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 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, :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, :45 PMhttp://nerudija.blogspot.com/11:56 PM Peter Chalk migle

Istteffanny’s blog, 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, :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, :22 AMhttp://iiapdc.blogspot.comweek 9 - CVs & application forms – careers4:01 AM Peter ChalkApril 19, :37 PMistteffanny April 22, :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) QAbout 1clear aims3.4 2relevant3.3 3confidence3.3 4useful3.2 5interesting3.1 6fair cw3.2 7effective l&t3.3 8participatory3.5 9helpful3.5 10relevant cw3.2 11adequate feedback3.4 12usable feedback3.3 13received feedback3.2 14useful handouts3.1 15useful online res3.3 16useful library res2.9 17satisfactory lec room3.4 18satisfactory tut room3.3 19IT access3.3 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