Evaluating blog posts

I like to incorporate student blogging in my courses. It allows students to survey a topic, reflect on what they have been reading about and link to those sources, practice their writing, and ideally, make some connections to other people with similar interests. Students can blog in groups, pairs or individually. I devote 10 to 15% of the course grade to this element.

What is the best way to grade a blog? Should it be graded at all? Assuming you buy into the usefulness of student blogging at all, then I think you have to attach some marks to it - students do not have time to work on them otherwise. If you're wondering about arguments for and against the value and desirability of requiring students to blog, check out this article by Stephen Downes.

I have seen numerous grading rubrics, and have come up with the following format. I will use this next semester in an intro course and see how it goes. The grade will be determined by which box gets ticked most frequently; "meeting expectations" in all would receive a grade between 60-73%.

Criterion	Fails to Meet Expectations	Meets Expectation	Exceeds Expectations
A minimum of 8 blog posts, 3 comments on other blogs, and replies to any comments on student’s own blog.
Writing is clear, well-structured, error-free, and effectively communicates ideas. Blog posts are labeled or tagged appropriately, including author’s name. Links are embedded.
Content – Blog posts are informative, provide sufficient detail, survey the topic, connect to appropriate links (i.e. scholarly, credible), and provide accurate information.
Creativity – Blogs are well-laid out; may include embedded images, video; include blogroll or other widgets/gadgets.