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Blogs, Wikis and

Learning TogetherA series of webinars on

Teaching & Learning 2.0 tools

from the NROC Network

Creating, Sharing, Learning Together

How to Participate in this Webinar

• Participate in the conversation by using the chat feature throughout the session

• Presenters will ask and answer questions throughout the session

• Use the conference line for audio – we are not using the TALK feature, (Voice

Over IP) in Elluminate

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Welcome

The NROC Series on Teaching and Learning 2.0

What, why and how of web 2.0

in online education

- Recorded versions of this series available in the NROC Network online community

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Lisa Cheney-SteenCo-Executive Director of Learning Technology,

Colorado Community College System

Rob StephensonE-Learning Architect; Flounder-in-Chief, OpenCourse.org;

Community Manager, Global Education and Learning Community @ Java.net

Webinar 1: Blogs

What’s Teaching and Learning 2.0?

• Using “social software” for education

• More active learning, less “sage on the stage”

• Students learning from each other as well as from professor, textbook, etc.

• Breaking down classroom walls

• Faculty collaborating in creating digital content

Group Learning Technologies

• Email (Listserves)

• Threaded Discussion Groups

• Blogs

• Wikis

• Others (podcasts, vodcasts, &c.)

Email & Listserves

• Disadvantage: No history of past messages• Disadvantage: Lots of distractions

Threaded Discussion Groups

• Part of LMS or e.g. Yahoo! Groups• Has a history• Doesn’t scale to large classes

Limits of Email and Discussion Groups

• Part of the “DarkWeb:” not searchable or visible to outsiders

• Ephemeral: gone by semester’s end

Wikis

• A Wiki is a bunch of editable Webpages• Group writing/editing with history of edits

preserved

Blogs

• A blog is an online diary• A contraction of “weB LOG”

Lisa’s Experience

Blogs - Key Concepts

• A weblog is a log file with dated entries listed on a web page in chronological order

• Maintaining a weblog means continuously writing

new entries which can be categorized under different headlines

• A weblog in itself is not a social or collaborative tool, but is rather individual and point of view

» Adapted from Christian Dalsgaard

Blogs - Characteristics

• Often maintained by a single individual

• Does not support discussion

• Readers may comment on the entries

• Primarily support independent and

individual presentation

» Adapted from Christian Dalsgaard

Top Eight Reasons to Blog

#1 Blogs enlarge the classroom space – you can include more than one class or people outside of the class

#2

• Blogs allow learners to read and comment on each other’s work.

#3• Blogs are a public space. Learners are writing not

just for themselves, but also for other readers. – That also means learners are accountable to

more readers than the faculty.

(from Liz Kleinfield, RRCC faculty, blogger for several years now)

#4

Learner ownership of the space and maybe even the material

– Blogs allow learners to define their own space with

color and pictures– Blogs allow learners to include hyperlinks to

additional material– Blogs pass some control to the learner

#5

Blogs are tools for journaling and reflection

– As such they

encourage critical thinking and more careful analyses of topics

#6

Learners are able to access a record of the course after the term has ended

– This emphasizes that the material the

learner is engaged on is not germane only to that specific course, but to the rest of the learner’s life.

– It gives learners ownership of material after the course ends.

#7

Blogs automatically archive learner work in a searchable format.

#8

Using a technology in the classroom helps learners begin to use that technology outside of the classroom.

Why not Blog?

• The Blogosphere may not feel safe to learners.• Faculty has 2 places to login, 2 to keep track of, etc.• Blogs are yet another technology to break down.

Other Reasons not to?

Thoughts on blogs from Liz Kleinfield:

Thoughts on blogs from Liz Kleinfield:

Every semester, a number of students simply do not blog. (They say) they “forget” about the blogs. When I relied on journals, I always had students “forget” journals, so perhaps there’s just something about reflective work that some students forget.

Should Administrators Blog?

• Blogs help you build community of distant faculty,

particularly adjuncts.

• Blogs help you share information effectively and

efficiently.

– www.CCCOnlineFacultyNews.blogspot.com

– www.CCCOnlineStudentNews.blogspot.com

Goal – Community

How to Blog

Use a free service or upgrade for a small monthly fee -

www.blogger.com

www.typepad.com

CNET has reviewed several services –

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6028_7-6040346.html

Read Blogs –

Creating Passionate Users, Kathy Sierra (Who rides horses) http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/

Using Blogs in Education

Thank you!

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Next in this series…

Wikis

with Lisa Cheney-Steen and Rob Stephenson

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This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License. To view a copy of this license, visit

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 or send a letter to Creative Commons, 559 Nathan Abbott Way, Stanford, California 94305, USA.

NROCNetwork.org/Commons