I build a blogging assignment into almost all my courses as I believe it is an excellent tool to encourage critical and reflexive thinking, while also forcing students to write. There are always a few students who complain bitterly, citing how blogging is useless, irrelevent, stupid, a waste of time or that it has nothing to do with course content.
It is funny how many of these students that complain so vehemently spend most of their class time on Facebook, Twitter, or BBM. While there are always a few of the student blogs that barely meet the weekly posting criteria of one post per week and do not delve any deeper than a discussion of their weekend or a cursory overview of the class lecture; there are always a number of other students who really take to blogging and write interesting, creative and insightful posts which inspire me to incorporate the blogging assignment again next term.
It is funny how many of these students that complain so vehemently spend most of their class time on Facebook, Twitter, or BBM. While there are always a few of the student blogs that barely meet the weekly posting criteria of one post per week and do not delve any deeper than a discussion of their weekend or a cursory overview of the class lecture; there are always a number of other students who really take to blogging and write interesting, creative and insightful posts which inspire me to incorporate the blogging assignment again next term.
So this term I have two groups of students blogging. My fourth year seminar class in Cultural Management and my second year Marketing class. However, it is one of the students in my Marketing class that spurred me on to take the time to start blogging again. Not that I have not wanted to blog as I have really missed it - but between teaching, commuting and trying to develop my dissertation proposal - something had to give. That something has been blogging and exercise!
One of the students in my class came to see me to complain about his grade on a group project. Not the groups grade - just his individual grade. I knew the student was coming to see me, so I reviewed the group's project paper in advance. Unfortunately, the group missed the point of the assignment, had paraphrased vast sections of the paper without acknowledging the source, and quoted U.S. taxation regulations on a project that focused on a Canadian non-profit organization.
I went over the paper in detail with the student, explaining why they received the grade they did. I attempted to show him how they could have improved their paper, why it is not only good practice but imperative that they cite any and all sources, which led into the requisite discussion regarding the serious ramifications associated with plagiarism. I concluded by explaining why U.S tax law has absolutely no bearing on Canadian non-profit organizations. The student replied that he still did not think he deserved to lose marks and reminded me that I did not specifically state anywhere in the instructions for the assignment, in class or in the course syllabus that they could not use U.S. examples when talking about Canadian organizations.
It still surprises me that many students seem to feel that they start with an automatic 100% regardless of the quality of their work, or the effort expended, and that somehow it is our responsibility as instructors to justify why we have unfairly taken marks away from them.
So, I replied to this student that part of a college education is to learn to think. To which he replied that he is not paying good money to learn to think, it is my responsibility as his teacher to tell him exactly what he needs to do and what he needs to know.
It still surprises me that many students seem to feel that they start with an automatic 100% regardless of the quality of their work, or the effort expended, and that somehow it is our responsibility as instructors to justify why we have unfairly taken marks away from them.
So, I replied to this student that part of a college education is to learn to think. To which he replied that he is not paying good money to learn to think, it is my responsibility as his teacher to tell him exactly what he needs to do and what he needs to know.
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