Blogs are very much a part of today's popular culture. You'll find bloggers of all ages and backgrounds blogging for a variety of reasons on an endless array of topics.
The questions I have for each of you:
How do you think you could implement blogging within one of your courses? What challenges do you anticipate?
With a little help with the setup, I think I can manage a blog for the on-line courses. The challenge will be to convince students to contribute. Some older students are still afraid of using the new technology features or they just don’t believe in them. Doina
I think that setting up a blog in a course would be a great way for students to lend support to each other. It could be a place where they feel free to express their concerns about the course. Used this way, the instructor would check in every so often to monitor how things are going and offer advice / feedback as needed.
Used another way, the blog could also be an integral part of the course discussion.
Oh, anticipated challenges. Students would need to know that they are held to the same standards in a blog as they are in a f2f class, on a forum, in a chat, etc. Unprofessional comments should not be tolerated.
I would need some help with setup also but I would like students to blog about the course: the assignments, readings,exams,and service learning activities so that I could keep a pulse on what they are thinking. I would check it once a week, telling them I am doing that, and hold them to the same professional standards as in a f2f class as Carol noted. If it started to become solely a gripe session, then I would be able to respond with explanations or some changes. I believe there is often misunderstandings about the course and its requirements and I believe a blog would help correct that more quickly than in a f2f class.
Blogging would be helpful in child psychology, students who take the course often come from a diverse background, blogging would be a nice way for them to interact, especially about the assignments.
I like the idea of using a blog as a reading journal, but I think I'd like to have all the students be authors on one central blog (like this) instead of having each student create an individual blog. The interaction is good, and useful, but my worry is: who has time to read what everyone else has written? Do they? Do I? Do we add that requirement on top of everything else (reading literature, writing papers) we'd normally require in the class? Or do we eliminate something else?
Perhaps blogging could be included as a tool for communication rather than a required (and assessed) activity. It would be necessary for students to understand that any communication between them needs to be appropriate and in preparation for the profession. Lee's question regarding time, in my opinion, also applies to students....how can they keep up with the increasing requirements and still do quality work?
I think I would like to use it more as a means of communications about their thoughts and ideas about the course management as opposed to content of material. In my last (and only) f2f class I needed a better line of communication among and between students and myself. Email worked well as a one on one but class comments regarding assessments, assignments, demands on time, and so forth seemed to lag and fester. Perhaps blogging would be a way to shortcut the process.
I think a blog would be an excellent addition/tool for the internship class. The students are writing journals as part of the course, so a blog could be another way for them to accomplish this requirement. Of course, I would need to establish some parameters (as others have mentioned) so that it does not become a dumping ground. The intent would be for peer-to-peer learning. My concern/challenge would be disclosure of information. Some students work for large companies and they forget their audience at times when they share about their experiences.
Using blogs for a class can work very well, and in fact can be a powerful tool. Like any other teaching tool or technique, the blog requires careful thought and planning. Lee (as seconded by Cathy) makes an extremely good point. Who has time to read all this stuff? If you don’t plan to make this a significant part of the course, then you won’t have time for all the reading. In f2f parlance, the Forum more or less assumes the place of class discussion. The blog can take the place of outside journals or of response papers, or even of short essays.
The most success that I’ve had with blog has been in travel courses. Students have the assignment to blog regularly (3x per week) plus they are required to respond to other student postings. These blogs represent a big part of the process for students of acclimating to a new culture and dealing with all the issues (intellectual and emotional) that come with travel study. They also have specific questions to deal with, so the academic element remains important. But, for travel courses, I am only teaching one class, so I have the time to read all blogs, keep current with them, and make responses in comments to many of the student blogs (or student comments on other blogs). When this works well, the results are well worth the effort. And, yes, I confess to having attempted blogging in some classes where the result has been desultory at best.
Dennis Jerz is a great resource on this, and has readily helped me set up any number of blogs. He has, BTW, just received the John Lovas Award for best Academic Blog. This is a very big deal, and I’m sure all of you will join me in congratulating Dennis.
As I have also indicated in my Tech Tools posting, I see real potential in using blogs because of their diary-like nature. As is well known, a classic tack for spiritual growth is journal reflection. Thus, perhaps I could invite the students in a philosophy or theology course to select one "big question" issue at the outset of the course, and wrestle with it throughout via their blog. By way of challenges, I would first off need to develop some proficiency with blogging independent of course design and delivery. This is the case since I am completely devoid of any experience with blogs/blogging. Does anyone have a suggestion on how or where I could begin my blogging venture?
I think blogs would be useful to permit an ongoing discussion of the course as such. People could express thoughts and questions about the bookkeeping matters and have them locate din a central place so that everyone can stay on the same page, as it were, as the course developed throughout the semester. The challenge of using a blog is that students do not see blogs as on the same level as papers and subsequently do not put in the same effort and do not produce the same quality.
Now that I actually know what a blog is and have seen them and read about them, I feel a blog can be a very effective discussion tool. Most of the younger students should already have a comfort level with blogging. Even if they don't it should not be a problem for them to catch on quickly.
I think I will use a blog to discuss current events or other major issues in criminal justice as well as court decisions.
One challenge may be that some of the older students or even younger non computer savvy students may have anxiety using a blog.
Another challenge is will students take blogging assignments seriously and finally, will blogging open up the door for inappropriateness.
I have been wrestling with this weblog idea over the last week. Dennis is an outstanding and patient resource. I can see how it could be useful in the Religion in America course as a way of posting and responding to posts about "sightings of religion" in all the kaleidoscopic variety that offers. This is actually exciting to think about, at times. At other times it seems overwhelming on two levels. One, many of you have commented about - time commitment is overwhelming, especially at first with a learning curve. The second is the intense agoraphobia, for lack of a better term, that I deal with even in a traditional classroom; the www is one really big agora... While weblogs give one time to think about and edit writing, it also dramatically increases the time commitment because of that element. I am grateful for this course to push me past my comfort level in so many ways.
I think blogging become increasingly important for students as students are taught to become more and more expository. I know this sounds a little cantankerous, but 'take the cotton out of your ears and put it in your mouth' seems to have been replaced by this notion that everybody has something worth saying all of the time. We now have keyboards on us 24/7. Does that mean we should be using them constantly? I'm not so sure it is, but I think that students exposing themselves to a wide audience teaches them experiential lessons, like what is and isn't worth putting out there for the world to see. The blogosphere can be a pretty critical place, and blogging is a good way to find out that the words they type have real power.
Blogs may be very much a part of today's popular culture, but I’m definitely behind the curve on blogging. The biggest challenges that I anticipate would be my lack of familiarity with blogging. I am unfamiliar with blogging etiquette (or netiquette) and language/terms. I am a fast learner and even though I have not had much experience with blogging, I would not hesitate to try to implement blogging within one of my online courses. I would learn as I go and once I become familiar with blogging, I’m sure it will be a useful tool for online instruction.
I kind of like the organization of the forum and threads. The comments go with the thread and comment they are related to. Possibly sequential is an okay form of organization, but does a blog get unweildly with a lot of people blogging about different topics in the same space?
After reading through the comments of past participants, I am getting a lot of good ideas. I tend to agree with folks like Lee who suggest that one interactive blog would be the most effective tool. As a writing teacher, I want to encourage students to express their ideas often and freely through drafting, free-writing, brainstorming, and so, in this way, a low stakes interactive forum such as a central class blog would give them a venue for this. At the same time, I do not want to merely increased the quantity of what they write for the sake of using such a forum. I would need to be mindful of creating purposeful assignments and prompts to encourage students to express their ideas but to do so in a reflective and deliberate way.
I guess I'm also wondering, if I were to use a blog as we are using this one, how is it different from using the Discussion Forum on GriffinGate?
The course I am looking at putting on-line components into is a class for any student who has been placed on Academic Probation. I am hesitant to use blogs with this class due to confidentiality for the student. Probation student do not want anyone to know they are on probation or taking the class. It takes about 3-4 weeks for students to be somewhat comfortable being in class and to begin talking/sharing in class. Some are never comfortable, never talk in class. I have come to respect that each student is going to handle being on probation in their own way. I would be concerned that if I set up a blog, someone outside of the class would be able to gain access? Now, I am a "newbie" to blogs so I don't know if there is a way to block all access except to those you invite? This would be the only way I would feel comfortable asking students to blog for the class. I can see using the Discussion Forum on G.G. since that is limited to only those in the class. I think I have an obligation to protect the privacy of the probation students when looking at technology to use for the class and I am not convinced blogs would allow me an appropriate level of privacy.
I like the idea of using blogs in writing courses because of their public nature. Students often tend to see writing as something they have to do for the teacher/course, rather than as a tool for communicating. Understanding that their writing is seen by others could be a powerful, though possibly scary, experience for them. I would probably want to have students use blogs in a reflective way, as many have posted; they could discuss essays read or follow up on class activities or discussion. I like the idea of a class blog, but does that allow for the individual construction of knowledge and "meaning making" that the book talks about?
I think my biggest challenge would be to encourage students to make their blogs more thoughtful and critical. One of my biggest criticisms of blogs is that many that I've seen, SHU students' and others', tend to not show any real reflection or growth; rather they just seem to be used as a platform for expressing a set opinion that often seems to not be well-supported. I hate to be negative, and have seen some excellent blogs. I think I would definitely have to explore more to find good examples for students. I guess I'm again struggling with what seems to me to be somewhat of a conflict between setting guidelines for blogs or assessing them and really allowing the learner the sense of "empowerment through expression" the book states is a primary benefit to blogging.
I think that blogging will be enjoyed by the students and could be used many ways. I would use it as a communication tool and the students would know that I will be checking it to make sure that they were using it in a professional way. I would use it as a journal writing after each class so the students could discuss what we talked about. I agree with Kim that sometime students do not use a blog to show real growth or reflection. We could talk about this in class. My education students might want to use a blog when they start teaching.
Blogging can be a great way to get students to actively participate in an online class the same they would in a typical classroom setting. As mentioned by several others, it would be helpful for students to post comments after a reading assignment. The blog could pose possible questions or interpretations on the class material. What would make it more interesting is to have students respond to the previous comment and go in a specific order since blogs are posted in a time-sensitive manner. This would help keep students attentive to what is going on in class and help with participation points. I would be concerned that some older students may not be comfortable with this type of technology, however I think it would force them to become current with what is available in our ever-changing world.
Wow, I can't believe I'm blogging for the first time ever! Anyway. I think blogging would be very benifical in my a virtual class as well as a face to face class. I could have my students blog about their readings and the questions/comments/thoughts as they come up as if it were a journal. I thought secondlife.com was amazing and I would love to take advantage of it once I learn a little more about how it works. The only thing I didn't like about secondlife.com is that I think that the female bodies are unrealistic and sexist. I loved web 2.0 applications and can't wait to explore it further. I am however very overwhelmed in a good way by all this technology and how easy it makes everyone to connect and maintain contact.
Problems: I wouldn't want two students over-blogging (dominating the conversation), but I guess there is enough room for everyone in cyberspace. I would also be concerned about students who can't spell well or have weak grammar to feel embarrassed and therefore not write or write less because of that.
With a little help with the setup, I think I can manage a blog for the on-line courses. The challenge will be to convince students to contribute. Some older students are still afraid of using the new technology features or they just don’t believe in them.
ReplyDeleteDoina
I think that setting up a blog in a course would be a great way for students to lend support to each other. It could be a place where they feel free to express their concerns about the course. Used this way, the instructor would check in every so often to monitor how things are going and offer advice / feedback as needed.
ReplyDeleteUsed another way, the blog could also be an integral part of the course discussion.
Oh, anticipated challenges. Students would need to know that they are held to the same standards in a blog as they are in a f2f class, on a forum, in a chat, etc. Unprofessional comments should not be tolerated.
ReplyDeleteSetting up blogs for reading journals works well because it allows interaction with people outside of the class.
ReplyDeleteStudents realize that what they post to the web causes reaction, both positive and negative, therefore making them responsible for their words.
I would need some help with setup also but I would like students to blog about the course: the assignments, readings,exams,and service learning activities so that I could keep a pulse on what they are thinking. I would check it once a week, telling them I am doing that, and hold them to the same professional standards as in a f2f class as Carol noted. If it started to become solely a gripe session, then I would be able to respond with explanations or some changes. I believe there is often misunderstandings about the course and its requirements and I believe a blog would help correct that more quickly than in a f2f class.
ReplyDeleteBlogging would be helpful in child psychology, students who take the course often come from a diverse background, blogging would be a nice way for them to interact, especially about the assignments.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of using a blog as a reading journal, but I think I'd like to have all the students be authors on one central blog (like this) instead of having each student create an individual blog. The interaction is good, and useful, but my worry is: who has time to read what everyone else has written? Do they? Do I? Do we add that requirement on top of everything else (reading literature, writing papers) we'd normally require in the class? Or do we eliminate something else?
ReplyDeletePerhaps blogging could be included as a tool for communication rather than a required (and assessed) activity. It would be necessary for students to understand that any communication between them needs to be appropriate and in preparation for the profession. Lee's question regarding time, in my opinion, also applies to students....how can they keep up with the increasing requirements and still do quality work?
ReplyDeleteI think I would like to use it more as a means of communications about their thoughts and ideas about the course management as opposed to content of material. In my last (and only) f2f class I needed a better line of communication among and between students and myself. Email worked well as a one on one but class comments regarding assessments, assignments, demands on time, and so forth seemed to lag and fester. Perhaps blogging would be a way to shortcut the process.
ReplyDeleteI think a blog would be an excellent addition/tool for the internship class. The students are writing journals as part of the course, so a blog could be another way for them to accomplish this requirement. Of course, I would need to establish some parameters (as others have mentioned) so that it does not become a dumping ground. The intent would be for peer-to-peer learning. My concern/challenge would be disclosure of information. Some students work for large companies and they forget their audience at times when they share about their experiences.
ReplyDeleteUsing blogs for a class can work very well, and in fact can be a powerful tool. Like any other teaching tool or technique, the blog requires careful thought and planning. Lee (as seconded by Cathy) makes an extremely good point. Who has time to read all this stuff? If you don’t plan to make this a significant part of the course, then you won’t have time for all the reading. In f2f parlance, the Forum more or less assumes the place of class discussion. The blog can take the place of outside journals or of response papers, or even of short essays.
ReplyDeleteThe most success that I’ve had with blog has been in travel courses. Students have the assignment to blog regularly (3x per week) plus they are required to respond to other student postings. These blogs represent a big part of the process for students of acclimating to a new culture and dealing with all the issues (intellectual and emotional) that come with travel study. They also have specific questions to deal with, so the academic element remains important. But, for travel courses, I am only teaching one class, so I have the time to read all blogs, keep current with them, and make responses in comments to many of the student blogs (or student comments on other blogs). When this works well, the results are well worth the effort. And, yes, I confess to having attempted blogging in some classes where the result has been desultory at best.
Dennis Jerz is a great resource on this, and has readily helped me set up any number of blogs. He has, BTW, just received the John Lovas Award for best Academic Blog. This is a very big deal, and I’m sure all of you will join me in congratulating Dennis.
As I have also indicated in my Tech Tools posting, I see real potential in using blogs because of their diary-like nature. As is well known, a classic tack for spiritual growth is journal reflection. Thus, perhaps I could invite the students in a philosophy or theology course to select one "big question" issue at the outset of the course, and wrestle with it throughout via their blog.
ReplyDeleteBy way of challenges, I would first off need to develop some proficiency with blogging independent of course design and delivery. This is the case since I am completely devoid of any experience with blogs/blogging. Does anyone have a suggestion on how or where I could begin my blogging venture?
I think blogs would be useful to permit an ongoing discussion of the course as such. People could express thoughts and questions about the bookkeeping matters and have them locate din a central place so that everyone can stay on the same page, as it were, as the course developed throughout the semester. The challenge of using a blog is that students do not see blogs as on the same level as papers and subsequently do not put in the same effort and do not produce the same quality.
ReplyDeleteNow that I actually know what a blog is and have seen them and read about them, I feel a blog can be a very effective discussion tool.
ReplyDeleteMost of the younger students should already have a comfort level with blogging. Even if they don't it should not be a problem for them to catch on quickly.
I think I will use a blog to discuss current events or other major issues in criminal justice as well as court decisions.
One challenge may be that some of the older students or even younger non computer savvy students may have anxiety using a blog.
Another challenge is will students take blogging assignments seriously and finally, will blogging open up the door for inappropriateness.
I have been wrestling with this weblog idea over the last week. Dennis is an outstanding and patient resource. I can see how it could be useful in the Religion in America course as a way of posting and responding to posts about "sightings of religion" in all the kaleidoscopic variety that offers. This is actually exciting to think about, at times. At other times it seems overwhelming on two levels. One, many of you have commented about - time commitment is overwhelming, especially at first with a learning curve. The second is the intense agoraphobia, for lack of a better term, that I deal with even in a traditional classroom; the www is one really big agora... While weblogs give one time to think about and edit writing, it also dramatically increases the time commitment because of that element.
ReplyDeleteI am grateful for this course to push me past my comfort level in so many ways.
I think blogging become increasingly important for students as students are taught to become more and more expository. I know this sounds a little cantankerous, but 'take the cotton out of your ears and put it in your mouth' seems to have been replaced by this notion that everybody has something worth saying all of the time. We now have keyboards on us 24/7. Does that mean we should be using them constantly? I'm not so sure it is, but I think that students exposing themselves to a wide audience teaches them experiential lessons, like what is and isn't worth putting out there for the world to see. The blogosphere can be a pretty critical place, and blogging is a good way to find out that the words they type have real power.
ReplyDeleteBlogs may be very much a part of today's popular culture, but I’m definitely behind the curve on blogging. The biggest challenges that I anticipate would be my lack of familiarity with blogging. I am unfamiliar with blogging etiquette (or netiquette) and language/terms. I am a fast learner and even though I have not had much experience with blogging, I would not hesitate to try to implement blogging within one of my online courses. I would learn as I go and once I become familiar with blogging, I’m sure it will be a useful tool for online instruction.
ReplyDeleteI kind of like the organization of the forum and threads. The comments go with the thread and comment they are related to. Possibly sequential is an okay form of organization, but does a blog get unweildly with a lot of people blogging about different topics in the same space?
ReplyDeleteAfter reading through the comments of past participants, I am getting a lot of good ideas. I tend to agree with folks like Lee who suggest that one interactive blog would be the most effective tool. As a writing teacher, I want to encourage students to express their ideas often and freely through drafting, free-writing, brainstorming, and so, in this way, a low stakes interactive forum such as a central class blog would give them a venue for this. At the same time, I do not want to merely increased the quantity of what they write for the sake of using such a forum. I would need to be mindful of creating purposeful assignments and prompts to encourage students to express their ideas but to do so in a reflective and deliberate way.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm also wondering, if I were to use a blog as we are using this one, how is it different from using the Discussion Forum on GriffinGate?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe course I am looking at putting on-line components into is a class for any student who has been placed on Academic Probation. I am hesitant to use blogs with this class due to confidentiality for the student. Probation student do not want anyone to know they are on probation or taking the class. It takes about 3-4 weeks for students to be somewhat comfortable being in class and to begin talking/sharing in class. Some are never comfortable, never talk in class. I have come to respect that each student is going to handle being on probation in their own way. I would be concerned that if I set up a blog, someone outside of the class would be able to gain access? Now, I am a "newbie" to blogs so I don't know if there is a way to block all access except to those you invite? This would be the only way I would feel comfortable asking students to blog for the class. I can see using the Discussion Forum on G.G. since that is limited to only those in the class. I think I have an obligation to protect the privacy of the probation students when looking at technology to use for the class and I am not convinced blogs would allow me an appropriate level of privacy.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of using blogs in writing courses because of their public nature. Students often tend to see writing as something they have to do for the teacher/course, rather than as a tool for communicating. Understanding that their writing is seen by others could be a powerful, though possibly scary, experience for them. I would probably want to have students use blogs in a reflective way, as many have posted; they could discuss essays read or follow up on class activities or discussion. I like the idea of a class blog, but does that allow for the individual construction of knowledge and "meaning making" that the book talks about?
ReplyDeleteI think my biggest challenge would be to encourage students to make their blogs more thoughtful and critical. One of my biggest criticisms of blogs is that many that I've seen, SHU students' and others', tend to not show any real reflection or growth; rather they just seem to be used as a platform for expressing a set opinion that often seems to not be well-supported. I hate to be negative, and have seen some excellent blogs. I think I would definitely have to explore more to find good examples for students. I guess I'm again struggling with what seems to me to be somewhat of a conflict between setting guidelines for blogs or assessing them and really allowing the learner the sense of "empowerment through expression" the book states is a primary benefit to blogging.
I think that blogging will be enjoyed by the students and could be used many ways. I would use it as a communication tool and the students would know that I will be checking it to make sure that they were using it in a professional way. I would use it as a journal writing after each class so the students could discuss what we talked about. I agree with Kim that sometime students do not use a blog to show real growth or reflection. We could talk about this in class. My education students might want to use a blog when they start teaching.
ReplyDeleteBlogging can be a great way to get students to actively participate in an online class the same they would in a typical classroom setting. As mentioned by several others, it would be helpful for students to post comments after a reading assignment. The blog could pose possible questions or interpretations on the class material. What would make it more interesting is to have students respond to the previous comment and go in a specific order since blogs are posted in a time-sensitive manner. This would help keep students attentive to what is going on in class and help with participation points. I would be concerned that some older students may not be comfortable with this type of technology, however I think it would force them to become current with what is available in our ever-changing world.
ReplyDeleteWow, I can't believe I'm blogging for the first time ever!
ReplyDeleteAnyway. I think blogging would be very benifical in my a virtual class as well as a face to face class. I could have my students blog about their readings and the questions/comments/thoughts as they come up as if it were a journal. I thought secondlife.com was amazing and I would love to take advantage of it once I learn a little more about how it works. The only thing I didn't like about secondlife.com is that I think that the female bodies are unrealistic and sexist. I loved web 2.0 applications and can't wait to explore it further. I am however very overwhelmed in a good way by all this technology and how easy it makes everyone to connect and maintain contact.
Problems:
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't want two students over-blogging (dominating the conversation), but I guess there is enough room for everyone in cyberspace. I would also be concerned about students who can't spell well or have weak grammar to feel embarrassed and therefore not write or write less because of that.