1. Medium and Maptia: Blogging Tools for the 21st Century
CATESOL Annual Conference 2016
Suzanne Bardasz, MAT, UC Davis Extension,
International English and Professionals Program

2. Outline Introduction and background of blogging Medium and examples
Maptia and examples
Summary
Q&A

3. Introduction: The use of blogging in the ESL classroom
Blogging has been used in ESL writing classrooms as a way for students to practice their writing skills and publish what they wrote to an audience.

4. Benefits of blogging in the ESL classroom
Izquierdo and Reyes (2009) found that blogs have these appealing characteristics:
Accessible; easy to use
Relevant and interesting
Interactive with use of images, video, and content

5. Connecting with Audience
Lee (2010) found that blogging helped students in promoting writing fluency and writing blogs for an audience helped in motivating students to write.
Peer feedback on the content cited as an important contributing factor.

6. Blogging as we know it

7. Blogging as part of a community
Alternative websites have emerged that allow writers to be part of a larger writing community.
Allow participants to not only write and share their work, but also to interact with the written text itself, allowing more opportunities for interaction, collaboration, and creativity.

8. Introduction to “Medium”
A platform ( that allows you to read articles and publish stories.
Allows you to interact with the stories by highlighting and leaving comments throughout the text.
Newspapers, media personalities, and individuals can use this platform; joining a community of writers.

12. Ways to Use Medium
Examine a text and have students think/learn how to provide feedback
Follow people, topics, and organizations relevant to one’s writing topic; can help in keeping track of ideas and content
Be creative in terms of presenting content and materials; what is the best way to gain the audience’s attention?

13. Things to Consider When Using Medium
Positives
Challenges
Highly interactive; students like to engage with the text
Students found it easy to use; excited to follow others and to be followed by others outside the class
Logging in through a link
Cannot see all of the annotations and highlights; only “top highlight” shown.

14. Introduction to “Maptia”
Similar to Medium, Maptia ( is a platform that allows you to read articles and publish stories, but their focus is on photography, especially photographs from around the world.

18. Ways to use Maptia
Learning and exploring a different region of the world; connect it to a reading done in class
Picture prompts: describe what they see; use as a starting point for writing
Narrative writing (an interesting/favorite trip)
Descriptive writing (describe their neighborhood, city/town to others)

19. Things to consider when using Maptia
Positives
Challenges
Easy to add and adjust photos, as well as to write text
Students like the creativity and being able to express themselves.
Sometimes challenging and “clunky” to change font size (maneuver the mouse)
One design
Photo size (minimum 750 pixels)
Copyright with photos

20. Summary
The use of various blogging tools can help make composition more exciting and meaningful to students in the classroom.
Try to explore different possibilities within your classroom by using unique blogging tools to connect with an outside audience.

21. References
Izquierdo, B. L., & Reyes, L. E. (2009). Effectiveness of blogging to practice
reading at a freshman EFL program. Reading Matrix: An International Online Journal, 9(2), Retrieved from pdf.
Lee, L. (2010). Fostering reflective writing and interactive exchange through
blogging in an advanced language course. ReCALL, 22(02),

22. Contact Information
Suzanne Bardasz, MAT UC Davis Extension IEPP 1333 Research Park Drive Davis, CA Facebook/LinkedIn: Suzanne Bardasz