Using Blogs to Support Teaching and Learning
About the Facilitators Dr. Daniel Churchill Room 116, Runme Shaw Building The University of Hong Kong Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong Email:  [email_address] Web:  http://www.learnactivity.com   Tel: +852 28591141
The University of Hong Kong In the top 30 Universities in the World (18 th  for 2007)
Photo from http://www.piskov.net/photos/california/page_01.htm  20 Year Ego No Internet No Windows No many computers around No MP player No Digital Cameras No PNP, no Nintendo No Blogs, Youtube, Facebook No many other artifacts that are part students’ life today
 
Important transformations with ICT Learning  FROM  to Learning  WITH  ICT Student-centered learning Students as technology users Changes in curriculum and assessment Teacher changes New Literacies (e.g., Digital literacy, Social Networking, Information literacy, Visual  literacy, Media literacy, Print literacy)
What is new in Web2.0? User control of information, subscribing and relationships, new forms of expression Web as a point of presence, internet-mediated social environments, collective activities and community plumbing Web as a platform (e.g., Microsoft and Google)  Science of user engagement and rich user experiences Some  speak of media revolution –  “we the media” (Dan Gillmor), “voice of crowds”, increased democratization and new citizenship
Collection of Web 2.0 sites
Web 2.0 Blogs  Digital Storytelling  Sharing, Diggs, Recommendations, and Folksonomy  Wikis and Social Software RSS Feeds  Podcasting  API for Mashups Mobile Web 2.0
 
Blog, blogging, blogger, blogsphere  Blog is web-based publication  No technical skills to create your own blog Blog can contain text, media, links There are blogs, moblogs, vlogs, audilog Blogsphere is a community of bloggers   "A blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world.“ www.blogger.com
Total Sites Across all Domains Source:  http://news.netcraft.com/archives/web_server_survey.html   Bloggers: an army of irregulars (BBC) -- “The web has grown more in 2005 than it did at the height of the dotcom boom”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4123536.stm   Digital Citizens - "the most informed and participatory citizens we ever had or are likely to have" - represent a critical emerging group for today and tomorrow.  (Source:   http://www.wired.com/wired/reprints/digicit.html )
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4961768.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6164798.stm
Blog Examples and Tools Teachers Teaching Teachers MITE6323 Blog by a Student
Set Up Your Blog – Blogger.com
We will try basic things first Create new blog Create new post Post text, format text, create links Insert images Watch this video if you need: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryb4VPSmKuo&feature=related
New Forms of Expression Blogging Should not be only about text an dimages Digital Story Telling and other Multimedia Expressions Digital Fluency Interactive Visualization
Publishing media in blogs We will embed a video from a Youtube into your blog.
Blogs in Education Literature on blogs in education is emerging  Some names to look for:   Dyrud, Flatley, Johnson, Huffaker, Quible, Peschbach, Ramsay, Kinnie, Richardson, Selingo, Smith, and Worley. In general, there  lack of empirical evidences  and formal studies investigating use of blogs in education.  Mostly of current literature is conceptual an published in non- SSCI  ranked journals
Recommendations from literature  Students and blog: Publish own writings (e.g., reflections, journal, a story, comments)  Discuss group assignments, share work schedule and results of experiments  Peer review each others work  Collaborate on projects with each other, teachers, subject-specific experts in the field and pen-pals from distant places  Manage their digital portfolio or just use blog as digital filing cabinet
Recommendations from literature  Teachers and blog: Share resources with students (e.g., readings before class, handouts, and post homework and assignments)  Publish student work and otherwise archive learning  Communicate with students and parents Monitor activates of individual students and groups
Recommendations from literature  Schools and blog: Communicate school news  Present success stories of its students and teachers Various committees, school activity centers, clubs, sport teams and parent groups can post information  Achieve minutes of meetings and resources, and continue dialogues beyond the scheduled times  Use student blogs on schools home page to offer dynamic information about their campus life Manage knowledge that members of school community creates Education authorities can use blogs to share best practices, lesson plans and other resources
Recommendations from literature  Benefits of Blog Supports development of literacies for digital age  Leads to increase information management skills, and media, verbal and visual literacy  Encourages self–expression and creativity  Promotes increase students’ motivation, engagement and reflection in learning  Students who use blogs are more committed to their assignment and group work Blog provides environment where every student gets and equal voice Support different learning styles  Literature also suggests that blogs can be used as alternative to a learning management system
Using Blogs
How I Use Blog in my Teaching Facilitator and his blog Provide course home page  Connect student blogs in the home page Post ‘after class’ reflections Post any announcement to the class  Address emerging issue, learning need  Invite students to provide comments Monitor comments and respond Distribute notes, slides and other material used in the class Provide any additional resources Negotiate issues, what students want to learn and assessment of their projects Set the tasks for students
How I Use Blog in my Teaching Facilitator and student blogs Regularly check student blogs Provide feedback to student work Encourage students to provide feedback to others Provide individual student with resources
How I Use Blog in my Teaching Students and their blogs Present their work Share work  Reflect  Provide information and resources that they find interesting Monitor comments and respond to them Students and blogs of other   Visit blogs of other Provide comments recommend resources Students and blog of the facilitator Read and reflect on posts provided by the facilitator Access resources Provide and monitor comments
Embedding PowerPoint Slides in Blog
Managing Blog interface Using LinkRolls Feeds in your Blog Other plug-ins and extensions
MS Office Documents in your Blog
Using Bloglines, MyYahoo!, ect.
Other Possibilities It is worth exploring: Wikipedia, MindMeister, Podcasting, Use of Mobile Devices, and Social Bookmarks for Blogging. Blogging system on your own server
Some Resources and References Read article about blogging in classroom from:  http://writer.zoho.com/public/zvezdan/Web2_Paper_2_v81 Read articles from:  http://connect.educause.edu/Library/EDUCAUSE+Review/Web20ANewWaveofInnovation/40615 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue42/tonkin/  http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/apr03/mattison.shtml  http://www.scienceofspectroscopy.info/edit/index.php?title=Using_wiki_in_education  Check out these sites:  http://www.sldirectory.com/libsf/resf/web2.html   http://www.districtadministration.com/ViewArticle.aspx?articleid=1055   http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6438167.html
Questions and Answers Thank you for the attention

Workshop on Blogging

  • 1.
    Using Blogs toSupport Teaching and Learning
  • 2.
    About the FacilitatorsDr. Daniel Churchill Room 116, Runme Shaw Building The University of Hong Kong Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong Email: [email_address] Web: http://www.learnactivity.com Tel: +852 28591141
  • 3.
    The University ofHong Kong In the top 30 Universities in the World (18 th for 2007)
  • 4.
    Photo from http://www.piskov.net/photos/california/page_01.htm 20 Year Ego No Internet No Windows No many computers around No MP player No Digital Cameras No PNP, no Nintendo No Blogs, Youtube, Facebook No many other artifacts that are part students’ life today
  • 5.
  • 6.
    Important transformations withICT Learning FROM to Learning WITH ICT Student-centered learning Students as technology users Changes in curriculum and assessment Teacher changes New Literacies (e.g., Digital literacy, Social Networking, Information literacy, Visual literacy, Media literacy, Print literacy)
  • 7.
    What is newin Web2.0? User control of information, subscribing and relationships, new forms of expression Web as a point of presence, internet-mediated social environments, collective activities and community plumbing Web as a platform (e.g., Microsoft and Google) Science of user engagement and rich user experiences Some speak of media revolution – “we the media” (Dan Gillmor), “voice of crowds”, increased democratization and new citizenship
  • 8.
  • 9.
    Web 2.0 Blogs Digital Storytelling Sharing, Diggs, Recommendations, and Folksonomy Wikis and Social Software RSS Feeds Podcasting API for Mashups Mobile Web 2.0
  • 10.
  • 11.
    Blog, blogging, blogger,blogsphere Blog is web-based publication No technical skills to create your own blog Blog can contain text, media, links There are blogs, moblogs, vlogs, audilog Blogsphere is a community of bloggers "A blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world.“ www.blogger.com
  • 12.
    Total Sites Acrossall Domains Source: http://news.netcraft.com/archives/web_server_survey.html Bloggers: an army of irregulars (BBC) -- “The web has grown more in 2005 than it did at the height of the dotcom boom”
  • 13.
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4123536.stm Digital Citizens - "the most informed and participatory citizens we ever had or are likely to have" - represent a critical emerging group for today and tomorrow. (Source: http://www.wired.com/wired/reprints/digicit.html )
  • 14.
  • 15.
  • 16.
    Blog Examples andTools Teachers Teaching Teachers MITE6323 Blog by a Student
  • 17.
    Set Up YourBlog – Blogger.com
  • 18.
    We will trybasic things first Create new blog Create new post Post text, format text, create links Insert images Watch this video if you need: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryb4VPSmKuo&feature=related
  • 19.
    New Forms ofExpression Blogging Should not be only about text an dimages Digital Story Telling and other Multimedia Expressions Digital Fluency Interactive Visualization
  • 20.
    Publishing media inblogs We will embed a video from a Youtube into your blog.
  • 21.
    Blogs in EducationLiterature on blogs in education is emerging Some names to look for: Dyrud, Flatley, Johnson, Huffaker, Quible, Peschbach, Ramsay, Kinnie, Richardson, Selingo, Smith, and Worley. In general, there lack of empirical evidences and formal studies investigating use of blogs in education. Mostly of current literature is conceptual an published in non- SSCI ranked journals
  • 22.
    Recommendations from literature Students and blog: Publish own writings (e.g., reflections, journal, a story, comments) Discuss group assignments, share work schedule and results of experiments Peer review each others work Collaborate on projects with each other, teachers, subject-specific experts in the field and pen-pals from distant places Manage their digital portfolio or just use blog as digital filing cabinet
  • 23.
    Recommendations from literature Teachers and blog: Share resources with students (e.g., readings before class, handouts, and post homework and assignments) Publish student work and otherwise archive learning Communicate with students and parents Monitor activates of individual students and groups
  • 24.
    Recommendations from literature Schools and blog: Communicate school news Present success stories of its students and teachers Various committees, school activity centers, clubs, sport teams and parent groups can post information Achieve minutes of meetings and resources, and continue dialogues beyond the scheduled times Use student blogs on schools home page to offer dynamic information about their campus life Manage knowledge that members of school community creates Education authorities can use blogs to share best practices, lesson plans and other resources
  • 25.
    Recommendations from literature Benefits of Blog Supports development of literacies for digital age Leads to increase information management skills, and media, verbal and visual literacy Encourages self–expression and creativity Promotes increase students’ motivation, engagement and reflection in learning Students who use blogs are more committed to their assignment and group work Blog provides environment where every student gets and equal voice Support different learning styles Literature also suggests that blogs can be used as alternative to a learning management system
  • 26.
  • 27.
    How I UseBlog in my Teaching Facilitator and his blog Provide course home page Connect student blogs in the home page Post ‘after class’ reflections Post any announcement to the class Address emerging issue, learning need Invite students to provide comments Monitor comments and respond Distribute notes, slides and other material used in the class Provide any additional resources Negotiate issues, what students want to learn and assessment of their projects Set the tasks for students
  • 28.
    How I UseBlog in my Teaching Facilitator and student blogs Regularly check student blogs Provide feedback to student work Encourage students to provide feedback to others Provide individual student with resources
  • 29.
    How I UseBlog in my Teaching Students and their blogs Present their work Share work Reflect Provide information and resources that they find interesting Monitor comments and respond to them Students and blogs of other Visit blogs of other Provide comments recommend resources Students and blog of the facilitator Read and reflect on posts provided by the facilitator Access resources Provide and monitor comments
  • 30.
  • 31.
    Managing Blog interfaceUsing LinkRolls Feeds in your Blog Other plug-ins and extensions
  • 32.
    MS Office Documentsin your Blog
  • 33.
  • 34.
    Other Possibilities Itis worth exploring: Wikipedia, MindMeister, Podcasting, Use of Mobile Devices, and Social Bookmarks for Blogging. Blogging system on your own server
  • 35.
    Some Resources andReferences Read article about blogging in classroom from: http://writer.zoho.com/public/zvezdan/Web2_Paper_2_v81 Read articles from: http://connect.educause.edu/Library/EDUCAUSE+Review/Web20ANewWaveofInnovation/40615 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue42/tonkin/ http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/apr03/mattison.shtml http://www.scienceofspectroscopy.info/edit/index.php?title=Using_wiki_in_education Check out these sites: http://www.sldirectory.com/libsf/resf/web2.html http://www.districtadministration.com/ViewArticle.aspx?articleid=1055 http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6438167.html
  • 36.
    Questions and AnswersThank you for the attention