Report on Blogs in Education

EDU5471
Assignment 1 – 2a
Dean Carelse
Report
Blogs in Education

· The use of blogs in Education
· Comparison of blogs to other forms of electronic communications
· Examples of the use of blogs to enhance teaching or learning
· Blogs integrated into the learning process

Introduction
This document will discuss the use of blogs in Education and how they are being used as a communication tool to manage the knowledge that members of the school community create. It will provide comparisons between blogs and other electronic forms used for communication. It will further provide examples of how blogs can be used to enhance teaching and learning in the Educational setting and finally how blogs form an integral part of the learning process with considerations for pedagogical practice.

Why use blogs in Education?
Since the beginning of weblogs in 1997, their purpose has been to provide an opportunity for people to communicate without boarders and a means to convey thoughts, either those of a personal nature or general commentary. With the result, communities of different genres have emerged providing for different areas of interest with an easy to use interface. “ … Blogger itself places no restrictions on the form of content being posted. Its web interface, accessible from any browser” (Blood, 2000, p. 3). This presents the ideal platform to be used as a means of communication within the education setting.

Blogs in Education
The use of blogs in Education is a tool that provides access and ease of use to both student and teacher. For the teacher these are some of the uses a blog provides a platform for: networking, personal knowledge sharing, delivering instructional tips for students, course announcements, readings and knowledge management. Some of the uses for the students include; reflective or journal writing, knowledge management, assignment submission and review, dialogue for groupwork, e-portfolios and the sharing of course related resources (“Blogs in Education,” n.d.).
Educators are using blogs to motivate students and build online collaboration which enhances learning opportunities. Comments recorded from educators raise the point that students who believed that they did not do much reading and writing outside of the school, realized that they did not associate the fact that sending e-mails and surfing the internet were actually reading and writing. The difference is that one is fun while the other is considered work. “… we need to make them connect what they do for fun with writing and reading and learning. Weblogs can do that” (“Kairosnews” n.d.)

By becoming active participants in blogging, students are developing both literary and academic attributes that allow them to “exercise critical thinking, take creative risks, make sophisticated use of language and design elements” (“Shefler” n.d., para. 1). This is a life long skill that students begin to develop and something that they will use both in school and later in life. Through engaging in this form of communication students are sharing meaning and understanding that is building on the knowledge that they already have. This knowledge increases as comments are evaluated and new perspectives formed until the concept has been thoroughly explored (“Cross”, n.d.).
Teachers are using blogs to assist in communication with students, parents and peers. Through one URL all participants can access, read and comment on any particular thread, anywhere anytime. This creates an online community where knowledge and information is shared and managed.

Comparing blogs and other forms
In comparing blogs to other forms of electronic communication such as e-mail, a distinct difference is noticed with the way in which information is shared.
Farmer (2005, Introduction, para. 3) states the following:
RSS has allowed for the introduction of an entirely new mode of communication and interaction with information artefacts. As, almost without exception in higher education, online asynchronous communication has taken place either through email or discussion boards, these aspects are best illustrated by comparison:

With e-mail the person posting the e-mail has control over the communication and exhibits a sense of ownership over the discussion. The information is not permanent and is usually not archived and therefore is of limited value with regards to communication that is meant to provide cognitive presence, Anderson (cited in Farmer 2005).
In order to access information on discussion boards the user must login on line to retrieve the information and interact with it. Discussion boards differ from e-mail in that information is now fixed and archived in one place, although, in order to interact with it the user must login to a specific area.

Figure 3 above illustrates the different attributes of blogs compared to e-mail and discussion boards. The user can select from where to receive the information. It is always displayed in one area and provides for easy access and response to postings. “As a result of these communicative attributes, blogs have been used in educational settings in a number of different roles which have both extended upon and in some instances replaced existing online communication tools” (Farmer, 2005, Introduction, para. 7).

Examples of blogs
Following are some examples of how teaching and learning in the school are being enhanced through the use of blogs. A middle school teacher from California explains that the use of blogs “… allow her to differentiate instruction. She can deliver the help that one student needs without it being obvious to anyone else…" (“How Educators,” 2005, para. 4). She has also found that students produce better quality writing because they know that what they post will be accessible to all to read.

This article is an example of how a blog provided the platform for a project from South Valley Jr High in Liberty, Missouri to come to fruition. An eighth grade history teacher wanted to do a unit on the American Civil War, incorporating all three hundred students in the eighth grade. The idea of a book club through which to do the project seemed an impossible task, so he decided to set up a blog for the project. This would provide access to all students 24/7 where they could engage in discussion, post comments and thoughts. The Author of the book, Pat Hughes, joined in the blog discussion answering questions each day. The project was a huge success with the result that the school plans on running the project again in 2007-2008.
The blog address is: http://www.guerrillaseason.blogspot.com/
There is a short three minute video file presented by the teacher of the project which can be found at: http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=c4d7336496819a46a1b6

Duck Diaries http://duckdiaries.edublogs.org/ is an example where an event in a school had been recorded, in this case it’s about a duck that decided to build its nest in the playground of a K-8 school. The effort that was put into this blog won the 2006 Edublog Star Award. In the kindergarten class, where students study a letter of the alphabet each week, the teacher rewrites the lyrics of a song embedding the letter for that week around the duck. The blog inspired other classes to contribute to the blog, with a grade one class contributing the designs of a ducks nest. Contributions came from other classes in the form of hand drawn and computer generated art works. In a literary class a fictional or non fictional story is written about the duck. The new visitor also became the subject of a science life cycle class, where the science curriculum is based on the inquiry approach to teaching and this situation fitted in well with the requirements of the inquiry approach.

Pedagogical practice
“Surface learning is characterised by the approach of the learner to complete only the minimum content necessary to meet assessment requirements… Conversely, deep learning is how learners stand back from an experience, seek out connections between concepts, and contextualise meaning” Rosie (cited in Bartlett-Brag 2003, Blogs in education, para. 3). Using blogs develops these concepts.

Students are exposed to a real audience when they publish their writings on a blog and are involved in a collaborative environment where they give and receive feedback on their work. This provides authentic experiences for the student as this is a similar process to the professional writer’s workshop, Kennedy (cited in Bartlett-Brag 2003).
As a research journal tool the blog provides “… interconnectivity between sharing ideas and highlighting issues as the researcher develops their theses” (Bartlett-Brag 2003, “Research journal,” para. 1). Researches use the blog as a sounding board for ideas they are developing and sharing these with their colleagues for critique before publishing their paper. This form of reflective learning leads to deeper learning and understanding where the learner is able to stand back and form connections between concepts, Rosie (cited in Bartlett-Brag 2003). As emerging scholars across the curriculum blogs provide students with an arena for constructive, collaborative and reflective learning that increases the knowledge base of all participants.

Conclusion
This report has presented information relating to the use of blogs in education and their potential as a valuable learning and teaching tool that aids in the development of cognitive processes. Although blogs are reasonably new to the education setting, it is hoped that this report will give due credit to the value and potential that blogs have to offer students in contemporary classrooms. With the constant exposure to technology this concept is not restricted to upper primary or secondary schools only, but also to the lower grades who are discovering the many uses of the computer. The development of a knowledge community involves participants at all levels and includes all parties.

References:
Bartlett-Brag, A. (2004). Blogging to learn. Retrieved 23 April, 2007 http://resources.flexiblelearning.net.au/resources?14@204.7evtamDmceb.0@.ee818e0

Blogs in Education. (n.d.). Retrieved April 22, 2007 from http://awd.cl.uh.edu/blog/

Blood, R. (2000, September 7). weblogs: a history and perspective. Retrieved April 20, 2007, from http://www.rebeccablood.net/essays/weblog_history.html

Cross, J. (n.d.). Retrieved April 22, 2007 from http://weblogg-ed.com/why-weblogs/

Duck Diaries (2006). Retrieved April 24, 2007 from http://duckdiaries.edublogs.org/

Farmer, J. (2005). Incorporated subversion. Retrieved April 22, 2007 from http://incsub.org/blog/2005/blogs-anywhere-high-fidelity-online-communication

Guerrilla season book blog project (2006). Retrieved April 23, 2007 from http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=c4d7336496819a46a1b6

How Educators are using blogs (2005). Retrieved April 22, 2007 from http://www.intel.com/education/projects/news/vol_05/elementary2.htm

Kairosnews. (n.d.). Retrieved April 22, 2007 from http://weblogg-ed.com/why-weblogs/

Shefler, L. (n.d.). Retrieved April 22, 2007 from http://weblogg-ed.com/why-weblogs/