Results and discussion
The purpose was therefore to see whether or not students undertook the task, what advantages they saw to it, whether they saw the reasons for doing it and what they thought they learned from it. 112 completed questionnaires were received. The questions most relevant to the research aims will be discussed, with the hope that it will be useful for lecturers in similar circumstances.
First is the question of the extent to which students undertook the task. This was measured by looking at the number, frequency, style and length of students' contributions. Although the minimum number of contributions was two in order to achieve a pass, they were encouraged to contribute as much as possible, in order to be successful, and for their skills to be practised. The assessment period being over 4 weeks, 35% of students made one contribution a week, 23% twice a week, while 36 % of students contributed three times a week or more (Figure 1). It was certainly clear, therefore, that most students were contributing more than the minimum. It may be the case, though, that very few decided that doing any extra work for an assessment that counted such a small amount of the overall course mark was not worth the effort.