Here’s what I’m thinking with my Media class. They’ve been posting research to a class Web log on a variety of group topics in preparation for a presentation in a couple of weeks. In addition to the 15-20 minute stand-up (during which they need to use three forms of media), they need to submit a paper that does an overview of the material they present and some further analysis and conclusions. I want one paper from each group. What I want is for each group to compose its essay collaboratively within the/a Web log. The purpose is to be able to see each person’s contribution to the task.
Now, I think there are a couple of ways to go about this. The first is to have them work in the current class space and do revisions through the discussion group feature. This way, the initial post would be simply a brainstorm or summary of the information, and then the posts that follow would chronicle the thinking and composing of the piece.
The other way is to create separate Web logs for each group just for this purpose and make them all Content Editors. (I don’t want to make them all CEs in the class Web log.)That way I could tell each student to use a different color to edit/revise on the drafts instead of doing so in different posts. They would still have to start over with fresh drafts at some point. Not sure if that makes it easier for them, but I think it would be pretty interesting for me to do it that way.
Either way, the bottom line is that I want to document their participation in the process. Not that it should take away from face to face work on the essays, but that at least some of it, a good portion of it, should be visible within the Web log. Feedback welcomed.
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