Blogs for teaching

Glenn (2003) discusses at length some of the uses of blogs by academics and scholars. He comments that some of the arguments in favour of blogging, cited by academics, are the freedom of tone, opportunity to interact with diverse audiences, and the speed of feedback. Glenn’s (2003) article provides numerous examples from academic blogs – the URL is cited in the References.

Glenn, D. (2003), ‘Scholars Who Blog’, The Chronicle of Higher Education, retrieved 2nd Dec 2011http://chronicle.com/article/Scholars-Who-Blog/26716

tutor's epistemic culture influences how they use ICT tools.

The role of professional identity in patterns of use of multiple‐choice assessment tools

[PDF] from hio.noM Johannesen… - Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 2010 - Taylor & FrancisThis article uses the notion of professional identity within the framework of actor network
theory to understand didactic practices within three faculties in an institution of higher
education.
The VLE such as Moodle is presented as a co-construction tool for learning and in most institutions it is seen as innovative peadagogic practice and efficient organisation of notes and lectures.On the VLE there are tools for multiuple choice assesments, tutors usually put in a few questions and answers that the students can access and try to complete over and over again.
This study asked tutors from 3 faculties engineering nursing and education what they see as useful about the multiple choice tool.The big findings was that tools are used according to tutor's beliefs.

educational outcomes for using blogs

Baggetun and Wasson (2006), suggest individual ownership is one of the most important features of a blog. Their study on peer feedback on blogs, in an advanced German course, relies on the use of blogs to support usual teaching, providing a more efficient way of learning. The study focused on analysis of content rather than context of the blog, i.e. what was being blogged rather than the experience of the learner. Using a knowledge log either to review what has been read or learnt has potential to provide useful instructions to prepare learners for an exam or assessment. This kind of instructional blogging was seen to be useful (Brescia & Miller, 2006) and further supported by Chen and Bonk (2008), whose survey and case study of 51 postgraduates in China, used blogs to reflect on each other’s learning. The learners reported improved literacy skills  (although attention to the emotional content of learning was not pursued to any great extent). The study revealed an important point about how deep learning can be obtained via externalizing views and obtaining peer feedback comments might potentially have been modified to suit tutor needs. 

cultural studies about blogs.

http://www.ifets.info/journals/13_2/8.pdf

oh, J.W.P., Quek, C. J., & Lee, O. K. (2010). An Investigation of Students' Perceptions of Learning Benefits of Weblogs in an East Asian Context: A Rasch Analysis. Educational Technology & Society, 13 (2), 90–101.


This paper argues that blogs are different things to different cultures. The research was carried out with Asian Chinese students who found the blogs were good for de-personalisation ,collaboration and getting items shared efficiently.This is actually similar to all other studies that speak about how students felt about blogs.

Two papers discussing the learning theory in using technology

Järvelä, S., Näykki, P., Laru, J., & Luokkanen., T. (2007). Structuring and Regulating Collaborative Learning in Higher Education with Wireless Networks and Mobile Tools. Educational Technology & Society, 10 (4), 71-79.

This paper discusses the use of mobile  tools to create collaborative learning, The three research projects in  Higher Education ensure collaborative face to face and classroom experiences are blended by encouraging the students to create mind maps and visuals from their  university lectures. The results show that students’ cognitive activities, such as metacognition and reflection, were stimulated by focusing on questions about the content of the lecture. This kind of learning tool can be used for compensating weak study skills in different domains .

The interesting thing abut this paper is the idea of a mobile learner that can post at any time when ready and actually scaffold other’s learning by their own interests and input to the course. They call this Self-regulated learning using Wireless networks. They argue there is little detail about learning theory to the innovative and new gadgets and want their paper to give

“detailed arguments as to what are these new opportunities in terms of learning interaction and collaboration and what are the exact processes that mobile tools can scaffold.”However they just  come up with self -regulated and collaborative learning theory.No mention of connectivism.

Most papers I have read about blogging have the tutor setting how much blogging is to be done . “a set of instructions prescribing how students should perform in groups, how they should interact and collaborate and how they should solve the problem” (Dillenbourg, 2002, p. 63),

My study with blogs will actually have no rules because this could lead to better more independent learners. Self-regulated learners take charge of their own learning by choosing and setting goals, using individual strategies in order to monitor, regulate and control the different aspects influencing the learning process and evaluating his or her actions. Eventually, they become less dependent on others and on the contextual features in a learning situation.

Dillenbourg, P. (2002). Over-scripting CSCL: The risks of blending collaborative learning with instructional design. In P. A. Kirschner (Ed.), Three worlds of CSCL. Can we support CSCL,. Heerlen: Open Universiteit Nederland, 61- 91

ICT impacts on learners if a tutor joins in.

I wonder what the literature says about privacy and identity when using blogs? Fresen (2001) would say the relationship between the students on line abd their tutor is vital and staff interactionh is one of the key factors in student engement. When using a blog tool it is for information disemination and to encourage interaction between students.Content and the way the communication flows can be studied to make theory about how the learner uses them ,how they engage in their course or not..But if better staff engagement leads to better student engagement staff should be recognised for working outside hours and be able to record the interactions on their lesson planning.This is where innovation is ahead of developments in the institution and this creates a duality where blogging is seen as excellent practice but not a recognised practice.
I have noticed all teaching staff use the LMS learning management system Moodle.
Malikowski,Thompson and Theis (2007)say in their study teaching staff tend to adopt LMS features along a continum begining with content diseminationfeatures and moving tomore complex features as they gain experience w
ith the new medium.So blogs can be used badly as a push tool and aimed at just students when other staff ,quite rightly, refuse to use their leisure time for unpaid work.
According to Dawson and Mc William (2008)acccademics are not always ready for communicative practices and of course it is not the quantity of posts but the quality thaqt aids good communication that pokes others into thinking.Quality could be "engaged learning ,learning that leads to student involvement,motivating students to learn duee to the environment and activities being meaningful"   Kersley and Schneiderman (199 pg1)
Malikowski, S., M. Thompson, et al. (2007). “A model for research into course management systems: bridging technology and learning theory.” Journal of Educational Computing Research 36(2): 149-173.

good pdf about technology on line learning

http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Aug_04/Aug_04.pdf