{"id":374,"date":"2019-03-27T09:25:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-27T09:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/t-and-l-exchange\/?p=374"},"modified":"2019-10-04T10:27:44","modified_gmt":"2019-10-04T10:27:44","slug":"from-boning-a-duck-to-reflecting-on-utopia-in-english-literature-using-blogs-in-teaching-learning-and-assessment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/t-and-l-exchange\/2019\/03\/27\/from-boning-a-duck-to-reflecting-on-utopia-in-english-literature-using-blogs-in-teaching-learning-and-assessment\/","title":{"rendered":"From boning a duck to reflecting on utopia in English Literature: Using blogs in teaching, learning and assessment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lauren McCann<\/strong>, Centre for Quality Support and Development\u00a0 \u00a0l.j.mccann@reading.ac.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

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Chloe Houston<\/strong>, School of Literature and Languages\u00a0 \u00a0c.houston@reading.ac.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

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In the 2009 hit film \u2018Julie et Julia\u2019, real life American office worker Julie Powell (Amy Adams) spends a year cooking her way through culinary legend Julia Child\u2019s \u2018Mastering the Art of French Cooking\u2019 and \u2018blogs\u2019 about it. Powell picks up a following and generates a dialogue with her readers who comment on her posts and offer her advice, from how to prepare a lobster to how to bone a duck. Blogs are, of course, more than just about French cooking. There are blogs about all sorts of things. They have never been bigger and have become an increasingly useful tool in education too. In this article, we\u2019ll explore this tool and find out how it\u2019s been used for summative assessment on the BA in English Literature.<\/p>\n

What is a blog?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

A blog – short for web log – is a personal online journal that can include various media and is intended for sharing with others, like an open web-based diary. Most blogs have some kind of commenting system so that people can share their thoughts on entries. Blogs encourage students to clearly express their ideas and engage in social learning.<\/p>\n

In Blackboard Learn, instructors can create and manage blogs from within a course. Enrolled users can then view and create entries and comments in them. They can be used for various purposes and as a tool for both formative and summative assessment, providing an alternative to more traditional methods.<\/p>\n

Case study: Using blogs in English Literature at the University of Reading <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Dr Chloe Houston has used the blog tool this year in a new third year module, \u2018Utopia: The Ideal Society in English and American Literature\u2019. Chloe was interested in diversifying the assessment methods experienced by her students and in moving away from the conventional essay. Aware that after graduation, students could be expected to write in a variety of media for a range of audiences, she was keen to give them the opportunity to write in a different format and share their ideas with their peers.<\/p>\n

In getting ready to use the tool, Chloe did a good deal of preparation which was key to her ultimate success, contacting TEL CQSD for advice and researching academic blogs. She set up a Blackboard blog to be used as 50% of the module\u2019s assessment in which students were expected to post entries during the term. An inexperienced blogger, she made use of a post-graduate student with relevant experience to help prepare the students and provided support materials. Mid-term evaluation suggested students were enjoying working in this way and end of module evaluations confirmed this, with the additional benefit that Chloe found the assessments more varied and interesting to mark! When asked if she had any advice for other staff thinking about trying out blogging, she exclaimed, \u201cImmerse yourself in the blogging culture and just do it!\u201d<\/p>\n

Student Josie Palmer was one of a number who reported positively on her experiences of using the blog tool: \u201cWith students having grown up around technology\u2026 I feel a blog is a positive step forward in the way work is assessed. It\u2019s easy to access and manage, it\u2019s interactive, as you can read other student\u2019s work and comment on what they have written\u2026 This differs greatly from essays\u2026 [The blog] gives students the opportunity to upload work and receive feedback more frequently\u2026 We are given more of an opportunity to explore ideas in different ways, with a simple format, as opposed to putting all the work collected over a term into one final essay. I think that as a format of assessment the blog works brilliantly!\u201d<\/p>\n

In this short video, Chloe discusses her use of the blog in her module:<\/p>\n