GDW Blog: Jerry Kane on “Wisdom” � Mercurial Mentions in IT

GDW Blog: Jerry Kane on “Wisdom” � Mercurial Mentions in IT

I think this has been a genuinely interesting conversation around the structure of the class.  The fact that you guys are engaging at this level suggests that you’ve got the hang of this “Wisdom of Crowds/Web 2.0″ stuff.  As an aside, I have been overwhelmingly pleased at the overall level of quality of blog posts.  I admit that I thought it was a bit of a gamble to introduce this requirement, but I think it has really added to the class.

So, I have been thinking about whether and why bonus points might be effective (incidentally, I am not particularly committed to it, it’s just worked in situations in the past).  Here’s why I think they might work.

1) It changes the audience.  With the professor giving the grades, you have an audience of 1 (me) with everyone else overhearing.  My fear is that the blog posts would become very academic, but not very interesting.  So, my hope is that the bonus points also make you think about what your classmates would enjoy.

2) It provides immediate feedback.  When you know what types of blog posts are likely to get rewarded, you are more likely to model on the successful posts.  Since I can’t grade until the end of the semester (and I’m glad I don’t, because my standards would have been way too low), students would have no guidance.

That said, I wonder whether it’s the transparency, not the bonus points, that create the desired effect.  What’s unusual about this educational model is that all the deliverables (save the exams) are public to other students.  Thus, you see what other students are doing and raise your own performance to match.  So, is it the bonus points or the transparency that has resulted in the strong in-class blogosphere?

I also wonder if its something about the blog platform itself.  Last year, I used a common class-wide blog that was interesting, but not nearly as high-quality as what is happening in this class.  Might it be that because you have an independent voice and virtual presence associated with you that you put more time and work into it?

Of course, I didn’t offer bonus points last year either….