Catalan Culture Blog

I have been using a blog with a group of 28 ERASMUS students who take an introductory course in Catalan Culture to help them get the most out of their stay in Barcelona. It's now coming to an end, and I have asked them to report back to me, to tell me what they thought about using a blog as part of the course.

Apart from asking them to share thoughts and information with each other on the blog about anything they felt like, I also posted occasional information about what was happening in the city, using the blog as an online noticeboard, and to tell the students of links to websites that might be interesting for them. Although I didn't use this facility as much as I could have done, I think it was useful.

I also made the weblog the evaluation device. Rather than ask them to give me papers, I asked them to respond to four short assignments by publishing their answers on the weblog.

I have just asked them to respond to a short questionnaire, so I can start to evaluate the use of the blog on this course. Here are the questions I sent them:

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

An Introduction to Catalan Culture

The Blog


Hi ______________ ! Now that we are coming to the end of the course, I would like to know how you feel about this new tool we have been using.

I would be very happy if you would send me the answers to these questions. This is important for me because it’s the first time I have used a weblog in this course and I want to know if it’s worth repeating with next year’s group.

Thanks for your time!

1) Do you think using the weblog on this course was...

a) a very good idea
b) OK
c) not interesting

2) How difficult was it to understand and use?

a) easy
b) difficult at first, but easy later
c) difficult

3) Did you read what the others wrote?

a) always
b) sometimes
c) never

4) Did you write because

a) you wanted to?
b) you had to (ie. Only for the assignments)
c) a mixture

5) Would you recommend using a Blog next year?

a) Yes
b) No
c) I don’t know


6) Which assignment(s) did you think were the most interesting?
a) Place
b) People's opinions
c) Event
d) General Impression


7) Please write any suggestions you have or comments...

Thankyou very much!