Guest Blogging
One way to build an online community is to invite another staff member or even a volunteer parent to guest blog on your Learning Management System via the Forums. Ask your guest blogger to provide some insight into the topic but most of all ask your guest blogger to provide encouragement and praise to your students.
Positive feedback from an external source can often provide further extrinsic motivation to write, create and publish.
We all know that motivation has a direct impact on how our student’s learn. Motivation can increase a student’s energy levels considerably and drive them to complete their goals. Through adding further value to the action of writing online, we can increase the perceptions of this task. We can also demonstrate how writing relates to real life situations.
How often have students traditionally only had written feedback from the so called ‘linear source’ of the instructor? The opportunity to offer a guest blogger in your classroom, provides student’s with an alternative model of writing and responses.
Success in our classroom
Two teachers in the department guest blogged on each others class discussion forums. This was a most successful exercise that demonstrated teacher teamwork as well as provided another writing model for the students.