Blogs

=Basics= A blog is essentially an online diary or daily journal, a weblog, which is organized on a database and can be updated dynamically. Anyone with access to a computer and the internet can have their own blog; you don’t have to be a techno whiz to have one. People who blog are called ‘bloggers’ and when they write in their blog, they are ‘blogging’. Wikipedia describes blogs as “a user-generated website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order.” From research and my own experience, people blog because they want to connect with others who may be in certain, similar situations or to share information. Also, the reach of the internet is worldwide with the possibility of reaching millions of people. As a result, blogs have become more mainstream whose influence has taken off in the past few years. A blogs’ content depends on the blogger and the purpose of the blog. A blog may contain pictures, videos, audio files, and/or movies. There is usually a site header, posts in chronological order (blog content), pages, sidebar navigation which may contain a search tool, archives, category listings, and a blogroll (websites or alternative blogs links). Also, many blogs contain a comments section that allows users or subscribers to comment on a particular blog. One blog that my friends and I visit is www.perezhilton.com. This is a gossip blog and not for children. This blogger has become so popular that the blogger, Mario Lavandeira, has become a celebrity in his own right, is quoted and referenced on some news sites, and makes guest appearances on television news shows. Blogs are also sometimes viewed as filtering through the mass media and getting the word out there directly to the people; whatever word that might be. This can sometimes lead to legal issues, such as slander or and libel.
 * //Give an overview of what the technology is, how it works, who typically uses it, etc.//**

=Teacher-Oriented Uses= //**How would teachers typically use this in ways that are not student-driven (i.e. for presentations, with other teachers, with parents, etc.)? If you have found illustrative websites, please link to them.**//

Blogs provide teachers with a medium for communicating with collegues. Teachers can use blogs as a forum for discussing best practices, collaborating, contributing to lesson studies, posing questions, and communicating frustrations. In some cases blogs serve as reflective journals through which teachers may post wonderings and receive feedback from collegues. The following is an example of teachers using blogs to communicate with one another. http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/blogboard/ In addition, blogs are useful in communicating with students and families. They can be used to post classroom news and updates, inform parents of classroom activities, assignments, expectations, and upcoming events. Depending on a school’s demographics, blogs might be an alternative to the traditional classroom newsletter. To see an example of online classroom visit [|http://blogs.writingproject.org/blogwrite70/.]

=Student-Oriented Uses= //**How might students be asked to use this for learning?**//

Here’s a page of ideas of how students can use blogs to improve their learning experience. http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/techtorial/techtorial037print.shtml. Some examples that stood out include web publishing, conducting and reporting on online research, maintaining reading response journals, completing reflections, communicating with classmates and teachers, and updating a daily journal of the school day’s happenings. Blogs also help improve student writing by motivating them to write more often. It can be argued that students pay more attention to details and writing conventions as they are publishing to a larger audience rather than to only their teacher.

=Resources to Learn More= //**What are some good websites which help build more understanding about this communication tool?**//

Infomational resources: http://www.blogbasics.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog http://www.antonellapavese.com/archive/2006/04/174/

(Here's another I found about [|Using Blogs and Wikis in Education] (Rebecca Frazee)

There are several major blog search engines such as: http://www.technorati.com/ http://www.icerocket.com/ http://www.milblogging.com/ (for military)

=Resources and Examples of Blogs in Education= //**What are some good websites which explain or exemplify how this technology can be used in an educational context?**//

One of the goals of student blogging is to have students become accustomed to writing for a larger audience than just their teacher. However, a drawback to circulating student writing to a larger audience can be a concern for student safety. Oracle has addressed this concern with its think.com (http://www.think.com/en_us/) site dedicated to student blogging within a username/password protected site that only allows access to the school community.

According to Jeff Golub, associate professor of English studies at University of South Florida and technology spokesperson for the National Council of Teachers of English, "Students will write when they have something to say, when they have an audience, and when they get feedback." (http://www.techlearning.com/db_area/archives/TL/2003/02/blogs.php)

One way to use a blog in the classroom is as a communication tool with parents and families. For example, Mrs. Myrmel communicates information about upcoming lessons, assemblies, etc. at her blog: http://blogs.oaisd.org/236. Along the same lines, some teachers who have a classroom blog have their students edit and maintain it: http://www.mpsomaha.org/willow/blog/sanbornstudents/. Alternatively, the virtual aspect of a blog allows it to be unified around a central theme rather than around a classroom. For instance, second graders who study communities as one of their social studies standards can contribute to Kids and Community, a blog based in Ithica, NY, but open to contributors from more than one school.

Bloggers can come from all levels of the education community. One school has developed a blog to document the arrival of a mother duck to their campus: http://duckdiaries.edublogs.org/. Even superintendents have blogs: http://changinghighschools.blogspot.com/index.html.

A comprehensive guide to blogging in education can be found at http://weblogg-ed.com/ from Will Richardson, apparently a widely-recognized leader in the field, despite his ponytail. Teachers wishing to establish blogs in their classrooms or for their studetns have a variety of choices. The aforementioned think.com from Oracle is one free choice. Others include [|edublogs]

=Research on Blogs in Education= //**Locate several articles - scholarly ones published in journals, if possible, which investigate the uses of this technology in education. Cite these, and synthesize interesting findings from at least one of the articles.**//

David Huffaker of Georgetown University has written about the role of blogging in promoting literacy. According to Huffaker, blogs "provide an online venue where self-expression and creativity is encouraged and online communities are built. Therefore weblogs provide an excellent tool where storytelling and literacy advance for both individual expressions and collaborative learning."

Stephen Downes, a Senior Researcher with the E-Learning Research Group in Moncton, New Brunswick Canada references Henry Ferrell (http://www.crokedtimber.org/archives/000516.html) and notes the five major uses for blogs in education are to replace the class Web page, link Internet items that relate to a course, organize class discussions, provide seminars for readings, and write blogs as a part of their own course. When he observed fifth and sixth grade students at the Institut St. Joseph in Quebec City, he noticed both their enthusiasm and surprise at blogs. Instead of a restricted circle, comments about their social studies postings reached readers outside their school. A fifth grade student commented that he was motivated to write because he could exchange his point of view with the rest of the world. Downes also sought Will Richardson, a leading maintainer of the Weblogg-Ed Web site, three-year experiment. Richardson expressed that students are less likely to write when their audience is only their teacher. Richardson added that conversations in blogs are more successful when they are unconstrained; however censorship in schools often prevents them for doing so. Ken Smith, an English teacher at Indiana University, believes that good blogs are not really about writing, but more about listening (reading) to conversations that interests them, write about why it interests them so, and interpreting what it personally means.

Grandview Library Blog (http://www.grandviewlibrary.org/StudentBlogs.aspx) provides an example of how blogs can be implemented at the elementary school level.

[|Stephen Downes, Educational Blogging (PDF Form]) [|SCiS Connections, Wikis and Blogs in the Classroom (PDF Form)]

=References= Standard APA format should be used for information obtained from the internet. Click on the APA link to see the different ways of citing electronic information. List references by alphabetical order.

Basic Citation: Author, A. A. (Date). Title of electronic text [E-text type]. //Web Site Name//. Retrieved on date from location of document

Example: American Psychological Association. (2003). Reference Examples for Electronic Source Materials, [Electronic Version]. //APA Style//. Retrieved on February 2, 2007 from http://www.apastyle.org/elecsource.html

Downes, S. (2004). Educational Blogging, [Electronic Version]. //EDUCAUSE Review,// vol. 39, no. 5 (September/October 2004): 14–26. Retrieved on February 7, 2007 from http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/erm04/erm0450.asp?bhcp=1.

Huffaker, D. (2005). The educated blogger: Using weblogs to promote literacy in the classroom. //AACE Journal,// 13(2), 91-98.

Kasman Valenza, J. (2006). Wikis and Blogs in the Classroom. //SciS Connections//, issue 59, term 4: 2-3. Retrieved on February 7, 2007 from http://www.curriculum.edu.au/scis/connections/cnetw06/connections59.pdf

· Brownstein, E. and R. Klein (2006). "Blogs: Applications in Science Education." __Journal of College Science Teaching__ **35**(6): 18-22. · Catalano, F. (2005). Why Blog? //T.H.E. Journal//. Retrieved June 14, 2006, from http://thejournal.com/articles/17616/. · Ducate, L. C. and L. L. Lomicka (2005). "Exploring the Blogosphere: Use of Web Logs in the Foreign Language Classroom." __Foreign Language Annals__ **38**(3): 410-21 · Martindale, T. and D. A. Wiley (2005). "Using Weblogs in Scholarship and Teaching." __TechTrends Linking Research and Practice to Improve Learning__ **49**(2): 55-61. Krause, S. D. (2005). "Blogs as a Tool for Teaching." __The Chronicle of Higher Education__: B33-5. · Richardson, W. (2005). New Jersey High School Learns the ABCs of Blogging. //T.H.E. Journal//. Retrieved June 14, 2006, from http://www.thejournal.com/articles/17306_2 · Risinger, C. (2006). Using Blogs in the Classroom: A New Approach to Teaching Social Studies with the Internet. //Social education//, 70(3), 130-.
 * Here are some articles I found on blogging in education. I haven't read these, so you might want to review, and summarize the ones you find most useful to add to your sections above. -- Rebecca Frazee**

=Contributing Members= Gavin Kim Jennifer Claire