Discussions
Look at some of the student responses at http://ehsestworldhistory.blogspot.com/. How would you evaluate the quality of the discussion? Try to be as specific as possible.
NOTE: You do NOT need to respond to a peer on this one.
posted by Tanya Judd Pucella @ 6:52 AM
11 Comments:
Nothing can replace face to face discussion. While these students seem to be very thoughtful, few posted more than the required 2 responses-one to the question and one to a peer's comment. Also, there is very little disagreement between the students, which doesn't give much to talk about or reason for more than 2 responses.
I think that the discussions vary in level of response. Some students put a great deal of effort into the responses, whereas others seemed to just give a surface answer, or simply read what others were saying, change the words around a little bit and that was their response. Some of the discussion was interesting and thought provoking and I liked the students that responded with their reaction to reading their peer's comments.
Actually, I was impressed with most of the responses. Honestly, I expected many to be less than acceptable. However, was the whole class participating? What about students without home access to computers or internet? How do you keep everyone involved? But overall I was impressed with the responses your questions drew out of students. Possibility the anonymity of the blog allows for shy/introverted students to get their ideas out there.
I think the quality of the discussion was alright--not great but not horrible. I think that much more could be said, and I kind of get the idea that some students just read some of their peers' responses to formulate ideas for their own. This might have caused the lack of differing opinion and increased discussion.
I think that discussion in the classroom has a better quality because students get immediate feedback and the discussion might see a lot of different opinions/sides to an issue. However, Pam did make a great point that blogs may help shy students share their ideas. But this could also be done on an online instant messenger in order to get immediate feedback. Screennames don't have to reveal identity.
I believe that the responses were good. However, I still favor face to face discussion. There might be some students that would not have access to a computer at home. Plus, classroom discussion allows for students to have immediate feedback on their responses. The responses were good though.
I was very impressed by the students answers. They used quotes and citations and really backed up their responses.
I thought it was easy to see the most intelligent students.
I felt that the discussion went well. I think a blog discussion would be great if a teacher was sick or had to miss class, because it allows for the teacher to pose thought provoking questions to their students. Most students supported their answers with facts and quotes nicely. I also liked how some students not only posted their thoughts but also supported others thoughts on the discussion. I felt that the Machiavelli discussion in particular went well because of the depth of and variety of responses
I thought the quality of the discussion were good. The responses were short with well developed ideas and facts. Keeping the responses short allows others to be able to read the response quickly and respond quicker.
I feel that most of the answers I read were somewhat insightful and the students seemed to understand what they were supposed to be getting at, but I don't think anything is better than an actual face to face discussion because with a blog maybe students only have to respond once so they don't look anymore, but in an actual discussion they will be more involved and put in more of there opinion. Also like Pam said, do all these students have internet access? I would question doing this in some places with low SES or other boundaries.
I think some of the responses are thoughtful and thorough. However, many of the responses were mere repetitions of previous posts (in the Forgive/Forget blog). I think some students were on the verge of ranting and not analyzing the Dahlia Lama’s statement.
The security of the Internet (even though this was not an anonymous blog) definitely allows for more openness, such as the discussion of religion and personal responses, which might not always surface in classroom discussion.
I was impressed with the level of thought and consideration that seemed to be put into the responses. One thing I liked very much was the willingness of students to confront other students...aka "So and So, I disagree...". It seemed very controlled and very appropriate, and these types of things, specifically with adolescents, be taken personally and spin out of control in face to face discussion. While face to face discussion is more enjoyable for most people (myself included) I think blogs allow for some people to truly express how they feel, because they may be intimidated by face to face discussion.
Post a Comment
<< Home