Assessments of blogs can be a unique assignment to grade. I follow the following criteria for issuing grades:
1. Relevant posting that presents insightful perspective
2. Clearly responds to only one prompt or original post at a time
3. Meets deadline for completion of posts
4. Has obviously been spell & grammar checked before posting
5. If a minimum word length is specified, it is within 20 words of the goal
6. Any references not belonging to the blogger include an MLA citation
7. Includes an original title for the response
My goal for blogging is a reflection of best thinking while reinforcing writing practices from my classroom. The best suggestion, I can give you, is to decide what the purpose of your blogging is and build your assessment around that. Additionally, keep in mind what you are covering in class and use this as a means to reinforce those skills.
I start my students out blogging slowly. They begin with email responses to me, which then lead to blogging responses, and then to the creation of their own personal websites with the responses and more.
