General feedback notes to students on Topic 1

Thank you for all your contributions so far. We have very much enjoyed reading them.

If you have not yet submitted Topic 1 work it is now late, and Topic 2 has started! Your individual feedback will be emailed to you shortly. In the meantime, here are some general comments:

Basic information about the structure and expectations of the module is available in the study guide and in the weekly updates posted in the “Module Admin” section of the blog. Our best advice for making your lives easier is to please read them! And also to take note of further information shared on the #UOSM2008 hashtag, questions raised and answered, good practice observed in the work of your colleagues or tutors etc.

Most of you quite correctly decided that the original “digital native” argument has limited value, but it is interesting that the term has caught on in the popular press and you will still find many uncritical references in the media to young people as “digital natives”. Hopefully you now see the danger of relying on the “truth” of any popular online theme without digging a little deeper.

Including relevant pictures or diagrams in your posts is a good thing, but please make sure you have permission to use them – i.e. that they are ones you have taken yourselves or have come from a site such as Photo Pin which has no copyright restrictions. You should always credit the source of your picture.

Try to keep your work focused and avoid repetition – long posts quickly lose the attention of the reader. There is no need to use large amounts of the word limit simply repeating the arguments provided in the initial notes. The key thing is to quickly demonstrate your understanding with a brief review of the topic, but then take the discussion further by commenting on your own experience as a web user, and further examples from your own reading which support the points you make, or demonstrate how the topic is evolving in respect of recent developments.

Keep discussions going! If someone replies to your post, please respond back to them with your thoughts on their comment. Obviously there is a limit to this, most conversations have an end point and there are no prizes for “dragging out” a topic beyond its natural life span…!

Don’t forget to reference your posts as necessary, as with any university work.

People posting late can obviously benefit from the content of the posts of others, but if you are using someone else’s ideas from the group you should specifically acknowledge this. Good practice would be to state something like “I really liked X’s post about Y, and that made me think of Z which adds value to the discussion because…” It will be very evident to markers from the time stamp if people are waiting until the last minute in order to rely too heavily on the work of others, without giving anything back in return. Also, late posters are unlikely to attract many helpful comments on their own work as the main momentum of the group will have moved on.

Make sure your reflective summaries don’t just repeat your original answers to the set question, but instead draw in what you have learned subsequently since reading and responding to the work of others – feel free to highlight specific posts/tweets by your colleagues or tutors that you found useful and why. Don’t forget the advice in the “Reflective Writing” guidelines.

Finally, make sure you check out Olja’s “Tools and Tips ” section of this blog. Feel free to propose your own contributions to this.

You will get an individual feedback sheet by email – don’t forget this Topic 1 is not formally graded but please adjust your approach if necessary as suggested in the feedback for your contributions to Topics 2 – 5.