The online blog was a good solution to quizzes. The blog allows for a student to make a profile and share his or hers interests with classmates in hopes to relate and make friends or at least create a social atmosphere. Quizzes can take up class time and therefore instructional time. Instead of these quizzes that teachers may not want to grade or students might not want to take. The blog gives instructors a way to let students go home and work on their topics in the comfort of their home. The blog also is a good way for the instructors to get feedback on how a student thinks by giving them a topic that lets them vent their opinions. Individuals also tend to be more open minded behind the comfort of their computer screen because they avoid visual confrontation with the person that is asking the question. My main points for the blog are as follows: the blog is a good way for students and teachers to have work done in the comfort of their home, it saves instructional time in class, it allows for some social interaction with the commenting system.
Going to class whether from a dorm or home can be stressful for some people because they have to walk or drive and use gas. The blog allows for work to be done outside the class room at a location in which the individual feels most comfortable. When a person is comfortable they are most likely more free minded and are able to create and form ideas easier then when they are in the class room pressured by peers or instructors because they are being demanded to perform or pressured by others to perform better because they do not want to feel inferior. Some students live off campus, one of my friends lives forty five minutes from the school. It would be most unpleasing if there was a due date on a day that wasn’t normal class schedule. If an instructor had a quiz and had it due on a non-class day at his or her office, the student would have to drive forty five minutes to turn it in. Instead the blog allows for a quiz grade assignment that could be completed anywhere at any time.
It saves instructional time in class. Instructors and their lectures are invaluable to students. Instead of having a thirty minute instructional period you can have a fifty minute instructional period. This can be accomplished by removing the quiz or assignment from in class to online so that students can work on their own time rather than the instructors so that they can get more lecture time. This lecture time can be used to clear any problems that the student may have, questions that the student may have or ideas that the student wants to share with the instructor. The online quiz can allow the instructor to also have work grading work on his or her time. Instructors are people with lives too and they also may or may not like to work. The blog allows for instructors to be with family or run errands. After these tasks are complete they can slip into comfortable clothes and grade the blog in bed or at their computer desk depending if they have a desktop or a laptop.
Students who go to class don’t have the same intentions as they did in high school. In high school students have an intention to learn and make friends since they don’t usually pay for their education. In college students pay for their education and go to class to learn and study to get their degree they are paying for. The blogs commenting feature allows students to interact with each other outside or inside the class room. The comments also allow for students to interact with each other, sharing ideas with each other and this allows for learning. Students may become friends when they comment on each other because they may argue and then find a solution hopefully ending in friendship. The comments also allow the instructor to know how his or her students think. This can help the instructor touch on topics that the entire class can relate too or avoid topics that the class may be offended by.
My opinion of the blog is very positive. I don't think there should be any changes. Students are given a good amount of time to complete a prompt, they post it, it gets graded. Students comment of another students prompt they get credit, it's so much easier then having an in class quiz and does not require a lot of time. It's just up to the students whether they are responsible enough to complete the assignment and turn it in on time.
My opinion of the blog is very positive. I don't think there should be any changes. Students are given a good amount of time to complete a prompt, they post it, it gets graded. Students comment of another students prompt they get credit, it's so much easier then having an in class quiz and does not require a lot of time. It's just up to the students whether they are responsible enough to complete the assignment and turn it in on time.
