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Learning
Technology publication
of IEEE Computer Society |
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Volume 8 Issue 4 |
ISSN 1438-0625 |
October 2006 |
Special issue on “Blogging as an Educational Technology”
Integrating Blogging in Writing
Courses: Examples and Opportunities for Action
Thinking & Writing Wrinkles
Bloggers
Blogging and Journaling are the
same, but different
Blogs As Teaching Ethnographies: Blogging Out
Blogs as ePortfolios – utilizations
of a generic tool for a specific context
Blogging to enhance the support of
international mobility students
Realizing the Potential of
Collective Learning through Blogs
Special issue on “Blogging as an Educational Technology”
Blogging is a collaborative tool widely used by the Internet users. Blogging technology allows users to create knowledge by means of collaborating with others. Communication and collaboration is central to the constructivist theory in education. Constructivist theory states that we create and apply new knowledge through collaboration with others. Blogging technology allows users to construct new knowledge as well as apply and analyse existing knowledge by sharing their own knowledge with other users. This issue of the newsletter focuses on looking at the educational opportunities of blogs. The issue starts with an introductory paper on blogs. This paper by Schroeder looks into how blogs can be used as a collaborative tool within the classroom in constructing knowledge. Furthermore the paper also outlines how to start and run a blog.
Fujiuchi in his paper argues that blog is not just a
simple tool “but a learning experience”. He looks at how blogs can be used to
teach students the skills they need for their academic and professional life.
Guthrie and Schutt in their paper look at how blogging can be used to enhance
instruction, especially in literary and writing courses. They look at the
possibilities of using blogs for collaborative writing as well as annotations.
The next paper looks at how blogs contribute towards the development of communities of practice. Ruth in her paper argues that by sharing knowledge openly through blogs individuals move from “periphery to a central position” in the quest for knowledge. She looks at the importance of blogging as a reflective process as an educational tool using examples from a project where students journal their learning process. Jinks and Drexler looks at a project third grade students and university students can both mutually benefit from using blogs.
Garcia and Suzuki looks at blogging as means of disclosing knowledge. They state that the reflections within the blogs become public disclosure of knowledge. According to them this disclosure will expand the realm of knowledge as the public will know some hidden knowledge about the individual while the individual will learn some knowledge that he/she was blinded of. However, they cautioned about the privacy and confidentiality of this knowledge as blogs are used within the Internet. The paper by Strobel and Nicolaidou talks about blogs as a substitute to process portfolios where process portfolios are used for self reflection. They provide examples using a project where Wordpress was trialled and positive feedback was received from both students and teachers.
Keegan in her paper outlines two case studies where students used blogs to get support from teachers and peers during there placement. She looks at the potential of blogs in providing psychological and social support while the students are in placed abroad for there placements.
Donovan and Lee looks at the potential of blogs in organisational learning. In their paper they talk about how blogs contribute to make tacit knowledge explicit within organisations and create an environment to “find out what we know”. Finally, Lee in his paper looks at the potential of using podcasting with blogging technology. He looked at an analysis of different tools to find the best mix of podcasting and blogs. This issue of the newsletter covers a variety of aspects of blogging as an educational technology. It provides interesting ideas, theories, conceptions and viewpoints for readers.
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Ali Fawaz
Shareef, Ph. D Senior Lecturer |
Imagine a classroom where: Students read and write daily journals that will later be transformed into a polished paper published on the Internet. Teachers post the day's activities and assignments for students and parents to view online. Students collaborate on solving a problem or creating a knowledge network. Students maintain journals for easy access, editing, and teacher feedback online instead of paper-based. Students view, listen to, and share videos and podcasts. Students create multimedia portfolios to demonstrate learning. Research notes and links are compiled and shared among an entire school. All of the above examples are just a few examples of how blogs can be used to enhance learning. But why should we use blogs in education?
Possibly the strongest argument for the use of blogs is their constructivist nature. Blogs support constructivist models by offering ways to communicate, organize, reflect, create, and collaborate. Constructivist theorists argue that we learn through others and by applying new knowledge to preexisting knowledge. By including collaboration in the classroom, we can help students question and construct their own knowledge, apply and analyze what they’ve learned, and build a strong foundation for lifelong learning. The types of learning that result from blogs and their ease of use should endorse their inclusion in the classroom. For instance, blogs can be set up quickly and easily as individual or group blogs, allowing users even more flexibility in how they are used. Blogs eliminate the need to understand complex html code or pay for web space. Blogs offer many attractive templates to choose from which enhance and personalize a student’s work. And blogs make accessing and working on your writing convenient, since everything is stored online.
Okay, so blogging supports constructivist learning, is easy, and convenient. But for someone who has never used a blog, it would be helpful to also understand what a blog is and how to use one. The word “blog” is a blended word, derived from both “web” and “log.” Sometimes blogs will be referred to as weblogs. “Blogging” refers to the act of writing to or interacting with a blog. And of course, one who blogs is a “blogger.” Then, there is a new word called “blogcasting,” which refers to putting a video- or podcast on a blog, but I’m not sure about this. When researching the history of blogs, I ran across the word “bloggerish,” which I suppose must be an adjective due to the “ish” ending. (Please understand that I am also an English major). Add to this fascinating lexicon the word “blogquest” which is a way one can use blogs in WebQuests and you’ll get the feeling that blogs are taking over. Actually, that might be the case, as blogs are now an intrinsic element of many websites. But that’s enough about the various words. Now you need to know something about the software.
To create a blog you need a computer and Internet connection. For a starter blog, blogger.com is a good choice, as it is easy to use and yes, free. Simply go to http://blogger.com, set up an account and start blogging. You can set up a group blog, insert images to your blog posts, change or adapt your template, and as you become more experienced, insert html code to customize your page even further. Some other blogging sites are listed at the end of this article.
So, now you have a blog set up and know how to use it. How will you know when and how to use blogs? In most classrooms, blogs are appropriate if you want your students to read, write, or collaborate. It’s really that simple. The subject areas of language arts, history, and speech communication most naturally benefit from blogs. Think of the blog as the technology tool and then include it in your instructional strategies.
For instance, do you want your students to solve a problem? Then, you might set up a group blog or several group blogs, assign your groups a problem, and have them use the blog to record their discussions, findings, and progress. At the end of the lesson, you might want them to synthesize their writings, and publish a final paper to their blog, responding to comments from other students. A final piece to this lesson might be a group presentation of the solution (or not) either through a podcast or live discussion.
Do you want your students to write a critical essay, short story, or collection of poems? Use blogs. Not only will students appreciate not having to keep track of and edit a hard copy, but will look forward to viewing teacher and student feedback to their writings. An entire semester’s worth of writing can be accessed, organized, and revised for a final paper, for instance, which can be submitted for publication to a school newsletter, newspaper, or other resource.
Don’t have web space on your school server? No problem once you set up your blog. You can post daily blogs to students and parents about homework assignments, daily activities, or just comments on the day. Parents will not only appreciate the time and effort you’ve spent on writing about your day, but will also be able to easily post comments for you to read at your convenience.
Once you understand how blogs can be used in different instructional settings, you will instinctively turn to them to enhance learning. As with all new technologies, you need to step outside of your comfort zone and be willing to make mistakes. Start small, with a few projects using blogs and then experiment and branch out a bit. I think you will find that your students will appreciate your extra efforts with technology and will support you in this process. So start blogging. Now.
Blogging sites
Blogger.com (http://blogger.com) - One of the first (and still very good) free blogging service where you can create individual or group blogs.
ELGG.net (http://elgg.net/index.php) - Another free blogging service that offers space to upload files and other enhanced services, such as RSS feeds.
WordPress (http://wordpress.com/) - Another free and easy to use blogging software.
Edublogs (http://edublogs.org/) - Blogging software for educators and students. Offers private blogs for students and also includes wikis.
Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/) - Sort of a photoblog, with ways to upload images and share with groups.
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Barbara
Schroeder, Ed. D. Department of
Educational |
Introduction
The blog itself is a tool, a simple online web application that creates dynamic databases driven websites, with reverse chronological content (journal style), automatics archival of all content, and allows various ways to link to the content (i.e. RSS feeds, trackbacks, etc.) In the end, blogs are human-powered, taking on the personality and creativity of the blogger(s) that provide content for each blog. So let’s take a look at how the simple tool of the blog can be incorporated as a learning technology.
The Online Journal
First, think back to any occasion where you may have found the journal format to be useful in an academic setting.
· Writing Exercise: You may have students keep a journal to practice their writing skills on a regular basis. At the end, the journal can be turned in, and used as an assessment tool to see the progression of each student’s writing skills throughout the semester.
· Research Tool: you can assign students to keep a research journal to maintain a frequent record of the progress in experiment or project. This can develop a good habit for the student
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These are three quick examples of how a journal can be used in an academic setting. Now look through the previous examples, and replace the word journal with blog. You now have three examples of how you can use a blog in an academic setting, but with a few added benefits:
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Instant publishing
with a click of the “publish” button.
· Instant access to the journal content the moment it is published.
· Instant feedback through the built in commenting system.
· Wider audience of the online community, or at least to an audience that is allowed access to the blog.
The journal format is widely used in an academic setting, though not always in an obvious way, and can be easily adapted to use a blog instead. Still these suggestions will only provide a way to get people to use the blogs Next I would like to talk a little about becoming part of the academic blogger community.
First Steps to Scholarly Publishing
Blogs provide a simple venue to allow students to publish. This does not guarantee that the student will publish scholarly level writing, but it does get them into the habit of publishing their ideas. They are also publishing to an informal “peer-review” environment, where the student can receive comments, suggestions, and even some visibility of their ideas among peers. At the same time, students as bloggers can participate in an academic blogosphere(a community of blogs), and contribute their ideas and thoughts to issues involved in their subject areas or future professions. This can lead to developing their own network of professionals that he/she can rely on for future reference in their academic life. Students may even begin to make a name for themselves in their professional community, leading to future opportunities in the long run. Blog etiquette relies heavily on giving credit where credit is due. You will oftentimes see blog posts that include links to the original posts or resources that inspired a post. Although not all students will provide proper citations in their blogs, they are still learning the value of providing and receiving credit for their ideas, and possibly the consequences of not giving credit. Heated online rivalries have resulted when proper credit is not provided. This interaction can help students experience the importance of proper citations in scholarly and professional research, and provide the basic skills that can be applied to professional writing in the future. Finally, a blog can encourage the development of basic research habits. In order to maintain a blog, and provide frequent updates, it is necessary for the blogger to keep looking for topics to write about. This can be topics discussed in class, the headlines from a newspaper, or a quick review of recent band they have seen. What is important is that the blogger must maintain a constant awareness for things to write about. Depending on how we guide these students in their search for these topics, we can help develop the basic foundations that can lead to professional research skills in the future.
Conclusion
What I hope to make others aware of is that we should look away from the blog as just a simple tool. Instead we need to think about how the blogging experience can be applied to teach the skills students will need in their academic and professional future. When you take a step back and look at the process of blogging, and the skills that develop from participating as a blogger in the blogosphere, we can see that blogs are not just a learning tool, but a learning experience. Our role in the end is to help guide them in the use of blogs, and to make students aware of the skills they are learning and how they can be applied to develop higher level skills.
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Ken Fujiuchi Emerging Technology Librarian E. H. Butler Library |
Integrating Blogging in Writing Courses: Examples and Opportunities for
Action
The purpose of this article is to discuss how blogging is integrated in writing courses and provoke reflection as to how you could take similar action in using blogs in your courses. While reviewing the resources provided in this article, use the following canonical questions to direct your thoughts and discussions:
1. What are the possibilities for using blogging to enhance your instruction?
2. Is it likely to create a more authentic and/or appealing learning environment for the learners? Why? How?
3. Could this technology/method help reduce your workload?