Blogging in Education

What is Blogging and Why Do I Care? Stands for Web Log (weblog) and is called Blog for short Easily created, easily updateable Web sites that allow authors to publish instantly to the Internet from any Internet connection. “A weblog is a coffeehouse conversation in text, with references as required.”-- Rebecca Blood, The Weblog Handbook

Learning the Jargon Blog – a noun and a verb Blogger - the author of a blog. People who post new journal entries to their blog may often say they blogged today, they blogged it to their site, or that they still have to blog.

What is a Weblog? The writings are called “entries” or “posts,” and generally appear in reverse chronological order Entries of a certain age often disappear and are usually archived.

Characteristics of a Weblog 1. Usually maintained by one person 2. Written in a conversational manner 3. Updated frequently (daily basis) 4. Provides context by linking to sites on the Internet

Types of Weblogs Basic- short items about a particular topic Group- multiple writers contributing items Family and Friends- planning for family events, sharing experiences Collaborative- colleagues working on projects Photo- or audio or video Community- sharing local news and events Business- within organizations; sometimes to attract visitors Knowledge- to manage information in a group

Blogging in Education Early-adopters are beginning to explore the use of the genre as a teaching/learning tool in educational environments around the world. Example from Will Richardson from New Jersey Hunterdon Central Regional High School

Online Discussions Students were each assigned two posts: – Chapter Summaries – Character Sketches – Artistic Interpretation – Historical Events – Symbols and Themes – Class Discussion Summaries Choose how many additional comments (of quality) to post: 4 = D, 10 = A

“Dear Students, It is an exceptionally nice honor to have you reading my novel in your Modern American Literature class! I'm extremely impressed with your weblog, which I've been following. What fun for the author to listen in on your discussions and see the wonderful and provocative artistic interpretations that you've created. The experience has opened my eyes to new ideas about my own work!...” --Sue Monk Kidd Author Involvement

Parents’ online book club/Web log ( Parents read along with students and held their own discussion “I am thoroughly enjoying reading this book, mostly because I enjoy discussing it with my son. We also encourage each other to read which is great (what chapter are you on?). When he has assignments to do he is actually better at them than I am so I don't help him, but he can bounce ideas off me. This is a wonderful experience getting involved in reading with him. “ Similar issues with reading as kids: time Parent Involvement

Reticent students participated in the discussion : “I have to disagree with Brian's post saying that Rosaleen does stupid things. To Rosaleen I don't think that she believes that her actions are stupid. I think she is just trying to show that you should stand up for yourself even if it involves you getting hurt. In Rosaleen's mind she believed that it was first a lesson to Lily that you should stand up for your principles and Rosaleen stood for the rights of the black people. Secondly she had to stand up to the white men for herself, she needed to show them that they can't just walk all over her and keep her from participating in voting. So overall I don't believe that Rosaleen was acting stupid, irresponsible, or anything of the sort. I think she was standing for her principles and that is something to be looked [well] upon not looked down on. “ Effects of Web log

Writing before discussion Helps students think through what they want to talk about Provides a way to “think aloud on paper” Captures ideas inspired by what was read.

Writing after discussion Helps students synthesize the many ideas floating in the air. Provides multiple interpretations of text.

So… what about writing as discussion Every “voice” has equal weight. Barriers disappear. Invites thoughtful response.

Potentials for Education Student Learning Logs/Portfolios Professional Development Classroom Collaboration Internal/External Communications Research Logs with links to sources. Best Practices

General Classroom Considerations 1. Access -- not all students have the same amount of access 2. Time and Support -- planning and set-up take time, and tech support is required. 3. Assessment -- what and how.

Podcasting A combination of the words broadcasting and iPod A method of publishing files via the Internet, allowing users to subscribe to a feed to receive new files automatically. It became popular in late 2004, largely for downloading audio files onto a portable audio player or personal computer Source - Wikipedia

RSS A family of XML file formats for web syndication used by weblogs. information is delivered as an XML file called RSS feed, webfeed, RSS stream, or RSS channel. allows a website's frequent readers to track updates on the site using a news aggregator. The abbreviation stands for one of the following standards: Rich Site Summary (RSS 0.91) RDF Site Summary (RSS 0.9, 1.0 and 1.1) Really Simple Syndication (RSS 2.0)