thomas leverett weblog

survey on blogs & chat

My high-level writing class has been a class I've been very proud of for several reasons. First, they helped me learn chat, and how to use it in class. In this case I really feel more like a student than a teacher. Second, they made awesome papers about Wal-Mart, and, as I walked the fine line between telling them how I feel (& finding them dutifully parroting me) vs. truly allowing them to express themselves, I was proud to observe that they really did have a range of interesting opinions and were willing to publish them; we as a program have been publishing our papers for many terms now.

The following survey asked them honestly about their feelings about several aspects of writing class but most specifically about blogging and chatting. I added the numbers to the questions afterward. I asked them to rate using the following:

***********
5=strongly agree
4=agree
3=no feeling/agree & disagree
2=disagree
1=strongly disagree
0=don't know
***********

1. 51/12 (4.25) I learned how to write a summary.
2. 50/12 (4.17) I learned how to write an essay.
3. 48/12 (4.00) I learned grammar in this class.
4. 45/12 (3.75) I learn more grammar by correcting my writing, than by an overt grammar class.
5. 49/11 (4.45) I learned about plagiarism.
6. 55/12 (4.58) I learned about quoting, paraphrase and citation.
7. 54/12 (4.50) Knowing about plagiarism, quoting, paraphrase and citation is useful information in academic classes.
8. 50/12 (4.17) I learned how to present a research paper well on paper.
9. 51/12 (4.25) Making research papers well is an important skill in academic classes.
10. 52/12 (4.33) I learned how to put writing on a weblog.
11. 48/12 (4.00) Using weblogs is a useful skill.
12. 50/12 (4.17) I learned how to make links.
13. 45/11 (4.09) Making links on weblogs is a useful skill.
14. 42/12 (3.50) I read comments that others make on my weblog.
15. 36/12 (3.00) I often make comments on others' weblogs.
16. 41/11 (3.73) I like having my writing seen in public on the web.
17. 37/12 (3.08) I would rather not show my writing in public on the web.
18. 38/11 (3.45) I consider the web less important than a written paper.
19. 36/12 (3.00) I consider the web more important than a written paper.

20. 31/8 (3.88) I like the class chat.
21. 31/9 (3.44) I'm too shy to use the chat much.
22. 26/9 (2.89) I got on the class chat a lot.
23. 22/8 (2.75) I didn't get on the chat much.
24. 30/8 (3.75) It was easy to use with Tapped In.
25. 29/8 (3.63) It's easy to read quickly.
26. 29/8 (3.63) It's easy to understand emoticons ^^
27. 31/8 (3.88) It's fun to use chat words (do u agree?)
28. 29/8 (3.63) It's easy to jump in and say something.
29. 24/7 (3.43) I learned interesting things in chat sessions.
30. 28/8 (3.50) I think it's good for my reading.
31. 28/8 (3.50) I think it's good for my writing.
32. 30/8 (3.75) I think it's good for my fluency.
33. 28/7 (4.00) 14 people is too many for one chat.
34. 24/7 (3.43) Tapped In people were helpful to me.
35. 30/8 (3.75) Chat will be necessary for my life.
36. 34/8 (4.25) I will need to be able to chat in English for my future.
37. 33/8 (4.13) It's important to become better at chat in English.
38. 29/9 (3.22) I learned to copy & paste on chat.
39. 29/8 (3.63) Using a chatspace is a useful skill.
40. 28/9 (3.11) Some people are impolite in chat.
41. 29/9 (3.22) It should be more controlled.
42. 29/9 (3.22) Chat assignments were too hard.
43. 27/7 (3.86) I was able to finish my chat assignments.

-People who answered 4 or 5 for #23 were asked to skip to #35; two did but a third chose 4 and did not skip.
-The moderation of students is shown by how close answers are to 3; in fact, one student circled 3 for everything (another circled 4 for everything - there goes the assumption that they read every question carefully)
-For calculation purposes, 0 is considered the same as no answer; it is not counted, but it is not divided either. This accounts for the disparity in the number of people who apparently answered each question. That and the fact that three people apparently didn't see the back page. And, clearly, two students either weren't there, or failed to hand in the survey to the right place. A variation on the "all threes," I guess.
-More later on the results. Thank you, EAP2!

Labels: chat, weblogs

posted by tom @ 8:00 PM