Incorporating Blogs Into the Syllabus: Making Their Space A Learning Space.
by. R. Glass and M. Spiegelman
400 word maximum. Due 1/23
Abstract
Blogs (weblog) are the interactive medium of the web. A particular component of what is known today as Web 2.0, they are used heavily by journalists, news agencies and experts. Our students use blogs to interact in social network environments such as MySpace and leave comments on topics important to them. Blogs allow an asynchronous threaded discussion through the use of posts and comments. The natural question is How can we in academia use this technology to enhance the student learning experience and extend the student-faculty contact zone?.
The presenters will focus on how blogs may be implemented to create a learning space where students collaborate with their peers and instructor. Blogs extend the contact zone of the classroom to an online forum where the "we’ll get back to that" and the "look that up" questions are explored. The technology permits students to interact, augment the learning process and research obvious or tangential course topics in a social-networking environment with which they were familiar. New findings are reported in the virtual classroom or in the physical one, while questions and comments are posted for the entire class to read. The pedagogical use of this technology allows the instructor to cover certain topics asynchronously, which frees up time for more complex topics and discussions during face-to-face lectures. Alternatively, the modality may be used with CMS environments such as WebCT, where the asynchronous interaction is paramount.
The presentation will showcase and demonstrate the authors' implementation of course blogs in two disciplines. Actual and anecdotal evidence will document how students benefited from the new learning activities and how the curriculum was enhanced with assignments and discussions normally difficult to incorporate in the traditional lecture. Handouts with configuring instructions for a blog will be distributed which will allow participants to incorporate a blog into their syllabus in a timely and efficient manner.
Blurb for Conference Program
50 words
This presentation explores how blogs enhanced learning and teaching in different disciplines. Course blogs allowed students and faculty to explore additional material, learn new presentation techniques and enhance knowledge of Web 2.0 tools.
Conference themes most applicable
6. Social Networking, Collaboration, and Sharing
During the past few years there has been a surge in interest in internet programs that fall under the general category of social networking. The most obvious social applications are those used by our students, such as FaceBook, MySpace, Flickr, and Friendster. Other examples that seem to fall under the general category of social networking software would be blogs, plogs (project logs), vlogs (video logs), Wikipedia, wiki textbooks, RSS feeds, social tagging, podcasts, and E-Portfolios. Despite the popularity of these programs, there has been relatively little discussion of how they might be used individually for education, and even less about how they might be integrated to produce a new type of learning space. The goal of this track is to explore the educational affordances and constraints of these social approaches.
* Digital Repositories
* MySpace, Facebook
* E-Portfolios
* Blogging, Wikis, etc.
* Learning Space Design with Technology
4. Exploring and Implementing Emerging Technologies
Emerging technologies play an important role in providing new tools for empowering learners. Topics expected in this track include:
* New Tools and Methods for Managing Information
Information overload is a consequence of living in a digital world and it is a persistent and ubiquitous problem. What are the strategies and tools we can use to organize and make sense of a digital morass?
* Web 2.0
Web 2.0 promises to change the web from a collection of static information pages to a full-fledged application environment. How do these tools create efficiencies and enhance our productivity? How can we use them to design and develop new learning activities for our students?
* Mobile-education
Mobile education is an education without walls. It presumes the peripatetic student who is not necessarily classroom or even institutionally bound. What tools do we use to meet the needs of an increasingly mobile population? What ramifications does this mobility have on our conceptions of education and the institutions that deliver it?
* Libraries
Libraries have always been the bedrock of the academy where learning and books were synonymous. The digital world has challenged the figurative and literal place of libraries within institutions of higher learning. How are libraries reinventing and redefining themselves to meet this challenge?
* Learning Commons
Digital technologies allow us to connect, share and collaborate in ways that were previously only theoretically possible. What are the examples of learning commons in development? How do they affect our notions of how students learn and how teachers and institutions can best serve those learning processes?
* Simulations and Gaming
Game theory is all the rage. Heuristic or trial-and-error learning that goes on in game play defines the habits of today’s students. How are we adapting our teaching to our students’ proficiencies.
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