Blogs
From LTCWiki
Goal of today's session:
1. Define Blogs
2. Detail popular blog tools
3. Explore Educational Use
4. Get you blogging :)
Contents |
Top 10 things for educators to know about blogs:
- Blogs give individual learners a voice - shifting "the power" from the instructor to the learner
- Blogs are often public - learners need to understand that their comments may be available to others who they have not intended
- Blogs are social in nature - dialogue and discourse are central to blogging
- Blogs are only half of the equation. The use of aggregators (like Bloglines extends the value of blogs in enabling individuals to explore diverse viewpoints
- Blogs extend the classroom to a global level - instead of one teacher, learners often have many more through blogs
- Blogs need to be thoughtfully integrated into curriculum. Simply getting learners to blog is not enough - blogs in learning must be activity-centric. For example, blogs work well as a reflective practice, or for individuals to explore additional resources and post comments to each others blogs around certain themes.
- Blogs can be implemented in numerous ways - as communities (through tools like Drupal), in a private classrom (like with Moodle), in a public space (like Blogger) or in a networked/social fashion (like Elgg)
- Blogs can be used cross discipline - instructors from K-12, University, math, English, physics and other disciplines have used blogs effectively in extending learning beyond classrooms.
- Blogs can be used within departments for knowledge sharing (if done at an administrative level, blogs will likely be locked down or require password access)
- Traditional learning management systems - like WebCT or Blackboard - are now beginning to implement blog features into their software. Instructors who are already using LMS may find that they don't need to go outside of the platform in order to use blogs.
Background on blogs
If you have attended any conferences in the last year, you will have encountered blogs. Current love affair with the term runs across many sectors: business, religion, marketing, schools, universities, and libraries. Blogs, quite simply, are receiving reverential treatment in traditional and non-traditional media.
But what is "a blog"? Why are they so popular? What role do the play in education? What can faculty expect when using blogs?
A blog is a basic webpage, typically RSS-enabled (a subject for a future post on tools), generally presented in reverse chronological order. Google provides a list of definitions as well. While the initial definition of blogs as "an online diary" may have been accurate, most well-read blogs serve a more prominent role (diary-based views of blogs still exist in sites such as MySpace and Blogspot). Google, for example, uses it's blog to communicate new products or offerings. CNN uses blogs as an alternative news source. NASA has a launch blog. Gurus like Dave Barry (not sure what he's a guru in, but he's well known), Scott Adams (Dilbert), and Tom Peters use blogs as well. President Bush used blogs in the last election. So did his opponent, John Kerry. Even the president of Iran has a blog. Today's mantra: if you have something to communicate or sell, get a blog.
The simplicity of blogs is deceptive. Blogging enables unique opportunities for educators to improve communication with (and between) learners, increase depth of learning through reflection, and enable the formation of diverse viewpoints and perspectives. Perhaps most importantly, they enable educators to connect with each other. I started blogging years ago because I was unable to access individuals with shared interests in my organization at the time. I had to reach outside of the college to engage in dialogue relevant to my interests.
Using Blogs
As mentioned, blogs have a wide variety of educational uses - from encouraging student reflection to sharing information with learners to connecting learners with others. As with any communication tool, the uses are confined only to educator creativity. To explore some ideas:
Using Blogs to Integrate Technology into the Classroom
Using Blogs in a College Classroom
Blogs in Education
For additional examples of educational blogging, visit Academic Bloggers
I've posted links at the end of this short article that include discussion on additional uses.
Finding blogs
One of the most frequent questions I encounter when I speak on blogs is "how do I find blogs that are relevant to my field?". I use several tools to find blogs of interest (and you'll find once you have one or two bloggers in your particular discipline, they will link to others...and you build you learning network through following those links). Blog search tools can be very helpful in getting started. I use the following:
Google Blog Search
Feedster
Ice Rocket
Technorati
Sphere
Why are blogs so popular?
The popularity of blogs is based partly on ease of use and the inherent social nature (the success of any tool is obviously a complex mix of context, timing, tool affordance, etc.). Most blogs allow comments (I don't on elearnspace due to spam volume, but I do permit comments on this blog...though they are moderated. I started out with open comments, but the spam messages were rather intense). Blogs enable direct (via comments) or parallel conversations (commenting in your own blog about someone else's post). Blogs have a built-in addictive feature in receiving comments and holding (what can be) rich discourse.Should everyone blog?
Probably not. An interesting exploration by prominent educational bloggers was recently held on the subject. In the end, it's a matter of interest, time, and intent. Educationally, I feel most courses and disciplines benefit from some use of blogs - to enable transparent and diverse conversation, to encourage deep reflection, and to enable connections between students and experts in a field.
Further reading:
Will Richardson has a great book out on Blogs, Wikis, and Podasts.
Stephen Downes wrote a widely-cited article in EDUCAUSE on Educational Blogging
I posted an article years ago on "The Art of Blogging": Part One ... and Part Two
Setting up your blog
Many services are available for setting up your blog - some free, others for a monthly fee. Blogs can be either web-based for entering posts or desktop applications (this version is increasingly rare).
A few sites to consider:
Blogger
Eduspaces
Edublogger
Wordpress
TypePad
Links
12 Important Laws Every U.S. Blogger Needs to Know
What's it worth? The perceived benefits of instructional blogging (.pdf)
Readings on blogs in instructional use: http://www.bretagdesigns.com/technologist/?p=352
