First Comments from Students

This is exciting. The first student responses to my test assignment are up. The very first comment shows at least two important results in using the blog as an educational tool. First, I can show very targeted, specific images to students related to a subject we are learning in class - in this case it was an animation of a virus infecting a cell - and be pretty sure that every student who does the assignment will actually be looking at the image, paying attention to it, and even thinking about it in terms of the classroom instruction on the topic. Secondly, every student gets to comment on the image and get feedback from me. It's like an individual tutorial.

I have to coach them to use the spellcheck or even compose their comments in a word processor first, then copy & paste into the comments box. I'm sure most of my students who have internet access at home probably are using dial-up, so it would probably be a good idea to compose comments offline, especially when the assignment calls for a more detailed response. At the same time, I have to find the proper balance between nit-picking their grammar/punctuation/etc. or enforcing the etiquette rules and keeping it fun.