Getting Started with Students

Once you’ve committed yourself to creating blogs with students, where do you begin? For me this was the hardest step of all. I had a few nagging questions that needed to be explored. First, I had only recently learned to blog myself. How would I demonstrate how to do it when I barely knew how to do it myself? Second, I was unsure about how I would assess the students.  Would blogging be an appropriate assessment task for the course?  Third, at times motivating college students isn’t easy. Could blogging even capture their interest to want to learn psychological theory?  

In the end, I figured that my students probably knew more about using technology than I did considering the amount of time they are on their laptops, cell phones and engaged with social media. I found out that many of them even had their own blogs at one time. So, I decided that this activity would be a true collaborative one where we shared ideas and learned from each other as a group. I would design the blogging activity so that students maximized their textbook and other resources in applying the outcomes through the blogs they create. Instead of myself as “sage on the stage” I would use a more learner centered approach.  Applying the best practices of assessment would ensure that the assignment was well structured and the criteria clearly outlined for the students.  Aligning the goals of the assignment with the learning outcomes was essential.

Once I had resolved my initial issues, I created a list of steps that I followed to help me plan and implement this assignment with the students. Watch for my next blog that outlines these steps…:)