Moore Stuff: Handling questions about a specific lecture:
[Responding to Ed Vielmetti's suggestion that he keep one big blog for students in his 1000 student class.] Yeah, this is another way to handle it. I, as course professor, am going to have an “official” course blog that holds announcements, assignments, and the like. I could also have one entry for every class meeting. This way, if a student has a question about the readings or lecture for a specific topic, they could do one of the following (but which?):
In this context, the idea of having one central blog makes a lot of sense. You do need an organizing principle, and one has to remember that students are faced with the dual task of understanding your course and the technology.
Here's one idea. Do the big blog. Have students keep their own blogs. Twice a week republish meritorious posts in the main blog, perhaps by doing a trackback with commentary on your part. Make student blogging part of students' class participation. Create an incentive structure for them around number of posts, links, and references to outside resources. In other words, use the student blogs as possible sources for outside research. It will enrich students and the class.
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