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