Your thoughts on blogging

As promised, I'm going to post a couple of more times! For anyone who is interested, these are the results of the feedback on blogging you gave me on the last day of class. Although I've added comments here and there, my next post will say a little bit about how I will use it to think about next semester!

Responses to end of semester feedback:
47 responses
(if numbers don't add up, it is because some people wrote more than one answer per question)

How much experience/knowledge of blogging did we have before the semester?

• No experience with blogs before the class (29)
  
• Heard of blogs and/or had read someone else's blog (10)
  
• Quite a bit of experience--they had their own personal blogs or had used them in a class (8)
  

This makes me even more excited that you reported you felt comfortable with blogs at the end of the semester and also makes me appreciate how much you all collaborated with each other.

How comfortable do we feel now?

• Wow. Everyone said that they feel comfortable reading and managing their blogs! Three people did say that they were careful about what they posted since blogs are so public. Many people said that they knew what they wanted to keep learning--sometimes these responses were technical, sometimes they were more about becoming familiar with other blogs and the genre in general.
  

I hope you all keep blogging and "learning along the way". I'm still subscribed to all of your blogs, so you may hear from me!

Will you continue to use blogs? If so, in what capacity?

• Yes, they will continue to use blogs in these ways: (35)
  
• Incorporating them in their classrooms (20). Two of those students mentioned bookclubs specifically.
  
• Reading and sharing ideas (general) (7)
  
• Communicating with parents (5); other teachers (4); and with friends (4)
  
• Finding books/researching (3)
• Adding to a professional portfolio (1)

• In the future as teachers, but weren't planning on doing it soon. (3)
  
• Maybe, but didn't elaborate (3)
  
• No. (6) Although everyone said they would do it if assigned for another class! Several people said it was because they didn't enjoy blogging and that it took too much time.

I hope I hear about how this goes! One topic we didn't talk about is that you may be working in communities where blogging is common and you may work with people who are new to the technology.

What was gained by including blogs in the class?

• Wider range of ideas were shared in the class. (39) People talked about four factors that we gained with the blogs: people had time to think about ideas before responding, we had more time to communicate since we weren't bounded by the class session, and that it was easier for shy people to get in on the conversation. The number of people who said that blogs enriched participation convinces me that they were valuable in the class. At the same time, I need to think about creating a classroom community in which more people feel comfortable participating!
  
• Good preparation for teaching (4)
  
• Project helped them work through a fear of technology. (2) Me too! :-)
  
• Blogging felt "safer" than face to face conversation when talking about serious subjects. (2)
  
• Each of the following was positive: development of artifact, access to information, gained a new literacy skill, found resources, and served as a record of the course. (1 each)
  
• Nothing was gained (1)
  

What was difficult and/or potentially lost?

• Nothing was hard (14)
  
• Remembering to read or post was hard (8)
• Number of blogs was unwieldy (7); several people said that it meant that people weren't responding to each other enough because of this. I agree. I hope the restructuring at the end of the semester helped with this.
  
• Blogs can't be substitute for face to face discussion (6)
  
• Coming up with ideas to write about was difficult (5) You know I struggled with this! You all had so many good ideas in class, which I wanted you to see as legitimate to write about!
  
• Workload/time (4)
  
• Technology was confusing (2)
• Blogging sometimes felt forced, so we didn't get depth (2)
• Fear (1)
  

Would you recommend continuing to use blogs as part of the course?

• Yes, continue using blogs (42)
  
• No, don't use blogs (3)
• Undecided (1)
• Make it optional, maybe for extra credit (1)

If so, are there any changes you think I should make?

• Develop a clear schedule of when people should post (7)
  
• Use prompts (6)
• Require a different mix of posts/comments (3)
• Require more posts (2)
• Require fewer posts (2)
  
• Clarify grading (2): What counts as "a post with substance" To clarify, I meant a focused idea, not necessarily length or elaboration. I emphasized this because I saw some responses like "I agree" without any elaboration. My posts on this blog aren't always a good example of brevity and focus!
  
• Talk about the fact that the general public doesn't have this as part of their lives; require responses; don't require responses; talk more about how to write shorter posts; build in reading author blogs; provide time in class; have a class blog. (1 person each)