What will the final web log look like?

Your final web log (“blog”) will include a series of links and accompanying reviews (“linked reviews”) of websites that relate to your topic. Each group member must do two reviews, one what I call a “major” website and one of what I call a “minor” or alternative websites. Here is the difference:

MAJOR WEBSITES. These are multi-page, in-depth, comprehensive sites posted by major recognizable institutions or organizations. In many cases, these sites might not be specific to your topic, but include global information related to the topic. For instance, if your focus is on a particular type of cancer, then your major website might be the American Cancer Society, or National Institutes of Health Cancer.

MINOR WEBSITES: These may be secondary, small, quirky, alternative, even home-created websites that present an interesting and different perspective, or even case study or example or story, related to the topic. They might even be a blog! For instance, if you are focusing on a particular type of cancer then your minor web site might be one family’s online story about their experience with that type of cancer, or a site that deals with some alternative treatment, such as acupuncture or biofeedback, for that type of cancer.

What must each linked review include?

The linked reviews must be concise, well-written, thoughtful, and based on a thorough familiarity with the website being reviewed, or at least the parts of the website that are relevant to the topic at hand. For major websites, the linked review will include, within its text, sub-links to the particular parts of the site that are relevant to what is being reviewed. Your review must show how your particular topic relates back to the basics of the anatomy and physiology of the human body. Each linked review should include the following elements:

• A topic heading for the blog entry that makes clear this is one of the linked reviews (remember your blog may well include entries that are just communications among group members, comments, etc. Please make very clear when an entry is one of your linked reviews.)
• A summary of the website being reviewed. This very short paragraph should tell us what the main topic of the website is, who has posted the website and what its main strengths and weaknesses are.
• FOR MAJOR WEBSITES: At least three subsequent paragraphs that describe, in detail, specific sections of the website and their relevance to the topic at hand. Each of these subparagraphs should include a link to the specific sub-page within the website that is being discussed. I am especially interested in sub-links that go to interesting and impressive graphics, images or other visuals. If these are included in your review, then a description and link to those elements should be pasted in.
• FOR MINOR WEBSITES: A short explanation of what the website includes and an analysis of two or three of its most interesting (perhaps positive, perhaps negative) features.
• A signature. Be sure to make it clear, either with a “by-line” at the start or end of the entry, that the posting is yours. The blog template may fill in the name of whoever opened the blog automatically so be sure to include your name in the blog entry (even if your name appears automatically in the blog “tag”).

How will we get to the final blog product?

CHAT MEETING NUMBER ONE.

Once the groups and blogs are set up, we will meet in groups in our course chat environment. I will meet with two or three groups at a time according to the schedule that is posted on our web tree site. At the first meeting, I will take a quick look at some of the websites that you are proposing to review and see if we can agree on why they might or might not be appropriate and what their strengths or weaknesses might be.

In preparation for the first chat meeting, each group member must post a link in the group blog to one major website or one minor website that they believe would be good ones to review.

CHAT MEETING NUMBER TWO.

This meeting will be a chance for you to show me how your linked reviews are going. I will do my best to provide feedback on one review per group member and will look at more if time permits.

In preparation for the second chat meeting, you should drafts of your reviews done and posted to the blog.

What is expected of each member of the group?

Each group member must do two linked reviews (one for a major websites, one for a minor websites). There should be no repeats among the websites being reviewed. Be sure to post the websites you are reviewing to the group’s blog in time for the first chat so that no one else will repeat your site. You must attend the two on-line chat site meetings and have the preparation outlined above ready to go.

How will you be evaluated?

You will be evaluated based on how well you fulfill the following basic learning objectives for this exercise. You will be asked to do a self-evaluation and your other group members will also evaluate if they feel you have come to master the following skills or gained the following abilities. You must feel that you can check off each objective in order to get the full complement of points for this part of the course:

______ Attendance at all scheduled chats for your group

______ Ability to post to a web log

______ Ability to search and find appropriate websites related to a topic

______ Ability to analyze the quality of those websites

______ Ability to write and edit a thoughtful and complete review of a website

______ Increased appreciation of your particular topic in health and well-being

______ Understanding of how our health and well-being depends on a

fundamental understanding of the anatomy and physiology of our bodies.