Due Date: Throughout the semester, but no later than Wednesday, May 12, 8:00am
Points: 14

During the course of the semester, students are expected to participate in class discussions using the blogs found on classes|kenleyneufeld. It is recommended that students make a minimum of one post and/or several comments in each week of the semester in order to reach the total of fourteen points. Most likely you will post much more than this, but that is the minimum requirement. It is critical that the criteria listed below be followed explicitly in every post and/or comment.

A post is new content posted on one of your blogs. It could be that I ask you to create a new post on your blog to discuss an idea or theme. For this class, blog posts should be at least 300 words (and probably longer). Blog posts will be worth 1-point each.

A comment is new content posted in response to a blog post or other comments from a blog post. For this class, comments should be at least 75 words. Comments will be worth .5 points each.

The criteria for posting and commenting is as follows.

  • Minimum word length should be followed (min. 300 words for posts and 75 words for comments)
  • Ideas should be original content, but linking and commenting to others is appropriate
  • Indicate paragraphing by skipping a line between ideas. Avoid excessively large “chunks” of text online for the sake of readability. At the same time, don’t break up your text willy-nilly. Your paragraphing should reflect breaks in ideas or represents sub-points.
  • Don’t be afraid to disagree and to challenge each other, but always be civil. Don’t insult others or dismiss their views. When you realize that you heartily disagree, a good strategy is to be an active listener: that is, summarize what you “hear” others saying – without being sarcastic.
  • Use emoticons (little smiley faces and versions thereof) if you think your remarks will be taken the wrong way – that is, in a hurtful, dismissive, or insulting way
  • Clearly written communication is appreciated, including the use of spell check. A good tip is to write your message in a word processor first and then copy/paste the message into the blog.
  • Our goal is to generate substantive dialogue.

It is the student’s responsibility to stay current and know how much commenting and blogging is required. Here are a couple tips:

  • Look for blogs created by you classmates under the Community tab on the site home page.
  • The site home page includes activity for the entire site on the left column and also recent posts in the middle column.

Important Note: Comments and questions posted in the discussion groups (for example, Site Help) and on your wire are not graded and therefore do not need to follow the criteria above.