Student feedback – consolidating the community of practice using

the Google Blogger

Peter Chalk Faculty of Computing

Context

• work done on ‘soft skills’ modules in Computing

• during the year 2008/9 • the HEO module in Autumn and a similar

follow-up module in Spring • to both Honours degree and Foundation

degree Certificate Level students • on both campuses

Aims

• engage on a continual, formative basis• both face-to-face and online, mutually

supportive • need to develop reflective writing skills • and develop their self-confidence• reinforce a sense of community • postings must be about what was discussed in

the lecture or tutorial.

What we did

• We requested evidence of ‘response to feedback’

• with a minimum of 5 blog posts • about lecture topics, tutorial discusions and a

presentation (2 in Spring) • in the summative assignment essay marking

criteria.

Google Blogger

• We chose the Google Blogger tool for their blogs

• entails a lot of extra management by tutors compared to weblearn

• Google provides a more modern interface• some additional features and • a similar web site building tool that we also

used for the other part of their assignment.

Migle’s blog http://nerudija.blogspot.com/

... Belbin's test.. "Knowing own strengths and weaknesses is useful when forming a team". Most of us already know what our weaknesses are. It's easy to point out someone's weak parts, but a bit more difficult to show an effective way to "get rid" of them.

Just knowing isn't gonna help.posted by migle at 11:56 PM on Nov 30, 2008

Peter Chalk said...Can you suggest one weakness and away of overcoming it? Also,

have you invited your tutor to read your blog?Pete - December 1, 2008 11:41 PM

migle said...i know what are mine, but i think i'm overcoming them very

slowly. in my case i think it's just practice that is needed.December 2, 2008 12:45 PM

Istteffanny’s blog, http://iiapdc.blogspot.com

Wednesday, April 1, 2009 week 9 - CVs & application forms – careers ... I was already told that if I need any job placement I can easily find it there as I've been working there for a while and people know me. Well, today was fun and I'm glad this module is giving us enough opportunities to grow as a

student and as a person. Posted by istteffanny at 4:01 AM - 2 comments:

Peter Chalk said... Can you give an example or two of 'growing as a student'?

Pete - April 19, 2009 12:37 PM istteffanny said...

I think that "grow as a student" is accept your status. Accept that you are a student. Accept the decisions you made and make everyday, but it is not only that. Grow as a student is to hear carefully the message that the tutors try to pass to us and make use of it. That is the main point because the tutor have a lot more experience and knowledge of us students, and we just have to take

that knowledge serious.April 22, 2009 9:22 AM

Google blog issues

• Additional overheads :• 1. Students need to create and manage a

Google account.• 2. The blogs are not on a university server and

the students can delete or withhold them at any time.

• 3. Tutors must keep track of the Blog URLs.

Assessment

• Assessment was final essay citing examples of blogging –blogs assessed indirectly.

• The main function of weekly blogs was for formative feedback and feedforward, to the student and to the lecturer!

• Blog satisfies one aim of the PDP and essay based on the blog, the PDP-related assessment

Success in both completions

(average over 90%) and pass

rate (over 80%)

cc10/f08n eval may09 Average score(out of 4)

Q About 

1 clear aims 3.4 

2 relevant 3.3  

3 confidence 3.3  

4 useful 3.2  

5 interesting 3.1  

6 fair cw 3.2  

7 effective l&t 3.3  

8 participatory 3.5  

9 helpful 3.5  

10 relevant cw 3.2  

11 adequate feedback 3.4  

12 usable feedback 3.3  

13 received feedback 3.2  

14 useful handouts 3.1  

15 useful online res 3.3  

16 useful library res 2.9  

17 satisfactory lec room 3.4  

18 satisfactory tut room 3.3  

19 IT access 3.3 

Success in module evaluation (80% plus on participatory and feedback-related)

Feedback to staff

• benefit for staff - weekly blog effective form of student feedback on module delivery.

• eg commenting on lectures, module organisation and assessment

• “In the tutorial, we did a little bit more of role playing which I enjoy a lot... we were always working together with our colleagues from the group coursework and that is making us very good friends”.

Google Blogger, cf weblearn discussion tool, meant students incorporate design features

that enable personalisation and a more contemporary feel

Conclusions

• Blog/ feedback/ presentation/ feedback/ essay cycle seems to offer a participatory, enjoyable module

• successful results and completion rates• high student satisfaction• satisfies PDP requirement• enables / extends community of practice

beyond (classroom) borders