Blog Participation

I have updated everyone's blog participation scores so I could provide relatively updated midterm grades. You can access the blog scores here.

If there is a mistake and you feel I missed one of your posts let me know. I do have a couple of user names that I am unclear on. If you have not been posting, I strongly recommend you start posting. I will be happy to give you half credit for missed posts.

I have submitted midterm grades. The grade submitted represents your blog participation (I will factor use attendance and classroom participation at the end of the course in determining your final grade), one quiz score (your lowest score is dropped), and 4 homework scores (your lowest score is also dropped). I elected to drop only one homework score when calculating your midterm grade, this way your grade is not biased upward.

If you feel I made a mistake, please contact me sooner rather than later.

I know a number of students have expressed frustration over not clearly articulating the role of the blog when evaluating class participation. I know I have mentioned the need to make 1-2 blog posts per week. We discussed the blog the first day of class and in the syllabus. Further I emailed the following to everyone a week before classes:
Fifteen percent (originally ten percent) of your grade is based on course participation. This is your participation in the course blog. I will post articles, write ups, and other interesting economic events on our blog. It is your responsibility to actively follow the blog and make comments. You do not need to comment on all the postings, but at least once a week you need to sit down and make an effort. The course blog is public domain, but the only access is through the URL. It will not show up through a search engine. This should keep your posts relatively private. You can create a user name, just make sure I know the real name behind it. You are not judged based on your views, you are judged on your ability to articulate and argue those views. I will generally update the blog 2-3 times per week.

I'm sorry if you feel that I was not clear in my expectations, but I don't know what else I can do without feeling like I am constantly nagging students to make posts. I am giving everyone a chance to make up missed posts for half credit. Please take advantage of this.