Transcript Using Blogs as a Teaching and Learning Tool

Using Blogs as a Teaching
and Learning Tool
Nada Dabbagh
School of Education
What is a Blog or Weblog?
Blog is short for Web log and is described as:
A form of micro-publishing or documenting your
thoughts about an issue on the Web
 Spontaneous journaling
 An online personal diary (date/time stamped)
 A frequent chronological publication of personal
thoughts and Web links (Lane Education Service
District)
The act of blogging is based on the reverse
chronological posting of news items and the
opportunity for readers to enter personal responses
to articles (Jacobs, 2003)
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Features of Blogs or
Weblogs
Weblogs are websites that are automatically:

Archived, Searchable, Time stamped, Formatted into
headlines and entries (Wiley & Martindale, AECT 2003)
Weblogs rely on RSS technology – really simple
syndication or Rich Site Summary
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XML (HTML-like tags) representation of blog content and
is used to support the automatic retrieval and display of
that content (e.g., sharing headlines)
An Intro to RSS for educational designers
http://www.downes.ca/files/RSS_Educ.htm
To see the potential for weblogs and RSS working in
combination, visit Stephen Downes Edu_RSS site
http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/xml/edu_rss.cgi
Additional Characteristics
and Terminology
A basic blog is pretty one-sided, it's just
you posting your thoughts on the Web
using a blogging tool (e.g.,
Blogger.com)
Web-based communication tool
Personal news space – online
organized personal newspaper
Theater of interpersonal communication
Blogging community - blogosphere
Types of Blogs
Personal blogs
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http://mason.gmu.edu/~ndabbagh/blog.html
http://www.reusability.org/blogs/david/
Corporate blogs
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http://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/2003/02/26.html
http://sixapart.com/corner/
Educational blogs
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http://207.44.177.240/edutechblogs.htm
http://webtools.cityu.edu.hk/news/newslett/edublogs.htm
http://educational.blogs.com/edbloggerpraxis/
http://www.ebn.weblogger.com/
Use of blogs at Harvard to create an online/offline community
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http://www.harvardmag.com/on-line/010464.html
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ (show aggregator)
Use of blogs in GMU’s Townhall
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http://64.124.46.97/workspace/ (GMU’s townhall)
Potential of Blogs as an
Educational Tool
“Serves as an online journal encouraging personal
reflection, and as a means of encouraging
collaboration through the sharing of links to resources
and up-to-date information (Oravec, 2002)."
“Offers a unique voice for students, empowering
them, and encouraging them to become more
critically analytical in their thinking because others
can critique, comment, and interpret a blog (if it is
public) and therefore a student has to stand by one's
opinions“ (Oravec, 2002).
How I Used Blogs
A journaling tool to encourage articulation and
reflection on course readings
EDIT 704 – Instructional Technology
Foundations and Learning Theory
Journaling questions to guide postings
Time stamp, easy of use, and ability to post
frequently were attractive features
Blogs were embedded in WebCT
Would I Use Blogs Again?
Not sure – students reactions were mixed (did not
conduct formal research)
Perhaps when blogs become integrated in a CMS
Perhaps when I learn how to group or cluster blogs
so that students can easily visit each others’ blogs
and comment on them
Perhaps when I figure out what is the difference
between blogs, a discussion forum, or presentation
areas in WebCT
Perhaps when I learn what a WIKI is …
What is a Wiki?
A wiki is an extremely flexible kind of blog that
supports collaborative web-editing or editing by
anyone, at any time, from anywhere (open editing)
A wiki is a piece of server software that allows users
to freely create and edit Web page content using any
Web browser (from wiki.org)
A wiki can also be used as a discussion medium, a
repository, a mail system, and a chat room
For further information, see
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http://www.reusability.org/blogs/trey/archives/000512.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page