Course:ETEC522/sept2011/blogs

Blogs

Our blog for our presentation: http://etec522blogs.wordpress.com/

In this wiki, we will be adding the key points for the various topics in our blog. We are aware that there is much more to say about educational blogs. We invite you to add your own thoughts under each heading.

What is Blogging?

A blog or a weblog is a tool that can allow people to quickly publish text, artwork, video, links and other content on the internet. Blogs are also set up with the intention that the author(s) will make frequent posts. They are set-up just like regular websites, except they posted in reverse chronological order and can include comments from readers (Glencoe Online, 2006). In this section we will discuss: Rationale for blogging: More and more blogs are appearing on the net and have opened new doors for the education and business fields

How do you do it? First you must decide what your blog will be use for. Then you can follow the blogging platform: 1. Sign up and provide the requested information 2. Provide an appropriate Blog Title 3. Accept the terms 4. Select a blogging template 5. Publish.

Benefits of blogging in the classroom: Blogs are very beneficial in classrooms and can help promote a more interactive, collaborative classroom.

Uses of Blogging

The Educational Uses of Blogs: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mexicanwave/2404978535/sizes/m/in/photostream/

The uses of blogs are as varied as the users themselves. Teachers and students continually find new ways to incorporate learning and communication into this multi-media/writing genre. Blogs can accommodate all learners due to this flexible, creative format for collaborative communication. According to McGraw Hill, a leading educational publisher, uses of blogs fall into four broad functions, and most uses fit into one of these categories. But additional categories were identified through online discussions. The last two categories were not part of the original list.

1. Classroom Management: For all types of classroom administration and organization through the use of portals, calendars, announcements, assignments, content organization, differentiating instruction, etc.

2. Collaboration: A great benefit to group work, feedback, revising, engagement with the outside world

3. Discussions: An obvious use of blogs, as the Reply text box is available for responses from the readers. Idea sharing, and discourse with others can enrich the learning experience greatly. Students need to be taught about the importance of internet etiquette and the effectiveness of good writing.

4. E-Portfolios: What better way to leave a digital footprint on the internet than to have a blog that highlights a student's best work!

5. Student Voice Students express opinions, give feedback, revise each other's work, create new media to share with others.

6. Communication tool for parents Building community and connecting with parents

To add even more reasons to have students blog - Here are 10 more!

Criteria of Good Blogging

Blogging has become very popular over the last decade and therefore has made it a very competitive market. In order to be a successful blogger, you should:

Make Memorable Headers/Titles: -Enticing -Identify what the reader will find within the blog -Fun, ironic, bold, expressive, unique -Clear and present

User Friendly Design: -Readability: background and foreground colors -Font of text is good size for all readers -Easy to find content/posts -Strong navigation design -Organize pages

Comments Section: -This shows your readers you care about their thoughts/comment -Invite readers to share their ideas -Have a discussion forum

Make Blog Unique: -Find your voice- good blogs give voice -Tell a story -Make people want to read your blogs/posts -Show creativeness through writing and designs

Content Should Always Be Fresh: -Give users a reason to come back to your site -Write on readers level- do not belittle the -Give examples and don’t be too “preachy” -Diversify content

Use of Effective Visuals: -Make visuals meaningful to readers -Put them within text -Have visuals relate to text

Please watch this youtube video for more information on how to create a successful blog: Successful Blogs

Informative sites on Successful Blogging

-IncomeDiary: Retrieved from: IncomeDiary

-Daniel Scocco. Blog Setup: 20 Practical Tips: Daily Blog Tips

-Reliable Writers. (2011). What Makes A Great Blog?: What Makes A Great Blog?

-Merlin Mann. (2008). What Makes for a Good Blog?: What Makes A Great Blog?

Next we must look at what makes a good site to host your blog: Please watch this clip to review what features a good web hosting site should have (the most important information is given within the first 50 seconds, the rest is promoting a specific site, so please focus on the features/criteria this site is suggesting good web hosts will have, which again will be shown within the first 50 seconds). Web Hosting

File:Http://monitoring-social-media.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/blog-image.jpg

Issues to Consider when Blogging

While there may be benefits, there are some considerations teachers need to think about prior to blogging. These include the following.

1. Not enough time: Whether for educational purposes or small business purposes, fulfilling the requirements of a constructive blog takes time. If you include time to moderate comments and trackbacks, it will take even more than you assume.

2. Legal Issues: There are some legal issues and guide for bloggers.

3. Spam: Comment and trackback spam is also one of the concerns about blogging. Although trackback spam numbers aren’t as high as comment spam numbers, it’s still very annoying to many bloggers.

4. Concerns regarding student responses (blogging etiquette in general): As it is on the internet, there is no way to monitor what gets said on the blogs. Although a blog creator can delete a student’s posts but often it is too late to recover from the damage. In addition, students can create posts with inaccurate information.

5. Copyright Ownership Issues: Copyright ownership issues should be straightforward, but the issue of who owns the copyright in the blog has become a problem.

6. Educating students: Educating students about security/safety issues is important so that they are not putting personal information on the blog and putting themselves at risk.

7. Safety/Privacy: Safety and privacy is one of the biggest concerns about blogging. Bloggers or audience’s information can be exposed. As most blogs are for sharing ideas, perspectives, and opinions, precautions are necessary. Credibility can be an issue as well because research papers and articles can be peer reviewed/critiqued.

8. Other concerns

Negative feedback
Wrong information for incorrect facts
Students not being receptive to the blogging activities and not participating

All of the above needs to be addressed prior to starting a blogging activity. Parents need to be made aware of the blogging activity and it must follow school and district guidelines. In addition, the teacher should create strict blogging guidelines that students should follow and immediately address any breaches of conduct that do arise.

Repository for Educational Blogs K-12

Blogs for Teachers

Canadian Blog Award winners: http://cdnba.wordpress.com/2008/02/06/best-education-blog-of-2007/

Example of Classroom blog: http://learningismessy.com/blog/

A Slideshare about using blogs and wikis in the classroom http://www.slideshare.net/meganpoore/using-wikis-and-blogs-in-class-345547

Video Tutorial- Education blogs for teachers, students and institutions http://edublogs.org/videos/

Teaching Tips (Lots of information here for all subject areas) http://www.teachingtips.com/blog/2008/06/30/50-must-read-up-and-coming-blogs-by-teachers/

Top 100 High School Teachers Who Blog (This site has 100 blogs by subjects) http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2010/05/16/top-100-high-school-teachers-who-blog/

Blogs for Social Studies/Social Sciences:

Grade 8 Worldview Project: http://ljhs.wordpress.com/

The Holocaust Lit Blog: http://thsholocaustlit.edublogs.org/

Senior World Issues class blog: Global Problem Solving: http://blog.whps.org/blizpal/

Top 10 History blogs for teachers: http://www.onlinedegrees.org/top-10-social-studieshistory-blogs-for-teachers/

Blogs for Language Arts:

Top Teaching: Language Arts (Lots of interesting blogs here) http://blogs.scholastic.com/top_teaching/language-arts/

Top 15 Blogs on reading and literacy: http://www.onlinedegrees.org/top-15-blogs-on-reading-and-literacy/

Language Arts Expert Blog http://www.language-arts-teaching-expert.com/language-arts-teaching-blog.html

Blogs for Math:

50 Best Blogs for Math Majors (These blogs are more for post secondary students) http://www.onlinedegree.net/50-best-blogs-for-math-majors/

Top 25 Blogs for Math in the Classroom   http://www.onlinedegrees.org/top-25-blogs-for-math-in-the-classroom/

Reflections of a High School Math Teacher (gives great tips for teaching math class)  http://teachhighschoolmath.blogspot.com/

Blogs on Educational Blogging  http://supportblogging.com/Links+to+School+Bloggers#Blogs%20on%20Educational%20Blogging–M%20-%20(Educational%20Blogging)

Blogs for Science:

http://nakedscience.blogspot.com/

http://www.thechemblog.com/?p=755

http://cubahsscience.weebly.com/blog.html

The Blog Market

As of February 2011, there were over 156 million blogs in existence (Wikipedia) and there are several blogging services available for users. This group highlights only a few of the biggest players in this market:

Blogger: http://www.blogger.com/ Drupal: http://drupal.org/ Edublogs: http://edublogs.org/ Elgg: http://elgg.org/ mo’time: http://wwwmotime.com/ tBlog: http://tblog.com/ LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/ Moveable Type: http://www.moveabletype.org/ Typepad: http://www.typepad.com/ WordPress: http://wordpress.com

Ventures in Blogging Considering how popular blogging has become, and considering the multiple platforms that are now available for anyone to start a blog, we could consider the market to be quite saturated already and it would be difficult for someone else to enter with a new venture unless it offers something completely different. Blogs can be a challenge in the interaction between students – a more immediate chat-room type feature might be of interest to add, since the current comment function can be a bit difficult for immediate interaction.

The blogging platforms need to make sure that they are mobile compatible and that there is a way for students to upload videos. The interface needs to be easy to use and there needs to be more Pro-D days to get teachers to use blogs correctly. Also, there are a number of blogs that get discontinued after a while….the blogs need to be set up so that they encourage consistent use by teachers. To make blogs more marketable have the blog format shift to a more discussion format…that way discussions can be kept track of more easily.

Suggestions for improvement and ideas for new blogging ventures:

reduce the time it takes to make quality posts
encourage discussion / the leaving of comments (a new add-on that rewards posters). Lack of interest and interaction by readers can cause a blogger to lose motivation and interest, possibly causing the end of a whole blog.
easy-to-use, right-from-the-start user interfaces
allow for more customization / creation of unique elements
embed tools in the blog (picture editors, video editors, etc.)
address security issues: Allow blogs have the flexibility to be kept private in a closed system, where the teacher controls the people who have access to the posts.
add video, voice threads or live forums: Right now blogs are very much a written medium and it would be good to have the option to upload videos or voice messages. Also as blogging is more of a asynchronous type of activity, the addition of a live forum can move it to synchronous mode.
change layout of discussions: Allow the discussions to be threaded more easily.
make blogging in the classroom easy to implement and maintain: Teachers already are pressed for time and it would be best if future blogging platforms are easy to set up and manage.
make connecting with other networks and blogs easier: To help promote the work being done by students, future blogging platforms should have the option of connecting to other relevant blogs and sites. This way students and teachers can truly become a part of the global community (if they choose).
customization: Allow more flexibility in the blogging platform to allow for more customization. This way teachers can tailor the blogging platform to suit their chosen activity.
breaking the posts down into more easily navigable modules: different pages for different types of information. At the very least, each “week” would have its own page or at least some way to jump to that week. Posts would be collapsible (similar to the way comments can show up or be hidden) to make things more manageable as modules.

References

COFAonlineUNSW. (2010). Using blogs for peer feedback and discussion. Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4HLGRzhWBs&feature=related

Daniel Scocco. Blog Setup: 20 Practical Tips Retrieved from http://www.dailyblogtips.com/blog-setup-40-practical-tips/

Danny. What are the concerns of blogs and blogging in education?. Retrieved from: http://dannyemery.blogspot.com/2009/12/what-are-concerns-of-blogs-and-blogging.html

Davies, Anne. (2007). Rationale for blogging. Retrieved from: http://anne.teachesme.com/2007/01/17/rationale-for-educational-blogging/

Downes, S. (2004). Educational blogging. EDUCAUSE Review, Sept/Oct 2004, 39 (5). Retrieved from: http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume39/EducationalBlogging/157920

Duffy, Peter and Bruns, Axel (2006) The Use of Blogs, Wikis and RSS in Education: A Conversation of Possibilities. In Proceedings Online Learning and Teaching Conference 2006, pp. 31-38, Brisbane. Retrieved from: http://eprints.qut.edu.au/5398/1/5398.pdf

Eades, R. B. (2011). The concerns of educational blog. Retrieved from: http://rickyeades.blogspot.com/2011/03/concerns-of-educational-blogs.html

Electronic Frontier Foundation, Legal Guide for Bloggers. Retrieved from: http://www.eff.org/issues/bloggers/legal

eglodes. (2011) Using blogs in the classroom. Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0I1V5XaMsc

Glencoe Online. (2006). Education up close. Retrieved from: http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/educationupclose.phtml/47

Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.,1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020. Retrieved from: http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/educationupclose.phtml/47

Hoon, P. Copyright concerns of blogs and other legal problems. Retrieved from: http://www-apps.umuc.edu/blog/collectanea/2007/05/copyright-concerns-of-blogs-ot.html

Kelly, K. (2009). To blog or not to blog (in the classroom). Retrieved from: http://edublognology.wordpress.com/2009/03/31/to-blog-or-not-to-blog-in-the-classroom/

Krista. Top 5 concerns about small business blogging. Retrieved from: http://www.morningstarmultimedia.com/disadvantages-blogs-concerns/

Lakusta, Nicole. [Slideshare presentation]. Retrieved from: http://www.slideshare.net/ottomat3ch/the-blogging-continuum

Magher, M. (2010). Tips for using blogs in the classroom. Retrieved from: http://www.onlinedegrees.org/tips-for-using-blogs-in-the-classroom/

Merlin Mann. (2008). What Makes for a Good Blog? Retrieved from: http://www.43folders.com/2008/08/19/good-blogs

Reliable Writers. (2011). What Makes A Great Blog? Retrieved from: http://www.webtrafficroi.com/what-makes-a-great-blog/

Richardson, W. (2006). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful Web tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.

Sol, R. (2011, February 12). Classroom Community: Blogs [Video file]. Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko3DJ7rxCWQ&feature=related

Wetzel, D. R. (2010). 5 Benefits for Creating a Classroom Environment for Student Blogs. Retrieved from: http://david-r-wetzel.suite101.com/5-benefits-for-creating-a-classroom-environment-for-student-blogs-a285167