A blog is more than the online equivalent of a personal journal. Though consisting of regular updates, the blog adds to the form of the diary by incorporating the best features of hypertext: the capacity to link to new and useful resources. Blog posts are short, informal, sometimes controversial, and sometimes deeply personal, no matter what topic they approach.
9-11 and Blogs
Blogs came into their own only after the events of September 11, 2001. Blogging not only allowed us access to the event; it made us part of the event. And with that, the form had indeed finally come into its own.
In general, ‘blog’ used to mean a personal online diary, typically concerned with boyfriend problems or techie news. But after September 11, a slew of refocused media junkie/political sites reshaped the entire Internet media landscape. Blog now refers to a Web journal that comments on the news—often by criticizing the media and usually in rudely clever tones—with links to stories that back up the commentary with evidence.
Students' opinion on Blogging
Blogs and Education
Ø Teachers and schools are starting to experiment with the technology as a way to communicate with students and parents. Blogs are used to archive and publish student work, learn with collaborators, and manage the knowledge that members of the school community create.
Ø Bloggers are doing the same whether they are warbloggers working as professional journalists or teenage high school students worried about their final exams, they use blog to link to their friends and comment on what they’re doing.
Ø Weblogs break down barriers. They allow ideas to be based on merit, rather than origin, and ideas that are of quality filter across the Internet.
Ø Blogs allow readers to hear the day-to-day thoughts of presidential candidates, software company executives, and magazine writers, hear opinions of people they would never otherwise hear. Blogs leads to better understanding of people (and students as part), away from the media/politic.
Five Major Uses for Blogs in Education.( Crooked Timber’s Henry Farrell)
First, teachers use blogs to replace the standard class Web page. Instructors post class times and rules, assignment notifications, suggested readings, and exercises. Students would find nothing unusual in this use of the blog. The instructor, however, finds that the use of blogging software makes this previously odious chore much simpler.
Second, Instructors begin to link to Internet items that relate to their course.
Third, blogs are used to organize in-class discussions. The conversation possible on the weblog is also an amazing tool to develop our community of learners. The students get to know each other better by visiting and reading blogs from other students. They discover, in a non-threatening way, their similarities and differences. It puts students in a situation of equity.
Fourth, some instructors are using blogs to organize class seminars and to provide summaries of readings. It becomes much easier for the professor and students to access the readings for a particular week.
Finally, fifth, students may be asked to write their own blogs as part of their course grade. Students read a chunk of a book and post two paragraphs of their thoughts on the reading.
Blogs are so attractive because…
What makes blogs so attractive, in both the educational community and the Internet at large, is their ease of use. These tools offer a new and powerful toolkit for the support of collaborative and individual learning that adheres to the patterns of contemporary information-intensive work and learning outside of formal educational settings
¨ Blog software comes with a personal Website for those who don’t already have one.
¨ The software captures your words in dated entries, maintaining a chronological archive of prior entries.
¨ In the spirit of sharing inherent to Net culture, the software and the personal Websites are usually free.
¨ Teacher can customize some of the features, rather than having to write something from the ground up.
¨ They are also able to set up an additional security system. A private blog, viewable only by the teacher and a singular student, can be set up this way. This allows the student and teacher to have a private means of feedback, as opposed to the public blog open to the public.
Despite the risks, teachers and students alike feel the benefits make blogging well worthwhile, if for no other reason than that blogs encourage students to write. The impact of the blogs on students’ life is that they write a lot more. The also pay more attention when I write in my blog (especially my spelling) since I know anybody can read my posts.
Extra articles
Ellison, N., & Wu, Y. (2008). Blogging in the Classroom: A Preliminary Exploration of Student Attitudes and Impact on Comprehension. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 17(1), 99-122. Retrieved April 11, 2009, from Education Full Text database.
This exploratory study explores student perceptions of blogging in the classroom regarding (a) which specific characteristics of educational blogging (writing an entry, reading other students' blogs, or reading other students' comments on one's blog) are most helpful for understanding course content and (b) other aspects of the instructional blogging experience, such as the process of providing and receiving peer feedback.
Fessakis, G., Tatsis, K., & Dimitracopoulou, A. (2008). Supporting "Learning by Design" Activities Using Group Blogs. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 11(4), p. 199-212. Retrieved April 11, 2009, from Education Full Text database.
A group of students used a blog as a communication and information management tool in the University course of ICT-enhanced Geometry learning activities. The analysis of the designed learning activities, the blog content and log files, as well as the points of view of the students (via a questionnaire and a group interview)
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