Hi Everyone! I just wanted to drop a quick message to say that we are all enjoying your posts! We are reaching the home stretch of our presentation and I have really enjoyed hearing your thoughts on the initial discussion topics from Day 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5. I am really looking forward to hearing […]
Continue reading Home Stretch…. Posted in: Week 07: Blogs
Since we are using a blog for ETEC 522, what features do you think could be added to make our learning experience even better (keeping in mind we are adults, and our focus here is K-12 students)? Do you think there is room for another venture? What would move blogging from good to great? This […]
Continue reading Anyone for a Vlog? Posted in: Week 07: Blogs
God made the sun, moon, stars… I just made this post. Time In some ways, blogging definitely takes time. For my own site, I need the time to gather some information, create my own thoughts, take a picture, put a name/stamp on it, and then post it all. I wish it was faster… I feel […]
Continue reading On the 4th Day… Posted in: Week 07: Blogs
Amazing how many teaching opportunities you have linked to the use of blogs! Your students will benefit greatly. Interesting too how you find blogging for yourself to be very time consuming, but a time-saver for your teaching! Doesn’t that tell us that educators find very little time to do their own reflections online.
Time is a huge factor when it comes on to blogging. Blogging takes time. It takes time to compile a post. I can hardly remember writing a post and publish immediately ….. I would normally write, edit, re-write, and proofread before I make hitting the submit button. There’s nothing worse than a post with bad grammar and spelling errors.
Keisha
It is true that blogging takes time, and time is very precious these days with everything we have going on in our lives. I always try to perfect my blog, so like Keisha stated, I write, edit, write again, proofread and finally post. However, do you think that over time blogging will become easier? That we will no longer have to edit and re-edit several times?
Jenaca
In some ways, I think that’s already here… it just depends on what you think a blog post is. If it can be really short, Twitter fits the bill. If it can be a combo of info from other places, it can be a semi-automatic post like Gleanr (which Dave showed us this week). I think… to make quality blog posts as we currently know them… will always take a little more time, but will also always be of a bit better quality than the bite-sized or automatic stuff.
The only “cheat” I used to use (and still would, only it doesn’t work in Chrome) is Zemanta – it’s good for generating links for you in the text, and for adding relevant pics if you want them.
Thank you for the insightful post!
I agree with you that filtering has helped avoid spam but I was surprised when I saw the number of spam on the course blog. Although they are not published, there’s quite a lot of spam.
Deb
This week’s great outlined the opportunities for blogging very well and brought up some great points within each section of the page. My experience with blogging began very recently with the start of this course in September. Prior to this class I had never participated in blogging for personal or academic purposes. Regarding my own […]
Continue reading Day 4 – Concerns with blogging: a student perspective Posted in: Week 07: Blogs
Thanks Jay for your kind comments! You are right that blogging is an excellent avenue to include critical literacy in your classroom – what better way to teach students about internet safety, etiquette and digital footprint than by showing them great examples of student blogs that are out there. Thanks too for your link to the preservice teacher article.
Hey Jay, thanks for your insightful post! Like you, I had never blogged before this course, so I found it very different from anything I had experienced in the past. I agree that blogging can be very time consuming and with the overloaded days we all have, I know it is very difficult to find time to post a “good” blog. For me, this includes writing, editing, re-writing, proof-reading (maybe even having someone else read it) then finally posting. Do you think blogging will get easier with more experience?
I really like your closing statement, “What we must also be mindful of as educators is that students encompass many different learning styles and some may take to blogging as a learning tool more than other”. This is true in so many ways! As educators we must acknowledge that every student has different learning needs, and when it comes to blogging, this might just be the answer for some!
Jenaca
I definitely think that with time it would become easier. Just as writing your first research paper can be a very daunting task, over time we develop the necessary skills and are able to complete these tasks in less time and with greater ease. I think what I was trying to get at in my post is that if educators are going to use blogging as a teaching tool and incorporate it into the class, teachers have the responsibility to help students develop these skills so they can blog effectively. I found for this course the tutorials and the “How to use this blog” as well as the links to wordpress and diagrams showing how to perform certain tasks (embed images, video) very helpful and would have been lost without it.
Thank you for your thoughtful insights.
Although I’ve used a blog for teaching purposes I’ve never used it for my learning. I’m currently managing 3 different blogs for the 3 classes I’m teaching, plus this blog. I agree with you that blogging is indeed time-consuming, especially if you are not familiar with it. For some, they need time to learn and adjust to it. Just like us educators, students also need time to get used to blogging. As you mentioned, each person’s learning style is different. It took a few weeks for my students to get used to blogging because they’ve only used Moodle so far. My duty as an educator is to help them learn how to be a “good blogger”. Their cyberspace behaviour and responsibility can be determined by what they learned and didn’t learn from their teacher who introduced blogging to them. I feel responsible for their behaviour in virtual space. That’s why I spend time to go over “cyberspace” rules with them before I introduce blogging.
Deb
The 4 broad functions (Classroom Management, Collaboration, Discussions, Student e-portfolios) of blogs mentioned in group 2’s blog are clearly represented within the ETEC course blogs. I find that within this course ETEC 522, these 4 broad functions are iterative. Getting most of my blogging experience from ETEC, my educational use of blogs have been mostly […]
Continue reading The 4 broad functions (Classroom Managem… Posted in: Uncategorized, Week 07: Blogs
Hello!
I totally agree with your comments about making a copy….that is a hard lesson to learn.
Verena:)
Thanks Verena, the advice came from a personal experience in frustration from losing posts 🙂
Thank you very much for your insightful advice to newcomers! This is my first ETEC class and I have been very overwhelmed at times using the different sites for posting, reading and handing in assignments.
I will definitely keep your advice in mind:)
Jenaca
You are welcome Jeneca, you are not alone, my first ETEC course was overwhelming too! The multitasking and the tons of content so you are not alone in that regard. having said that, you get better at it over time as you begin to understand your online learning patterns and style and can better articulate things. All in al, you learn not just about the course as you go along but also about yourself. 😉
Jenaca,
Welcome! As you mentioned, it can be a bit tedious to navigate the blogs and other sites. For the other MET course I am doing, I have to be exploring three spaces; vista, UBC blog and UBC wiki. As a result, I have to be on the ball at all time. However, I am enjoying the blogging experience as I also use it for my personal classes. Those tips by Ifeoma are very good. Even though I some experience with blogging, I type most of my posts in word processor since technology can fail at any time.
Everton
Thanks for your post Everton, I agree with you that blogging can be an enjoyable experience. Technology helps us to extend capacities but we also have to manage it in a way that we actually make the most of it. i have been a victim of not following my own advice. i had written what I though was a n inspired post and on clicking the “reply” button- nothing! that was when I realised I had not logged in and the
inspiration went with the initial click- frustrating. I learned my lesson the hard way.
Thank you so much for your post! Your advice is concise and well laid out.
I do have a question for you. Where do you see blogging going in the future? What new developments do you see for its use in education?
Juliana.
Thanks for your post Juliana, Good questions too. I believe there is a future for blogs. I think they have come to stay. I would like to refer you to this link with some statistics on blog influence. The article shows that by the year 2004, blog readership had grown a whooping 54%, that was 7 years ago, Currently, blogging has been shown to be garnering more power, gradually gaining entrance into mainstream .Here goes.
http://www.itworld.com/nls_ecommerceblog040105
In Education, I see blogs becoming a tool that teachers could use together with students, parents and guardians as a good homework tool where all involved can collaborate and leave comments. With learning analysis technology gaining speed, blogs can be extended using learning analysis in the future to track individual progress or lack of it for students. Teachers, parents/guardians and the students too can see this real time and decisions on how to better harness student learning potential can arise from this analysis.
Thank you for the advice!
Your advice is very practical. I particularly agree with you on writing in a different word processor. I sometimes get frustrated and disappointed when I lose my work by mistake. It’s really important that you do your work in a word processor and then copy and paste to the blog. An important lesson learned after repeating the same mistake many times.
Deb
Hi Deb, the incident of losing posts is an experience I believe most of us have had, hence my reason for suggesting the tip. I am glad to see that others can relate to that too.
I like your views on blogging for newcomers. These views are very practical and important to newcomers.
I first started blogging in 2006. In some ways it was an educational experience, where I was blogging about my trials and tribulations on building a sea kayak. From this, I turned my blog into a general purpose weblog, which is a bit of a no-no. However, I use my blog to communicate with friends […]
Continue reading Day 1 on Day 3: My blog experience Posted in: Week 07: Blogs
wow..you definitely have a lot of experience with blogging and the various products available to do that with! I like the idea of linking the blog (and some link a wiki) to the class website – adds another dimension to the site. I have not explored Drupal or Joomla yet , but from some of the blogs I researched, they are popular for content management. I too am a Twitter-for-professional learning fan – I have found more interesting blogs and articles from my network – maybe I should call Twitter my door to the world of my interests based on who I follow. Thanks for your post!
Doug,
Very informative. I need to check out a few of of those sites you mentioned. I also use my wordpress site as a CMS too. Using it for this purpose have given me more leverage to transform my space into more classroom-like setting. As a result, I am able to do more with my courses and even add things that are not a part of the courses.
Everton
Your considerable exposure to a wide variety of blog platforms gives you a valuable perspective, Doug. It reinforced my initial impressions of several plateforms, and will definitely influence my future blog forays. What is “microblogging” – the equivalent of a blog “tweet”?
Thanks,
KJ
Doug, thanks for your informative post! It definitely sounds like you have a lot of blogging experience, something I can learn from! Blogging is very new to me, so I will definitely be checking out your blogging sites, and hope to gain more experience on blogging!
Jenaca
Hi Doug,
Thank you for sharing your experience in using blogs. Joomla and Drupal are new to me and I intend to research on them. Your post has given me some useful ways of using blogs in my classroom
With poetic timing, I was reminded today of one of the reasons we are learning in a blog. One of our great support staff noticed on Google analytics that ZDNet has become a top referring site to our ETEC 522 blog. The reason is that Allie’s analysis of ZDNet’s predictions caught the original author’s attention […]
Continue reading Reverberations in the Blogosphere Posted in: Week 07: Blogs
Hooray Allie!! This is exciting to have our discussions bounced across the cyberworld! As for the risks – I believe that this is part of the hesitation that many educators and school systems have when it comes to opening up blogs to the wider audience. In our board, we have a closed system for blogging to prevent access from outside and in some ways I think that really restricts the benefits of true blogging. Our job is to teach students how to post and respond appropriately and safely.
Way to go Allie!
That really is an acknowledgment and kudos; it really was a well written piece on both their parts. It appears that this site is educating more than just the students at UBC. I applaud anything that makes us stand up and take a second look….however, it is also a reminder that professionalism and decorum are necessary here.
Good timing David,
Allie really did a good piece there and of course the fall outs of public blogging, in this instance, to me it will mean an immersion in real life understanding of the pros and cons of topic at hand. It should all make for good learning.
Ifeoma
Good work Allie! It is a great post. It is great to know that blogging can be such a great advertising feature- when done well.
It also a great reminder that this blog is a very public forum…:)
Verena:)
Excellent work Allie! It looks like you have a good discussion going on your post!
I think this can be some of the benefits of blogging. You can draw other people into the conversation. Of course when you are dealing with students, this can also raise some security issues. This issue has already been touched on by many people in this week’s discussion and may need to be a consideration with blogging platforms of the future.
Juliana.
Thanks all, and sorry for my really belated response – I had a really hectic week! It was really exciting to find that my post piqued the interest of the ZDnet blogger I had critiqued, and I was really grateful for his response and subsequent post. The experience certainly gave me confidence that even though I am very new to this field (this is my 2nd MET course), I nevertheless have genuinely good contributions to make. It has also led me to reconsider whether I should be more forthcoming with my online identity.
I’ve discovered blogs are pretty cool in the classroom. I’ve used them in a few different ways but I have yet to use a blog in a way that I actually want to – as portfolios for students, but I digress. I’ve used blogs as places to store my own course material. I did not […]
Continue reading Day 1 and Day 2 blogging Posted in: Week 07: Blogs
I have used Weebly too – but felt that it was just a web page builder and didn’t feel like a blog – that is where some of the ventures blend into each other – like Facebook and blogging – an interesting merger!
I too tried out weebly but wasn’t interested as it was more like a shell and never offered what I wanted. A blog should be simple and cater to the user. Technicalities breed confusion and that should not be a part of the modern classroom.
Everton
Hi Tamara,
Interesting how you used a blog for a webquest. How did that work in your classroom? Was it a successful endeavour?
Juliana.
I think Weebly is not a good blogger. Indeed, WordPress is more comprehensive as a blogger and a site to post content.
I have attempted blogging in both secondary math and science classes with some success. I am being broad in my use of the term ‘blogging’ here, since my math blog was officially a wiki (but was basically being used in the same way as a blog). A couple of years ago, my first attempt to […]
Continue reading Day 2 – A teacher’s reflection Posted in: Week 07: Blogs
Hi Emily, Interesting post. Two things that I’ve seen either on MET courses and my course blogs with my students that were successful for motivating them to participate were:
1. First: students portfolios were transformed in ePortfolios through the blog. So all their assignments would be published on the course blog.
2. Second: providing feedback and having peer evaluations through the blog was positive to promote students’ participation in this medium, because both activities allowed them to improve on further evaluations.
Blogging requires a huge commitment, but facilitates to check the progress of students.
Angela.
Thank you for your insights on blogging. I agree with you that “[i]n order to really be blogging, we are selecting what to talk about, how to present it, what swing to put on it, who to gear it towards, and are getting something out of it ourselves”. That’s probably why many blogs are discontinued.
Just like what you did for your math classes, I also created a course blog to post handouts, information on quizzes/tests, project information and rubric, and extra worksheets. It’s been working well not just for students with sporadic attendance but also for those who are usually slow at digesting what they learn in each class. I also gave username and password to parents so that they can monitor what’s going on in each class. My blog has agenda for each class, so it’s easy for them to follow. The course blog has become my “electronic lesson planner” as well.
Deb
Jarvise,
I agree with your recommendations for successful blogging in classrooms. I must add that we must be mindful when of using blogs since it cannot be used for all course content, hence we have to carefully examine the topic before introducing blogs. In addition, we must weigh the advantages and disadvantages of integrating blogging in our classroom practices for more efffective blogging.
Keisha
Hi Emily,
I am glad that you brought up the intention of blogging. I think that is an important thing to consider when introducing blogging in the classroom. Why are we doing this and what learning gains are we looking for in the student. I guess that is true of any technology that we do incorporate in the classroom.
As a venture do you see blogs being used more effectively in a classroom setting?
Juliana.
Definitely. If you were to provide a list of templates, with built-in structure based on use intents for beginners you could sell this service. Other value added features could be listing the to dos for getting started, links to topics such as dealing with appropriate use and privacy, might help with marketing too. Teachers want legwork done.
I like your recommendations; they are very useful for a new blogger. But I particularly like the way you used blogging with your mathematics students. I will certainly attempt to use your strategies with my math students. I think they are very good.
I’m taking a break from marking A1 (it’s going well; should be done by the weekend) to blog about blogging. I’ve tried traditional blogging in some serious way at least a half-dozen times, with it never sticking for more than a year. The activity always seemed far too time-consuming and undirected. I also always […]
Continue reading A Humble Metablog Posted in: Week 07: Blogs
this is amazing work David! Thank you for directing us to Gleanr – I too do my blogging just for me, for my internet presence – not sure if anyone reads my stuff, and I’m not sure I care…but my posts are helping me consolidate my learning at the time, and my musings for future reference..but for myself.
I am also going to spend quite a bit of time reading and rereading the Future of Learning in Canada – this is going to help us with our visioning exercises at my office!
Great personal assistant! Great innovation! Thanks for sharing. I spend a lot of time updating social networking sites so I will definately be exploring Gleanr.
Keisha
Thank for introducing us to Gleanr. I plan to explore it and its effectiveness in the classroom.
Before you publish your posting, please make sure that you select a category (eg. Introductions) as well as assign some meaningful tags (keywords).
Deb Giesbrecht 6:50 pm on October 20, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I agree Karen – recordings do not necessarily give you the advantage of skimming without missing something. I have used voicethread in other classes and have found it quite user friendly. I think it has something to do with listening to the sound of your own voice that throws people off. I have noticed though you do have an option to use the video comment function on this blog! Maybe we could all try it at least once!
Juliana 9:14 pm on October 20, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks Karen for your post! I agree with you about written word verus spoken word. You can’t really skim through a speech 😉
Although I do wonder if we defer to text because it is easily searchable for terms. Wouldn’t it be interesting if technology evolves and we can post videos or voice threads, but the computer can do a search for the spoken word? If technology does evolve in such a way, there is the possibility that we won’t be relying on text as much.
Juliana.
Karen Jones 8:13 am on October 21, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Great idea, Juliana! The technology to screen the spoken word has to be around, doesn’t it, no doubt developed as a way to monitor key words in spying applications!
khenry 10:09 am on October 22, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hello Karen I do believe the technology exists as well and if not as you presented at least elemnts of, for example speech recognition. What though of accents?
Kerry-Ann
jenaca 12:08 am on October 21, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hey Karen, I also like to skim through the text versus having to listen to a voice repeatedly until I understand what is being said. However, that being said, I do think that using voice is a great way to change up the over used readings…I sometimes enjoy listening to the radio and hearing what is being said, versus reading the newspaper…Maybe for this class it would be useful to use both? The readings could summarize what the voice recording discussed?
Just a thought
Jenaca
jarvise 8:11 am on October 21, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I’m with you on the skimming. I think it can be accomplished with audio, though. When I skim through a Blueray disk, the name of the ‘chapter’ will appear along the bottom. It would be a cool function (that could make someone some money) to create a skimming tool that highlights (in text) key words at different points along the audio or video track. I often will pass over a podcast if I can’t immediately (within the first few seconds) see that it will have something I’m looking for.
There is definitely a place for audio and video in the context of different learning styles. Now to make it more user-friendly. Perhaps a word cloud generated through the audio clip, so we can see what the main points are going to be?
Emily
Emily
Doug Smith 12:23 pm on October 21, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I must admit that I’m not a big fan of vlog / voicethreads. I think there is a narcissistic trait inherent to them that turns me off. When someone creates a written blog post or comment, there are different ways that I can consume it, in terms of my setting, my timing, my environment. When it comes to a vlog, I get the feeling that it is all about the author/presenter. My consumption is now very much on their terms.
While this likely does not represent the author’s purpose in creating a vlog, it is how I see it after it has passed through my own “Doug” filter.
khenry 10:38 am on October 22, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Doug,
You raise some interesting points. Text indeed offers more neutrality but being a one way conversation implies even greater care (also with voice thread I suppose)) to avoid misinterpretation
Kerry-Ann
Angela Novoa 1:42 pm on October 21, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Karen,
i too agree. I was thinking that by providing different opportunities to fostering different skills we are intending to cover more students’ abilities for achieving the same learning outcomes. For example, those students who have difficulties on writing will have opportunities for enhancing their performance by integrating voice thread to writing (and vice versa).
Angela.
mcquaid 3:10 pm on October 21, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Like Doug, I don’t think I would like a voice-only blog. It would seem like too much work, or that I was being forced to sit and listen instead of choosing to read what I wanted to.
VoiceThread’s cool – I’ve used it before, too… but I wouldn’t blog with it. Plus, how would people with hearing loss do when they visited your site?
I do think voice comments on a blog would be cool, though… to actually get a voice reply from an author when you make a comment? That’d be neat.
verenanz 8:32 am on October 22, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Karen,
I helped my daughter’s kindergarten teacher create her class blog. She used voicethreads often to help the parents and students at home with pronunciation. Like you alluded to…not many people “answered” in an oral form.
This her is blog, check out the “stories”- they are all voicethreads I think..
http://viaud.edublogs.org/
So…I would suggest that this is a great option for a primary school teacher, but it is still teacher focused rather than student focused at this point in time.
Verena:)