is a hard topic even for Italians. The idea stemmed from the clip we watched in Barbara’s class “First semester Spanish love song.” Students composed each line using a specific form of subjunctive and I in the end three of them performed it for the whole class. One of the students told me that he was singing the song during one of his test 🙂 I asked the students to make a little clip and port it on YouTube but they were… well shy. But it was a nice experience anyway.
The second idea I took from our class was to create a blog on line, a group, using the tools that Google offers for free. In this case the class was composed all by majors and even if it was not mandatory, all of them participated. We had menus on line, ideas, articles I suggested and articles the students read on their own. It was a good tool to stimulate students’ interest and to take initiative on their own, suggesting some topic which were relevant for themselves and for the class. Next semester I am teaching the same course and this time I will insert the group in the syllabus as a complementary requirement. Each student will be given credit for their participation this time, and maybe I will introduce even Voicethread, another tool we learned to use in our computer class.
To asses students’ participation to the blog I think it is necessary the instructor constant presence to stimulate their conversation and also to guide (very simply) to elaborate more on the material read in class. If next semester I will have the same enthusiasm and participation I had this past one, well I will make the blog a constant presence in all my classes.
The only doubt is to use this tool in beginners classes. I am not sure the students will have the knowledge and the tools (in terms of vocabulary ans syntax) to fully enjoy the experience…. but maybe Voicethread will work in this case. There is always time to try and improve.
Ciao a tutti,
Renato