Enter the Blogosphere

Find out how Weblogs can be used in Education

This was the topic of todays Lunch and Learn session in SDU, a 1 hour session where lunch was served, information provided, and questions answered.


Blog or Blogs is a word you probably hear from time to time, I was reading so and so’s blog; there was an interesting discussion on this blog; I’ve just blogged about that; I’m blogging about....

People talk about blogs, they mention blogs, they own blogs, and blogs seem to cover a variety of topics, the blogging phenomenon seems to be everywhere!

but What Exactly are Blogs?
Well the term Blog is a shortened form of the word weblog. An online space for the written word, each entry is called a post, and when submitted is automatically time stamped. These are organised reverse chronologically, so that the latest post is at the top.

Blogs also allow readers to leave comments about individual posts, enabling conversations to take place about the topics blogged about.


Why do people Blog?
People blog for a variety of reasons: to Share thoughts and opinions on a topic; to keep a diary or journal; to communicate with family and/or friends.
Some people describe a need to share; many wannabe writers use blogs to get themselves known or simply to have a voice – after all, a blog can be a personal publishing medium; some blog to eliminate frustration through the process of writing things down, getting them out there; people also blog to create social connections, meeting other people through blog comments; and some simply because its Fun!


As 5th Grader Dominic says:
"Blogging is an opportunity to exchange our point of view with the rest of the world not just people in our immediate environment"
in Educational Blogging, Educause 2004

Blog and connect with a large number of people.


What makes Blogs powerful?

The Connections!

The links within the posts, to articles, websites, other Blogs, these connections are particularly useful, readers do not need to go to a search engine to find out more, the links are right there in the text. They can be referencing other peoples blogs, or perhaps providing contextual information to what you are talking about on your Blog.

But the connection of people really makes blogging powerful.

People leave comments on blogs, leaving their opinion, the author may comment back, a discussion make take place in the comment area of the post, I’ve certainly been involved in this. This discussion may lead the author to re-post, taking into account other peoples opinions and reforming their argument.

When you add a comment to a Blog post, you have the opportunity to link to your own website or Blog. This enables other people who particularly like your comments to go and see your Blog and read more about what you have to say.

Its easy to follow links from one blog to the next to the next in a neverending series of connections. Each time coming across new content and ideas. Forming connections across a number of Blogs, by linking to eachother, commenting on eachothers Blogs, creating an informal network.

This is when you truly "Enter the Blogosphere!"

Interestingly enough, "People typically find blogs through other blogs they are reading, through friends or colleagues telling them about their blogs or those of others." (Nardi & Schiano)

Its time to introduce the element of RSS, something very powerful, and always associated with Blogs. There are actually two definitions for this, the one we tend to use, Really Simple Syndication, and Rich Site Summary.

Now the words themselves don’t really explain a lot, but, the process of RSS is to create a feed – a summary with links back to the source - from your blog of the most recent posts (or a certain number depending how it has been set up), which can be subscribed to by readers. (Using Feed Readers/Aggregators)

Why?
Because instead of having to go and check all the blogs that you are interested in to see if there is a new post, your feed reader will tell you when something is new. Information coming to you, rather than you having to go to it.


and How are Blogs relevant to Education?

In education blogs can be useful to keep a daily or weekly progress report, on study, on a project, on a class, as a reflective journal.

To Communicate opinions, research, reflection.

There can be class blogs, staff blogs, student blogs, community blogs, the possibilities are endless!

Blogs encourage Students to write, the more you write the more your style is defined, and your writing improves.

A conclusion from one Blogging study was that:
"From a junior scholar’s point of view, blogging can be an excellent method for developing and sustaining a confident and clear voice of one’s own and the ability to formulate and stand by opinions." T.Mortensen, & J.Walker

There are several examples of students using Blogging during the composition of their PHD's, documenting their research, their thoughts, their ideas.

T.Mortensen, & J.Walker concluded "that writing the thesis became easier and the writing more focused after we started blogging."

And Blogging in education is not just for students, blogging can be useful for staff as well, possibilities include reflection on classes, on teaching practice, for use with research.

During this session a handout was provided with many links to examples and articles used to create the presentation materials, i link to this information here: http://learninglab.swan.ac.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=blogosphere


Can you see a use for Blogs? Within your Teaching? Research?