lin armstrong. what is a blog? a web page that is like a diary on the internet. it allows people to...

Showcasing blogs as a toolLin Armstrong

What is a blog?A web page that is like a diary on the internet.It allows people to post their thoughts, ideas,

feelings, and photos onto the internet.Anyone can read a blog and make comments.“unedited, published voice of the people”

(Winer, 2003)Winer, D. (2003). What makes a weblog

a weblog?” Weblogs at Harvard Law. Retrieved September 5, 2006 from http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/whatMakesAWeblogAWeblog

My blog linarmstrong@blogspot.com

My other blog at posperous.com

Tried www.blogger.com

 www.edublogs.com

www.livejournal.com

warwickblogs.ac.ukBlogs on moodle

Blogging at NWHCFirst year studentsBlended classroom experimentco-worked with libraryBlogger.com free Module booklet alerted students to topicsNo set wordsNo set stylesBlogger award each term

Why use blogs? Students said..It sets information into my own head and

helps my memory .Every thing I have blogged I have remembered.

Reflection on my findings and it gives structure to save the stuff I have seen

It has made my learning concreteI liked doing it because I only did stuff I was

interested inIt is a good way to nick a load of stuff off

other people’s blog

Why use blogs?I enjoy it for my own benefit it is private and I

write how I speakI like to look back and reflect how I have

gone through stress and transitions. I don’t look at others.

It is good for knowledge on your own terms –dumbing it down.

Why use blogs?Autonomy

Voices

Comprehensible Input

Bridge to context of the course

Connectivity

Vygotski & the ZPD

Motivation

Communicative

Authenticity

Lived Experience

Problems with blogging students said…Overwhelmingly it is timeIt is an added pressure to the courseworkNo one checks so there is no feedbackNo instant answers like face bookDoesn’t enhance learning Does nothing for my learning style as I don’t like to

typePrivacy is a big issue for me ,I don’t know who is

following me or reading what I writeThe tutor can snoop on me and find I am not very

accademic

Zoning in on the ZPDLearning is taking place in the Zone of Proximal

Development which Vygotsky defines as:

. . . the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers.

(Mind in Society, page 86 – italics mine)

Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Massachus

Paulo FreireI have always insisted that words used in organizing a literacy program come from the world universe of the people who are learning, expressing the actual language, their anxieties, fears, demands, dreams. Words should be laden with the meaning of the people’s existential experience, and not of the teacher’s experience.

Freire, Paulo. (1983). The importance of the act of reading. Journal of Education 165 (1): 5 – 11.

Freire, Paulo. (1983). The importance of the act of reading. Journal of Education 165 (1): 5 – 11

What did they blog about?Some blogs from the class.

Blogging helped students

Students wanted blogs to continue Yes 7No 5

Reactions to blogsI just say whatever I want, which is good.

Blogs:Questions & Comments?