I have recently begun another paper through Open Polytechnic (NZ). We were originally to post a number of items to our blog and then submit a copy in word format for assessment. However, many of the class felt uncomfortable with posting their personal reflections on-line for all to see. We are now provided with the option to use the "learning journal" feature of Moodle; we now have a private space to cement our thoughts before we decide what to make public. Whilst I think it is beneficial to have a bit of a personal reflective space, I have found the greatest value in reflection is where we open it up to other people to comment on our reflection.
One reason we were given for the change in requirements is that the journal is a piece of assessment. I still see no reason why we cannot use a connectivist approach for formal assessment. The main problem, as far as I can tell, is that traditionally we were required to consider only the work of the individual student. Yet, this isn't really preparing our students for the real world. Most often, we are required to work as part of a team and our outputs are "marked" as one product; our individual input into the work are of less important than the entire team's output. I also have a problem with only individual assessment in that it does not teach co-operation but individualism.
