Mystery Guest project

Susanne Nyrop has volunteered to be a Mystery Guest on my Advanced Writing and Grammar class blog: http://ievcc.blogspot.com

We got the idea from Barbara Dieu, in her presentation, "The Use of Blogs in Language Learning" which was part of the Becoming a Webhead sessions. She mentioned that Graham Stanley had been a mystery guest in her class blog, and that the students got so involved, the dialogue went on for almost a month.

It sounded so easy! Sus was willing to be the guest, and set up a Mystery Guest blog for the students to visit and post their questions: http://mysteryguest.blogspot.com

However, we've gotten off to a somewhat rocky start. I introduced the idea on the class blog, but unfortunately wasn't in class today to set it up properly, due to a bad cold. Sus and I tried to stir up some activity online with a flurry of postings on the students' blogs, to remind them to visit the Mystery Guest site and start asking questions. This I could do from home, with my hot tea and lemon at my side.

The result? So far, only one student has replied, with a series of questions of excellent questions, but she posted them on the class blog. Susanne has replied, and redirected the student to the Mystery Guest blog.

Lessons learned so far?

1) It's never as easy as it looks!
2) I needed to be there in person to explain to the students how the activity works and stir up their interest. I asked the substitute teacher to brainstorm questions with the students to help them get the idea, and reinforce the point that they need to find out the identity of the Mystery Guest, but he's never done anything like this before and may have been as puzzled as the students. (Isn't it obvious?)
3) We need more time. I've pushed this ahead because it's the end of term and we only have 3 more classes left. Getting sick was not in the plan!
4) There's still some confusion about how to use the blogs. Why am I surprised? This is the first time anyone at our centre has used blogs with the students. It's bound to take some time and need more guidance. The students are internationals, and it's a very small class. In fact, it's an after school elective. This is new ground for all of us.
5) I'm delighted that one of the students started asking questions. It's also a question of training, and stimulating their interest, to get the students to log onto the blogs outside of class time.

I'll report back here as the project continues. Susanne's done a great job on her Mystery Guest blog, so it's bound to draw the students' attention, once they figure out what we want them to do (and gain more confidence).

Has anyone else tried this sort of thing?