You may have noted that your blog posts, graded collectively rather than individually, constitute 30 percent of your grade in this course (see the syllabus, under “Deadlines and Grades”).

We’ll be winding down our blog posts—expect no more than one per week from here on out—so it’s time for you to take a careful look at your posts from throughout the semester.

I will assess your blog posts in two ways:

1. I will look at the number and timeliness of your posts, as well as the apparent effort you put into them.  I read all your blog posts as you made them, and this past week, I went through the entire blog to see who is missing posts. I’m trusting that you each know which posts you are missing; if you don’t know, send me an e-mail, and I’ll let you know.
2. I will evaluate the quality of your posts. I will be using this rubric (.docx).

Some of you will undoubtedly be wondering how I will balance #1 and #2 above when it comes to calculating your final grade. Honestly, there’s no magical formula, so I’ll give you a couple of examples. Let’s say by the end of the course you are supposed to have published 12 posts. Please note these are hypothetical scenarios and not based on any actual individual students.

Student A turned in 10 posts of mediocre quality. When I asked for 350 words, she wrote 200. She didn’t spell-check her posts, and it’s clear she didn’t finish all of the the reading because her posts regularly reveal gaps in her understanding of the concepts. Her posts tend to repeat information from the readings rather than expressing new or original ideas while using the reading as evidence. Her work feels like a first draft. She rarely commented on other students’ posts. Student A is likely to get a C, C-, or D+, depending on some variables, such as whether she showed improvement over the course.

Student B turned in 8 posts, but they were detailed, exceptionally well-written, and consistently expressed high-quality ideas. Each post obviously had been not just proofread, but thoughtfully revised; the posts do not represent her very first thoughts on the topic. She wrote comments that, as was made clear by the ensuing discussion, furthered other students’ thinking about a topic. When called for, she created or selected images with care. Student B, even though she wrote fewer posts than Student A, is likely to get an A- or B+, again depending on other variables.

I will begin formally assessing your blog posts on April 16. Until that date, you’re welcome to revise and polish your blog posts and catch up on any you may have missed (though, of course, late posts won’t count as much as timely ones). WordPress lets me know when you originally published a post and when you revised it, so please don’t worry that revising a post will make it appear late if you originally submitted it on time.