During the Learning Intensive you have been provided with access to your own instance of RRU WebSpace powered by WordPress (aka your blog) for you to customize and make your own throughout the program. Through the Learning Intensive you will need to spend some time setting up your WordPress site and giving some thought to the digital presence and digital identity you would like to cultivate as a graduate student. Your blog will be something that you will revise, adapt and iterate as you move through your MA program. As such, your critical academic blogging will be different than perhaps the blogging you are used to or have experienced.
Assignment 1 Focus: Now that you have had the Learning Intensive experience, Assignment 1 asks you to write a 500-700 word reflection in response to the questions: What is climate action leadership and why does it matter? As you reflect on this question, you are being asked to reflect on what you have learned thus far, how different activities and resources during the Learning Intensive have informed your thinking about climate action leadership, and how you might apply this learning moving forward.
What is Critical Reflection?
Critical reflective is about meaning making. Critical thinking and writing can support your ongoing integration of learning, help you uncover and challenge bias and assumptions, and link scholarship, personal experience, and practice. Such reflections can also help you identify new questions that you wish to consider as you move forward on your learning journey. Critical reflection is NOT summarizing, or journalling. When you critically reflect you draw on your own experiences, the course material (and other relevant resources) to examine your own thoughts, assumptions, and understanding of a specific topic.
Purpose of this Assignment: The goal of this specific critical reflection is to (1) to engage in critical reflection about climate action leadership; (2) foster the growth of your critical thinking and writing skills (e.g., building persuasive arguments using claims, evidence, and analysis); and (3) develop skills in the creation and use of a blog in the context of an academic program. This assignment responds in particular to the program learning outcomes 2, 4, and 5.
Structuring your blog: You will have an opportunity to submit a draft of the blog to moodle for further blog feedback prior to submitting your final. All academic writing benefits from a well thought out outline which helps you organize your thinking and start structuring and organizing that thinking into a logical, coherent structure for your written response. Prompts such as the “What” “So What” and “Now what” structure can help you structure your initial critical reflections. Think of this blog post and subsequent ones as an opportunity to analyse and synthesize as you make connections between theory, practice, and experience. For more on critical reflections we recommend you review this short video from the RRU Writing Center.
Academic blogging requires critical reflection and critical thinking and writing, a process of analyzing and synthesizing ideas, making links between theory and practice, and in the case of MACAL, applying a transdisciplinary lens to your thinking. This resource on Critical Academic Blogging may be helpful to you and don’t forget to explore the resources on the RRU Writing Centre as well, specifically around creating a detailed outline for your writing assignments, specifically the planning with PowerPoint section. You may also consider using creative commons licensing on your blog but that is optional. For more information on Creative Commons licensing see the resource provided on the MACAL program webpage.
Assessment: Your blog posts will need to evidence critical thinking and critical reflection on the topic, a transdisciplinary orientation, and thoughtful academic writing (e.g., grammar, clarity, coherence, logical flow). It should be evidence informed, demonstrate your ability to analyze and synthesize ideas. References are not included in the assignment word count. See the assessment criteria below for the detailed marking rubric.
Weight: 15%
Draft Blog for feedback: Submit a Word Document version to the Moodle Dropbox. Instructors will provide feedback on the Word version. This is optional and will not be marked.
Final Blog for marking: Submit a Word Document of this final version to the Final Blog Moodle Dropbox and post to your blog.
GD/MA CAL Program Blog Assessment Criteria and Marking Rubric:
Student blog posts provide critical academic reflection where you are analyzing and synthesizing as you make connections between theory and practice. Given the open learning nature of the program, you may also consider using creative commons licensing on your blog but that is optional. The program blog assessment rubric will guide the expectations of how your course blogs are crafted, however each instructor will set their specific expectations related to the content and the word count.
| Assessment Criteria | Excellent (A+ to A) | Proficient (A- to B+) | Satisfactory (B to B-) | Unsatisfactory (F) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Content 40% |
Blog post is thoughtful and original, demonstrating insight and critical reflection. Relevant terms & concepts are identified and defined | Blog post is somewhat thoughtful and may include some original ideas and evidence of critical reflection. Relevant terms & concepts are mostly identified and defined | Blog post provides minimal insight and evidence of critical reflection. Relevant terms & concepts are not clearly identified or defined. | Blog post provides no evidence of insight or critical reflection. Concepts and ideas are neither relevant nor clearly defined. |
| Blog post provides a clearly articulated, focused point of view/thesis, and these ideas and arguments are effectively supported with examples, hyperlinks to relevant resources and websites. | Blog post provides a specific point of view that could be more focused & clearly articulated. Ideas and arguments are mostly supported with examples, hyperlinks to resources and websites, some of which may not be as relevant as they could be. | Blog post presents a point of view that is not always clearly articulated; while examples and links provide some support, this is not always consistent. | Blog post does not provide a point of view, or if one is implied, it is neither clearly articulated or adequately focused. There is a lack of supporting examples, links, or those that are provided do not add value or are not clearly relevant. | |
| Focus of the content of the blog post is clearly relevant to the learning outcomes/foci of the MACAL/GDCAL program and there is clear evidence of transdisciplinary thinking (patterns & relationships between multiple disciplines/theories). | Focus of the content of the blog post are mostly relevant to the learning outcomes/foci of the MACAL/GDCAL program and there is clear although inconsistent evidence of transdisciplinary thinking (patterns & relationships between multiple disciplines/theories). | Focus of the content of the blog post is at times relevant to the learning outcomes/foci of the MACAL/GDCAL program transdisciplinary thinking is not well evidenced. | Focus of the content of the blog post is not relevant to the learning outcomes/foci of the MACAL/GDCAL programs, nor is there evidence of transdisciplinary thinking. | |
| Composition 35% |
Blog post is well written, creative, and designed to stimulate dialogue and commentary. | Blog post is well written and there is some evidence of creativity, and some elements are designed to stimulate dialogue and commentary. | Blog post is inconsistently written with little evidence of creativity, and only minimal elements that would stimulate dialogue and commentary. | Blog post is poorly written and is unlikely to stimulate dialogue or commentary. |
| Blog post is clearly structured and is well organized to support readers’ understanding and follow main points and sequence of ideas. | Blog post organization is clear but requires more thought and some reworking of sections to support readers’ understanding and help readers follow main points and sequence of ideas. | Blog post organizations requires significant restructuring, including transition statements/phrases. A clearer narrative structure is required to support readers’ understanding of the sequence of ideas. | Blog post is disorganized and fails to provide a clear and coherent narrative. | |
| Style 15% |
Blog post clearly & consistently reflects the author’s voice and the blog style demonstrates a consideration of the intended audience., | Blog post clearly reflects the author’s voice but not consistently, and the blog style itself is inconsistent in relationship to the intended audience. | Blog post is written in a style that either does not make the author’s voice clear, or that does not consistently demonstrate a consideration of the intended audience. | Blog post has no clear voice and does not reflect a consideration of the intended audience. |
| Blog post demonstrates a clear grasp of effective academic writing style and elements (clear, concise, spelling & grammar & punctuation) are correct, evidence of proof reading). | Blog post demonstrates a grasp of effective academic writing style and elements (clear, concise, spelling & grammar & punctuation) evidence errors and lack of consistent proof reading. | Blog post only minimally demonstrates a grasp of effective academic writing style and many elements (clear, concise, spelling & grammar & punctuation) are absent or require proof reading. | Blog post fails to demonstrate a clear grasp of effective academic writing (clear, concise, spelling & grammar & punctuation) with many errors. | |
| Citations/APA 10% |
All citations, media, and objects display appropriate copyright permissions and citations are accurate and consistently provided. | Most citations, media, and objects display appropriate copyright permissions and citations are accurate and consistently provided. | There are many citations, media, and objects that are missing appropriate and/or accurate copyright permissions. | There is minimal to no use of copyright permissions and citations. |
| Blog post includes thoughtful additions of high-quality graphics, multimedia that enhance the narrative and the visual appeal. | Blog post includes some thoughtful additions of graphics and multimedia, but these are not always enhancing the narrative nor the visual appeal (because of quality) | Blog post includes some additions of graphics, multimedia but these are not of good quality and do not consistently enhance the narrative or visual appeal (because of quality). | Blog post does not include additions of graphics, multimedia or those that are included do not enhance the narrative or visual appeal (because of quality or relevance). |
Dr. Robin Cox & Dr. Elizabeth Childs
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.