Save Time When Grading Students' Blogs

In 2014, I have experimented with student blogging and loved it, minus one thing: how long it took me to grade. For each student, I would have to find their blog (typically collected into a Google Form), find the specific post (hopefully I didn't far behind in grading), read it and then find them in the grading system to enter the grade. This became twice as time consuming when I had students commenting on each other's blog as assignments.

I tried having students copying and pasting their comments into a spreadsheet so I could keep better track, but many students forgot, pretended that they wrote a comment, or messed with each other's responses since it was an all access spreadsheet. I even tried doing everything in a spreadsheet where each student had a custom tab, but this was difficult to manage with seven classes and I wanted students to actually be publishing on a blog.

After about three years, I feel like I have finally perfect system for myself: I have students post their blog on Blogger then they take a screenshot to submit on Schoology. This way all of the information I need to grade for blog can be found in one place without me playing detective or students receiving inaccurate grades because my lack of detective skills.

To give you a better understanding, here are some screenshots:

**Note: We use Schoology as our learning management system**

Example of how assignments look to students. 

Example of a submitted student blog. 

Bonus Tip: I have made this process even simpler for myself and my students. Schoology has a rubric function so that students can have a better understanding of what I expect from them and I can grade their blogs much quicker.

Rubric created and embedded in Schoology.

Hopefully this will make blogging with your students that much easier! Let me know if you have any tips or tricks that you use when students are blogging.