The assessed approach, particularly of an end product, is viewed by some as demotivating and potentially harmful to the students' attitudes towards blogging. Campbell (2005) warns that in assessed blogging the focus shifts from promoting the activity as useful and enjoyable for learners, and Will Richardson (cited in Downes 2004) sees assigned blogging as a contradiction in terms, condemning it as 'contrived'.
Williams and Jacobs (2004) note that assessment did not benefit the MBA blog but rather lowered the quality of the experience by attracting weaker students who posted 'solely for the sake of getting the marks'. When they asked students if they would have participated for their own self-development rather than for credit, sixty-nine percent of respondents agreed that they would, stating that learning 'is for ourselves not just for marks' and indicating that in some cases the fact that their contributions were assessed had a negative impact on their experience.
This aligns well with the arguments that support the e-portfolio as a tool for reflective learning. Barrett and Carney (2005) see 'high-stakes assessment and deep student learning' as conflicting purposes, and argue for assessment which is formative rather than summative, with the focus on the process, to allow students to create 'a true story of learning'.
Clearly there can be more to weblog use than meeting institutional assessment requirements, given the number of individuals whose blogging is entirely self-motivated and who presumably find the act of self-expression and resulting self-discovery to be their own reward. Whether these will be negated by applying assessment criteria seems to be a question of how clearly the other potential benefits are presented to the students. As Tosh et al. (2005) point out, the question learners really want answered is 'What's in it for me?'