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: 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.
For your reference, here is an additional resource on critical reflective writing for academia, a resource on academic blogging, and some examples of academic blog to get you started – no doubt you will find more resources as you go. 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 under Program Documents (an ongoing source for guidance on specific program policies, orientations, etc).
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: 10%
Submit: Post your reflection on your blog. Also submit a Word Document version to the Moodle Dropbox. Instructors will provide feedback and marks on the Word version, allowing you the opportunity to update your blog (as you wish) to incorporate their feedback. This is optional and will not be marked.
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. For more information on Creative Commons licensing see the resource posted on the MACAL program WordPress site and creativecommons.org. This 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. Don’t forget to explore the resources on the RRU Writing Centre as well, specifically those focused on creating a detailed outline. o
NOTE: In order to stay connected to each other via the course blog and your own WordPress blogs – be sure to set up your Feedly (see the program website for resources on setting up Feedly and OPML files – You will need to add these for each course).
| Learning Outcome/Assessment Criteria | Excellent (A+ to A) | Proficient (A- to B+) | Satisfactory (B to B-) | Unsatisfactory (F) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citation and APA format | All citations and APA format are correct. | Most citations and APA formatting are correct. | Some citations and APA formatting are correct. | Few citations and APA formatting are correct. |
| Style, Grammar, Spelling | All aspects of grammar and spelling are correct. | Most aspects of grammar and spelling are correct. | Some aspects of grammar and spelling are correct. | Significant spelling and grammar errors. |
| Transdisciplinary Thinking | Relevant terms, concepts are identified and defined; presentation/discussion of same shows evidence of transdisciplinary thinking including: drawing from multiple disciplines identifying and/or creating patterns, abstract thinking; finding the relationships between and amongst ideas/concepts; modeling (creating physical representations of ideas/concepts; playing with ideas; synthesis or transferring ideas from different domains and areas of life into new combinations; embodied thinking (e.g., empathy) | Relevant terms and concepts are mostly identified and defined and discussed but do not consistently reflect the transdisciplinary nature of the focus. | Relevant terms and concepts are somewhat identified and defined and the transdisciplinary nature of these is inconsistent or missing. | Relevant terms and concepts are not identified or defined and the transdisciplinary nature of these is missing. |
| Organisation and flow | Blog post begins with an overall summary and flows seamlessly using section transitions as needed. Blog post is clearly structured and is well organized to support understanding and follow main points and sequence of ideas. | Blog post organization is askew with sections not proceeding in an organized, logical pattern. The reader can periodically follow the main points of the argument or sequence of ideas. | Blog post organization needs significant improvement. Missing transitions lead to blocky sections. Or blog post is written as bullets or other non-prose style. It is difficult for the reader to follow the main points of the argument or sequence of ideas. | Blog post is not organized in a way that the reader can make sense of the author’s position or arguments. |
| Position statement | The author’s overall position is clearly stated in the first paragraph. | Position is unclearly stated. | Position is both unclear and confusing. | Blog post does not include a position. |
| Content | Blog post is thoughtful and original. It demonstrates excellent development of each idea and focuses on relevant details and a synthesis of pertinent research surrounding core concepts of climate action, resilience and reconciliation.
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Blog post is somewhat thoughtful and may include some original ideas. Blog post contains adequate development of ideas, but will benefit from more research/support and from more intentional, synthesized thought around the core concepts of climate action, resilience and reconciliation. | The blog post has some development but lacks sufficient discussion or contains irrelevant details that do not yet develop a clear sense of purpose. Additional support for relevant ideas is required; as is greater evidence of synthesis of thinking around the core concepts of climate action, resilience and reconciliation. | The blog post needs more details on every level. It lacks relevance and originality and does not address the assignment requirements and/or is missing a connection to core concepts of climate action, resilience and reconciliation. |
| Analysis | Statements are backed by relevant evidence from the literature surrounding core concepts of climate action, resilience and reconciliation. Information is analyzed, discussed, summarized and applied in context, not just stated. | Supporting information is summarized but not synthesized/connected with other perspectives on the core concepts of climate action, resilience and reconciliation.
Synthesis is minimal or lacking. |
Supportive information is stated and not summarized or backed by supporting evidence from the literature examined on core concepts of climate action, resilience and reconciliation. | Information is stated but lacks relevance and connection to the position statement. Statements are not backed by evidence from the literature examined on core concepts of climate action, resilience and reconciliation. |