BEYOND THE WEEKLY DISCUSSION BOARD POST: Increasing Content Engagement in an Undergraduate Survey of Leadership Theory Course

Blogging can be an effective way for students to increase their engagement with course content. Using their daily lives as a leadership laboratory enables students to observe leadership theories in familiar contexts. This application brief discusses a semester-long assignment where students were asked to reflect on, synthesize, and apply course material through a personal blog. This assignment has been used in an online undergraduate survey of leadership theory course for non-leadership majors. Students reported that maintaining a personal blog helped them improve their critical thinking skills, recognize and document the practicality of the course material, and remain accountable and learning throughout the entire semester. Two recommendations are presented for instructors considering a reflective blog assignment: avoid being too prescriptive in the questions asked and refrain from requiring students to comment on each other’s work.