As I was posting a comment back to Tony, I described Nik Peachey's blog as 'one to come back to' and I began thinking about the number of blogs I take a quick look at, but never return to, and the few that I do look at more regularly.
This made me wonder whether we read other people's blogs solely because we are interested in what we find there or whether as blog authors there might be some principles which could guide our approach to structuring and therefore make blogging a quick and easy experience for the reader.
To illustrate, Nik Peachey often posts on new software or Web2.0 applictaions he has come across. He systematically posts comments under headings: How to use this with students; what I liked; what I didn't like. Under these, bullet points are used quite a lot rather than extensive text. He also uses tagging systematically so you can easily browse the topics.
Tagging is a specific issue I suspect. This site by Ann Foreman (BC Spain) has some great posts (a veritable treasure trove of practical advice) including some nice examples of blogs. The tagging list is huge and possibly less transparent than Nik's as I wasn't sure why some tags took me to where I went, but does this make a difference? http://encouraginglearnerautonomy.blogspot.com/2007/03/setting-up-blog.html
Of course both these examples are targeted at teachers and are likely to grow quite large. Maybe learner blogs are set up more for specific projects and are more focussed by their very nature. Ann links to this BC blog which struck me as a nice idea to support exam classes and I suspect will continue to be easy to navigate as it grows http://fcebritishcouncilbilbao.blogspot.com/
So I wondered if you had examples of blogs that you might return to regularly, or learner blogs that look particularly clear and enticing?
Diane
13 comments:
Wouldn't using blogs for learning be contrived? The audience would still be the teacher and other students, so there would be no authenticity - the same as any other classroom or homework task.
I have never tried a blog with any class but I imagine one or two students may be enthusiastic, most would be half-hearted and some simply would avoid it. It takes a lot of motivation to maintain a blog. Students' writing may get sloppy over the long term. Students may also lose motivation if no one leaves comments to their posts.
Just my thoughts.
I have not used blogs for teaching either, but it could be said that the "authenticity" is in the blog itself - it's an authentic communication technology (so is passing notes to each other written on paper).
Blair, I think your second comment is fundamentally important, so central - just imagine how many unfinished blogs, forum discussions, websites are out there from well-intentioned teachers (myself included). Before we go there, we have to not only fully intend to see the idea through, but very carefully and realistically consider the time required to see it through, although this can be applied to any new teacher-initiated "projects," not just technology - but learning technology seems particularly prone to this "fizzle." Before setting foot in this new territory, I would really need to consider the purpose at great length. I do know that (generally)the "enthusiasm" my students show for forum postings is at least reflective of what they show in class. A lot depends on the students' perception of the teacher's attitude (just like with anything else). Perhaps blogs are not that much different from forums?
I think that where blogs differ from forums is that they are more personalised. I would have my own space in the discussion (equal to others) to put my ideas forward. For example, if I kept a blog on using blogs I would link this comment to my blog, and the people who are interested could read my views in detail. I would have my own monologue going on which I could throw into a discussion as a reference. I think that in theory that sounds great, and if I could get a class to maintain that over a course, there can only be benefits. I think the question is how can we motivate students to do that.
blogs in national newspapers such as 'the guardian' in the UK are not 'personalised' ... a journailst writes a provocative piece and the hordes debate and put in their tuppence worth ... a great 'forum' ... an exchange of ideas ... i for one have enjoyed reading many a blog ... and have also learnt a lot from postings ... getting a more balanced view perhaps ... without commenting myself ... and herein lies one problem that i have encountered using blogs with students ... which ... i agree jody ... is authentic communication in itself ... despite indicating that they wanted a blog setting up for them ... the students in our centre wanted only to read about teachers' experiences and language advice ... and look at photos from social events ... which was odd ... because they all like their work being put on display ... but few wanted their work in the public (blog) domain or wanted to make any comments ... so perhaps blogs do have to be personal ... but read by others? what am i saying in essence? you tell me :-P
I read the guardian comments section too and they're entertaining and thought-provoking, but they can't really be called blogs. The writer may reappear in the comments section to clarify what he's saying, but there isn't really a dialogue between writer and reader. What sometimes happens is that a writer will reply to another blog. That's where the dialogue is. And that's what i meant by personal space. Each blogger gets their own equal space where they can express their own ideas, while, at the same time, engage in interactive contact with other bloggers. The people who comment in the comments section of the guardian aren't really part of the debate. Just as students wouldn't be in a teacher-led class blog.
I have an EAP class who I want to get blogging, but I think it will take them a while to get trained. I like the idea where one student would start a discussion on his/her blog, and then for the next week, somebody else would start a different or related discussion in theirs. I would set that for homework, but do error correction, or further the discussion in class time. Has anyone tried this?
So, rather than a "class" blog like we have here, each student would have his/her own, right? That sounds sensible to me (as a newbie). Insofar as error correction, class discussion etc, I think I'd have to, again, be very clear on purpose in my mind before attempting to communicate purpose to my students and giving it a go. My initial thoughts are that my students' blogs would not be subject to correction, class discussion - just blogging/comments (perhaps similar to the approach of Aitsiselmi in his article ) So the purpose would be the same-or at least very similar-to the real purpose (not quite sure of that myself) of blogging...(perhaps akin to the learning to read/ reading to learn argument)...a public forum for sharing thoughts, making comments, in L2 in this case...
I also would like to see what others in our field have tried/are trying with blogs...
I think that the more the audience are related to in field or subject of the study in a blog, the more they will be interested and attached to it. commenting, sharing, acquiring more knowledge, and communicating with others are all incentives for a person to interact and be a social learner. Blogs do help in the learning process, but the should have ways to keep his students enthusiastic and motivated.
From what I've seen I think that like all things web-based you need a very clear idea of how to prepare students for blogging and a lot of dedication and energy to keep it going after the initial enthusiasm wanes (as mentioned by jbg and eihab). I have never been a blogger/blog reader as I tend to get lost in all the info and text(blogs do tend to be a bit of a hypermaze in my opnion) and just end up wasting time. I have encouraged students to use forums and post their writing in other domains, though. I personally feel that setting up a blog for my teaching staff at work would be more useful than a blog-based project for the students.
Eihab you make a good point about social networking. Finding what tools students are already familiar with or most often use is the best start.
this was a kind of blog that i returned to ... but now he is giving it all up in favour of a wiki ... and he provides possibly the definitive list of differences between the two ... guess what? "collaboration" is there at the top of the pile ... funny isn't it how when you notice a new word (or a familiar one used in a different context) how it always keeps popping up ... "collaboration" has been everywhere these past two months ...
anyway ... here's the link for the list of differences between a blog and a wiki ... see if you agree
http://ferret.bemidjistate.edu/~morgan/cgi-bin/blogsAndWiki.pl?WikiAndBlog
I think this must be cut short http://ferret.bemidjistate.edu/~morgan/cgi-bin/blogsAn
I tried to be intuitive working back through the URL and then guessing what might come next but to no avail:-) Can you check and repost?
thanks
hi diane ... i just copied and pasted the whole link and it worked for me ... what you have posted is not the full link ... here it is again tho
http://ferret.bemidjistate.edu/~morgan/cgi-bin/blogsAndWiki.pl?WikiAndBlog
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