1. Proposed project title (this can change later)

Weblogs, wikis, and other social webtools as an aid to self- and peer- assessment in the technology classroom.

2. Proposed project idea(s): what you want to achieve - list the main objectives

These are initial ideas and will develop as you progress

• Investigate the possibilities for formative assessment, in particular peer- and self- assessment, of weblogs and wikis
• Develop methods to encourage scaffolding and supported learning using new publishing technologies

Using the private yet inherently public aspect of blogs to allow pupils to explain their understanding of ideas with the responsibility that other are going to read what they write.

3. Proposed project methodology and activities: how you plan to achieve you objectives - list the main steps

• Develop a programme of work whereby pupils engage in discussion and generation of ideas/hypotheses followed by writing up/illustrating their thoughts on a personal weblog
• Kick start a piece of work with a class along the lines above after a session introducing weblogs esp. the social aspect of them. Aim to generate interest from them in it being not just a tool for school work but something they might want to use anyway, like bebo.
• Encourage them to read each other’s blogs by including time in the lesson, and then comment. This is where a piece of work that can be individual (design) may be more suitable than a piece of work with definite answers (circuit analysis).

Perform some sort of analysis to show any difference between these and more traditional classroom activities – comparison between expected and actual grades for a project?

4. Proposed timetable: fill in the gaps and change the timeslots if you need to

Before June 3rd Meet your supervisor and discuss your ideas

June – Sept …Ideally a literature review followed by generating plans for carrying out the investigation.

Sept – Nov…School Placement; school permitting begin investigation, else begin it after school

Nov – Feb 07…writing drafts, while investigation is ongoing. Continuing to guide discussion on blogs – hopefully pupils will not just use them for this project and will catch the bug!

Feb 2nd Submit interim report by today

Feb – April…Final drafts

May 2006 Final submission and presentations