Edublogging Assessment: Embedded/Anonymous EduBlogging

Both the Anonymous and Embedded bloggers are learners working within a group. These bloggers thrive on interaction with others, yet the difference between them is that embedded bloggers interact out in the open, whereas anonymous bloggers’ personal profiles are shielded.

Communicative competence, interacting with others, and the act of performance and disclosure, all involve the development of specialized skills and attitudes. How to present ideas clearly and provide feedback to others are essential skills.

The embedded blogger needs to be assessed by peers as well as through self-assessment – there would be a tasks/skills checklist for bloggers to monitor/track their learning. Because of the public nature of the exchanges, specific rules of conduct must be discussed and agreed upon by participants. Creation and propagation of memes, corrdination and organizing of learning celebrations, group projects requiring learning to work with one another, group presentations, discussions, are all part of the learning activities that will be assessed. Learners will determine the nature of assessment, with the teacher acting as expert advisor, observer, and discussion moderator.

The anonymous blogger will be assessed in many ways like the embedded blogger, except that there will be no peer assessment. The self-assessment, along with the assessment of posts during discussions and debates, will require learners to be pulled out of their comfort zones, and take on new roles they might not feel comfortable with. These learners require guidance by their teacher, such as rubrics, and the teacher engages the learners in discussions as an equal, setting the quality of interaction through modelling expert discourse. How the teacher moderates, enagages others, supports ideas, argues points, act as a model for engagement for the learners to imitate.
The assessment for the anonymous blogger, then, will consist of a summative self-assessment and exchange of private emails with their instructor after the anonymous blogging has ended.