Supporting Learning and Teaching with Weblogs
Contents
Educational
and Learning Potentials of the Weblog
Blogs as a
Web Publishing Tool.
Blogs for
Social Interaction and the Construction of Knowledge
More ways
for Teachers and Students to use blogs
What is a weblog?
A weblog (blog) is a simple
way to create a public on-line journal without needing any special programs
or programming knowledge. It
can all be done with just a web
browser and an Internet connection. A
free blog hosting service such as blogger.com can be used. It is a simple process to set up the blog with
a unique blog page name, user name and pass word. Each blog (journal entry) has a title and contents
which can be text, photos or video; anything that can be read by a HTML browser. Each posting, usually one or two paragraphs,
will automatically appear with the date, in reverse chronological order.
The blogger (blog writer) can
decide if they want to allow other people to make comments on their
blog by adjusting the commenting permissions to let everyone, only specified
people or no-one comment. The
blogger can also get automatic email notification when ever someone
makes a comment to allow, delete or modify the comment before it is
published. The blog reader can
also subscribe to a blog so that they are notified when new postings
are made. Those who want to stay
informed on a number of blogs can subscribe to news readers and RSS sites which can display
subscriptions from hundreds of sites on a single page of short summaries
(Ly, 2005).
Educational and Learning Potentials of the Weblog
Blogs as a Web Publishing Tool.
Blogs can be created through
the browser on free blog hosting services just as web pages can be
created on free web hosts such as GeoCities or Angelfire. Alternatively blogs can be run using blog software.
“Blogging is something defined by format and
process, not by content.” (Downes, 2004)
I consider the chronological trail of entries to be their defining
characteristic. However, Winer
(2003) considers it to be the voice of a single person coming through
without any editorial interference.
Blogs generally have a rhetorical, informal style of writing.
They may be used solely as a tool for the individual expression
of a 'unique voice' (Oravec, 2002. cited in Williams & Jacobs, 2004).
Blogs for Social Interaction and the Construction of Knowledge
The activity theory
of learning regards consciousness and thoughts to be social in origin,
all activities being carried out in a social context. Seen
as a tool for social interaction, blogs give students the chance to
increase interactions with peers and the wider community. This gives the blogger opportunities for “feedback
and potential scaffolding of new ideas” (Ferdig & Trammell, 2004).
Bolg Hypertext can be seen as
a tool for making connections, allowing student to become familiar with
the “relational and contextual basis of knowledge” (Ferdig & Trammell,
2004).
Seen as a tool for personal reflection, the Blog is one way
to provide good feedback by “facilitating the development of self assessment
(reflection) in learning” (Juwah et al., 2004: 4). Through iterative
cycles of activity followed by reflection, the student learns to focus
on the internal processes; they are encouraged to think about their
own learning and become more critically analytical in their thinking
(Oravec, 2002. cited in Williams & Jacobs, 2004).
A study by Woodward & Munns (2003) suggests ways to promote
deeper reflections about learning by writing under pertinent headings
or questions [1]. I suggest that
these headings and questions could be used as the title for student
blog posts. However, Downes (2004) suggests that by assigning
topics to blog about, the blog would “automatically lose a level of
authenticity and engagement” because student reflections are constrained,
thus loosing the learning benefits of reflection.
The solution to this may be in asking students to read something
first then link their blog to whatever interests them, writing about
why it does and what it means (Smith, 2004).
Blogs can be used as an informal
way of finding out if the class is learning what is intended. Pedagogies based on constructivism
emphasise the importance for the teacher to understanding the student’s
existing knowledge base so that learning activities and experiences
can be designed to assist the student to build upon this and construct
their own knowledge. Bausch et
al., (2002) describe blogs as a ‘warehouse’ for “captured knowledge
(cited in Williams & Jacobs, 2004).
Baron et al., (1998) discuss
the need to change classroom culture to one where self and peer evaluation
is valued by all as a way of improving learning.
By encouraging deeper reflections about learning in student blogs
it may be possible to change classroom culture.
More ways for Teachers and Students to use blogs
For education, the strength
of blogs lies in “its capacity to provide a public medium for posting
progress toward longer/larger projects, or as a space for group members
to work on the same project” (Nelson & Fernheimer, 2003). I would argue that the wiki is more suited to
group work because it is fundamentally a co-authoring tool.
Individuals
can use blogs as a process diary for major projects.
By making
multiple authors of a blog it can be used as a discussion forum for
students or teachers.
Blogs
can be used as a platform for distributing learning resources (Downes,
2003) or sharing links to resources (Oravec, 2002. cited in Williams.
& Jacobs, 2004)
Blogs
can be a medium for distributing information such as the daily school
bulletin, a record of classroom activities, upcoming events, assessments
or class homework details both for students and parents.
Downes
(2004) points out that it is possible to make a private blog, only visible
to the teacher and a singular student or the teacher and parents. This
would provide another form of asynchronous communication and feedback
(although email is fine for this) or a way to keep chronological records
of student reports.
Most
schools have a discipline/merit system that requires a chronological
record of student behavior problems or achievements.
Administrative blogs could be used for this.
It is
now possible for bloggers to send text, photos or voice recordings from
mobile devices (moblog). This would mean catching a good idea before it
is forgotten. The popularity and abundance of mobile phones
amongst teenagers makes this an attractive way to update a blog and
extend learning beyond the classroom.
Bloggers
can be the first to provide information or commentaries of world events,
democratising news and making the “common man” a social reporter and
critique.
Blogs
can be used as an expressive tool to encourage introverted students
to speak up or to give frustrated students a way of “letting off steam”,
possibly reducing transference to the teacher.
Students
can be encouraged to visit each others blogs as a way to get to know
each other and build a sense of community.
Reflection
Even though most of the information
I found about educational blogging is from higher education, these articles
and the ideas they contained, helped me to generate some of my own practical
ideas for use in secondary schools.
This investigation allowed me to find innovative ways to integrate
technology in the classroom in ways that will enhance learning. As I began to learn more about blogs, I realised
that I should start a blog to get first hand experience of recording
my reflections online. This is
at Annie’s Blog .
The
process of thinking about blogs in a classificatory or taxonomic way
helped me to better understand other classes of web publishing tools.
I think that blogs are best suited to private
informal records while the wiki is best suited to co-authoring and
collaborative work. Blogs could
be easily used for cooperative project work where each person independently
completes a section of the project. The individual tasks can be allocated
by the teacher or negotiated within the group, either way it is a
cooperative process not a collaborative process. To
work collaboratively
really requires face-to-face discussion or electronic conferencing
with synchronous discussion such
as in a chat room. Blogs
could be used as a way to reflect about the collaborative process
or a way to keep a chronological record of collaborative group communications. The process
of thinking about affordances offered by different tools, helped to
see that although a tool can do many different things it is best suited
to certain tasks. A Learning
Management System would ideally include all of these tools.
| Tool |
Best used for: |
| Blog |
Personal
reflections and chronological records |
| Wiki |
Collaborative
writing / co-authoring |
| Discussion
Forum |
Asynchronous
discussions allowing for reflective discussion |
| Chat
Room |
Synchronous
discussion for instructions, questions and organising collaborative
work and spontaneous discussion. |
Looking
at the different sub-genres of web publishing tools helped me to get
an overall perspective of the Internet divided into public vs. private
areas, editable vs. un-editable and comment-able vs. not comment-able.
The
investigation of blogs in relation to learning theories and research
helped me to see how important learning science is.
Without research to find out what really does help students
to learn, teaching can be a long process of trial and error, never
knowing if students are really learning anything.
For example, while I was teaching we were encouraged to adopt
the Multiple Intelligence Model by Gardner.
I never did find this to be a very useful in the classroom. According to Stahl (2002) "the reason researchers
roll their eyes at learning styles research is the utter failure to
find that assessing children's learning styles and matching to instructional
methods has any effect on their learning."
It was
inspiring to find a solution to a problem that I had as a teacher,
i.e., blogs for behavior records.
As long as a teacher always has access to a computer, bolgs
are ideal for behavior records. In
fact, blogs can
be used for anything that requires a chronological record.
While
writing this assignment I did receive some comments on my blog postings. I agree that the blog forces a student to “contemplate
how their views might be interpreted and reflected upon by others”
(Mortensen & Walker, 2002, cited in Williams & Jacobs, 2004). Although the blog is a place for self expression,
the blogger needs to be aware that anyone can read it.
Blogs
“provide students with a high level of autonomy while simultaneously
providing opportunity for greater interaction with peers” (Williams.
& Jacobs, 2004). High school
students are motivated by both of these aspects: autonomy and social
interaction. As pointed out by Downs (2004), there are some
risks involved in the use of blogs. Clear
rules and consequences for rule breaking need to be established in
regard to the content and language made public by blogs.
I agree with Downs (2004) that the risks outweigh the potential
benefits to be gained, however educational researchers and early adopters
need to develop guidelines to ensure that students do not abuse the
autonomy and visibility this tool provides.
By discussing weblogs in terms of developing communities with
shared responsibility, I think the risk can be minimised.
Footnotes
[1]
List of questions or headings from Woodward, H. and Munns, G (2003).
For primary aged children they gave post-it notes
with headings to write under
What
I learnt
What
I liked
What
I didn’t like
What
I want to know
For secondary school students they proposed questions
such as:
Why is
it important for you to know/understand/be able to do this?
How does
this processes/content relate to something else you know.
When
else could you use this information?
How did
you learn this?
What
else did you learn?
How did
you arrive at the conclusion/answer?
How do
I know when I have learnt something?
What
did you learn?
Why is
this my best work?
References
·
Barron,
B. J. S., Schwartz, D. L., Vye, N. J., Moore, A., Petrosino, A., Zech,
L., Bransford, J. D. (1998) Doing
with Understanding: Lessons from Research on Problem and Project-Based
Learning, The Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt. The
Journal of the Learning Sciences, Vol. 7, No. 3/4, Learning through
Problem Solving (1998), pp. 271-311
- Bartlett-Bragg, A. (2003) Blogging to Learn. Anne University of Technology,
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than Personal: The Impact of Weblogs. Retrieved
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Content Delivery in the "Blogosphere"
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·
Juwah,
C., Macfarlane-Dick, D., Matthew, B., Nicol, D., Ross, D. & Smith,
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Welcome to the Blogosphere:
Using Weblogs to Create Classroom Community. Retrieved on 9/19/2006 12:
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Different Strokes for Different
Folks? A Critique of Learning Styles. American Educator Journal
Citation:v23 n3 p27-31 Fall 1999
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Exploring the use of blogs as
learning spaces in the higher education sector. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology
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- Winer, 2003. "What Makes a Weblog a Weblog?" Retrieved on 9/19/2006
10:45 AM from http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/whatMakesAWeblogAWeblog
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USEFUL LINKS ABOUT EDUCATIONAL APPLICATIONS OF BLOGS
- Weblogs in the Classroom Department of Education and Training, Government of Western Australia.
- Blogs for the Classroom Teacher First
- Free Education Blogs EduBlog