We've been writing about the importance of blogging and e-learning and how much this helps our students. It would be interesting if those lecturers who do have a blog would share it so we can all get some ideas from each other. I will start by posting mine:
http://electronicsketchbook.blogspot.com/ I currently have three students and two friends posting on the blog, be it articles, tutorials or interesting videos related to the topic.
I am also seeing a lot of referenced posts here on the blog, I thought the blog was more for us to have a space to communicate our thought and share ideas rather than pasting things from other sources (correct me if I'm wrong, shouldn't these go in the wiki?).
Hi Moira, having a teaching blog sounds like a wonderful idea for educators and learners to interact in cyberspace, to create a virtual classroom to share ideas and discuss them.
ReplyDeleteI can see the potential this could have for a group of learners, maybe it could help them perceive themselves as actively constructing knowledge together, not just taking on facts. Maybe a blog could help learners organize their learning, helping them to connect from one topic to another, not to mention keeping track of the administration involved. I think it would also help us in our daily hectic teaching schedules, and help us keep track of our work.
You mentioned three students participating in the blog. Is it something they do out of their own initiative, or something they are assessed on (like us)? Regards.
Yes, having a personal teaching blog is a great idea as this will help us in our delivery and to breach the gap between the teacher and the student. However, as we have experienced in our 'blogging' many correspondents tend to misuse the concept by putting in a lot of research work they have cut and paste from the internet, instead of using this versatile tool to communicate, learn and pass on information to one another.
ReplyDeleteI personally don't have my own blog, but have used work groups on 'Facebook' for the same scope. Where, you can first invite the selected contributors (students and/or other lecturers)into a defined group and then create a forum of ideas, clips, photos, notes etc. where one could find all the required information.
I have found 'Facebook' more useful as this is popular with the age group of our students and they are all the time on this social networking tool (some don't even go out on weekends and spend their 'free' time chatting)so it is more convenient as a communications medium. It's not the first time that I needed to communicate something fast and presto, on 'Facebook' I get an answer! Besides, our students hate writing long messages, they want short and quick responses to their difficulties/questions.
Dear Moira thanks for your initiative in posting your blog. I do not have a Blog, however I always found the idea attractive but was never not very confident in creating online Blogs. Now thanks to this course I feel more confident in taking such initiative.
ReplyDeleteI feel that using a Blog is very appealing. Education has proceeded from a teacher oriented experience to a student oriented practice. I believe that a Blog can help students to become more pro-active in their learning. It also promotes peer learning and sharing of strengths and resources. Another advantage I perceive in a blog is that unlike within the classroom, in a Blog teaching becomes independent of place and time. This can also help students to keep in touch with Lecturers and fellow students even after having finished their studies. Imagine how helpful could be to both MCAST and students if we manage to keep in touch with students that are now working in the industry. This will help us to explore the opportunities that our teaching has opened to students and give us feedback about what we needs to be improved.
Mjbagley, the students post out of their own initiative although it would be interesting to assess them on their blog posts (just as we are assessed here ;) ) The only downfall would be that they would not feel as free to post whatever they genuinely want to share, but would consider the assessment. I wanted the blog to be more of a genuine source of sharing information and tutorials rather than something they can fail on.
ReplyDeleteMario, I also contact my students on Facebook, although I have them on a separate list of friends where they can only seem my limited profile (for obvious reasons) and it is through Facebook that I keep some of them updated on the blog!
Delicia, you mentioned how helpful it would be for us to keep in touch with students who are now working in industry. This is what I did in my blog, where I interviewed and showcased work of my past college mates who are now working.
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ReplyDeleteI have no doubt that a teaching blog could serve as an excellent platform for 2-communication between educators/trainers and their students. What I am not so sure about is whether it is best for every lecturer/trainer to set up his/her own blog/website or whether it's best to have these grouped together somehow. The reason why I am asking is that in a typical course, students can easily have 6-10lecturers and I think it can be quite a hassle if every lecturer had to have his/her own different blog. It would be much easier if a student can follow latest updates/news/posts from some central system. On the other hand, I am all too aware of the dangers of attempting to centralise something too much - over-centralisation often ends up stifling personal initiative. So somehow, a balance has to be found between making things simple for students as well as leaving every lecturer with ample flexibility to develop one's own ideas and creativity. Perhaps someone who is more technical from the IT/software side can comment about whether what I am proposing could be implemented somehow?
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of us teachers are ecstatic at the idea of extending our lectures online with the use of blogs, wikis, moodle, etc. I know that us teachers have to be in control of their course. But are we really taking in consideration the student's needs? We teach students to do their research about their clients/audience needs. Do you think that we ought to do questionnaires or focus groups about what form of electronic contributions do students require from us teachers? For example, I know that Facebook is quite popular with the students. Should we opt for such rather than a blog? And what about RSS feeds? Will students consider them as 'information overload' into their system, and would they really pay attention to each and every feed?
ReplyDeleteI am looking at this from a media perspective... that the need of the audience is key.
I never said Facebook is not a good option, however it's not a great tool for sharing information as links get buried easily underneath the heaps of status updates. A blog is more focused in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteAs for information overload with regards to RSS feeds, most students don't have more than 4 Units per semester, and in our case most of the time they have the same lecturer so I don't think this is an issue.
The need of the audience is key in all subjects, not just media. What's the point of having a blog when there is no audience? So far I have found that the most popular posts are of course software tutorials. These are great for when students either miss lectures or want to revise what was done in class. To find out what the "audience" wants you could always do a blog poll where the user can tick what they would prefer to see in the blog.
I think creating a blog is a very effective way to share information and keep in contact with the students. Since I teach part-time I am not always available to the students on school grounds hence, as from next year I will making use of this blogging tool to post notes and communicate general information to the students. Obviously, I hope to have a positive reaction from the students themselves; in the sense that they will be participating by posting their own blogs, posing questions and retrieving the information with regards to tutorials, assignments, timetables and other activities. This should cut on phone calls and emails from students since the information they require will be always readily available online. Another advantage is that if a student has questions, my reply will not be one – to – one but there is the possibility of sharing with all the class!
ReplyDeleteIn the blog I have created, I also included a section (protected with password) which includes my portfolio. The link to my blog is http://antoinetteconti.wordpress.com/
Since I will be using this as from the next scholastic year, there are presently no users in this blog!
Some people use blogs as a personal online diary. They literally say what is happening to them in their private lives and then friends and viewers comment about what was blogged.
ReplyDeleteI just recalled a scene from Dr House where there was a young lady who was obsessed in writing on her blog. In fact when she was recovered at hospital she was giving details about what was happening to her and then readers commented on her posts. She felt that she had a duty in keeping her readers updated with her life.
With regards to education, I believe that blogs help to share ideas and information. I do not own a blog but I intend to introduce one for my next year’s students.
It is not a difficult task to do our own blog and setting up a teacher administered student blog. After using this blog for our e-learning coarse, from next year I am planning a new blog and I am through a process of setting up my first blog for students. Blogging is nothing new to students, but student blog as a part of their classmate’s participation.
ReplyDeleteI think having a personal teaching blog will help the lecturer to get to know your students faster, thus you will be able to modify the lessons according the needs of your pupils. This will aid also shy purples to express their selves.
ReplyDeleteI had once created a blog open to students using Moodle to instigate a sense of cooperative participation between different groups of students following the same course with me.
ReplyDeleteHowever this unluckily proved itself to be a massive failure since students preferred to interact directly or through the use of e-mail rather than making their posts public to all their friends.
In the same way, I think that one must pay attentions, as a lecturer not to create too many 'unofficial' channels through which one would communicate official information to students, as this could give rise to issues. This is particularly so for our institute whereby for example, all official communications on assignments, scheduling and material should be carried out through ATS (Assignment Tracking System) which tracks the date and time at which the student has read a particular notice. All students sign a document at the beginning of the year's induction to abide by this system and to regularly check for new messages. Otherwise, they could claim that they did not receive important information which could seriously affect their studies.
I personally do not have a personal blog were students can meet and discuss certain issues but I am pretty sure that they do meet on social networking portals (such as Facebook) and discuss certain issues, amongst which there might also be school related material. This kind of system is surely used whenever a deadline of a home or class assignment is fast approaching. I am sure that apart from this system there are other alternatives that all students use in order to be able to communicate. At our institute we use Moodle as a content management system, from where students can retrieve subject material such as articles, ebooks, presentations, movies and much more.
ReplyDeleteI do not personally have a blog but I am very open to the idea as I think it is ideal for my subjects. The main feature of blogs is the ability to associate comments with it. Thus if I present my lessons in the form of blog posts, and let students ask questions through comments, I would be indirectly compiling an FAQ on the topic. A very successful website in my field (www.codeproject.com) uses this concept very effectively. Of course, as John Muscat mentioned previously, there are various bureaucratic issues that impede these ideas, but I think a teaching blog would be an easy way to start experimenting with eLearning.
ReplyDeleteThanks Moira - I am also fed up of people copying and pasting on this blog ... why are we trying to illude ourselves that this is part of our own learning process ? Who are we kidding?
ReplyDeleteOn a different note: I do not have a teaching blog but I have had my website www.gilbertcalleja.com and it is often brought up by students during our conversations.
In these past four months I have also started using emails to communicate things to students and the response was very good though I have my doubts whether a 'formal' blog could have been so effective.
As yet I am ignorant as to what is the relationship of students (teenagers and early twenties) with blogs. What I know is that they use MSN/Skype/online chats extensively.
@ Moira and Gilbert;
ReplyDeleteThis is a free space where people are free to post their thoughts and experiences - however when people came across information which they have read about and which they found interesting enough to share with the other participants, then they were free to post it and of course that would be referenced. Sometimes such references were very useful to start a thread of discussions.
@ Gilbert - I find your comments above extremely offensive, not just to myself as the person monitoring and administering this blog but also to your colleagues who have done a very good job, of despite their various commitments and despite being extremely busy, keeping up the posts on a regular basis, without any need of reminders that it was part of their tasks. I also find that they were enthusiastic enough to share findings, opinions, experiences, and yes, believe it or not, this has (I find in my humble opinion) been a great learning experience for some (though I believe not for some others)....but alas that is life and probably had it been more of the same chalk and talk within a teacher-centred learning environment, where one is made to sit for 3 hours to listen to what a single person has to say, might have made more impact for those persons.
However this was a new form of learning experience, noone is saying this is the best or the only way of learning - one tries to appreciate what this way of learning (cooperative learning) is all about through experience. Maybe this message did not come out clearly enough.
The next and final thing which I would like point out is that I can quote quite some ongoing research about teens, blogs and their use in Education but I believe you wouldn't necessarily appreciate that within this space.
However to get back to what you said, when you said that you discovered that email communication works with your students, some 4 months ago, I would suggest that you visit (if you find time) this link to a 1996 article (http://eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED408572.pdf) which discusses the already-established role of email within Education. Blogs and wikis, were born out of that same need for communication.
Never meant to be offensive ... I was just speaking my mind ... sharing my "thoughts and experiences".
ReplyDeleteSorry if you found that offensive.
@ Gilbert and quoting from your previous post above "I am also fed up of people copying and pasting on this blog ... why are we trying to illude ourselves that this is part of our own learning process ? Who are we kidding?" -
ReplyDeleteI do not consider the above quote, as sharing your experiences but merely throwing about useless accusations - which cannot be passed as constructive criticism no matter how "creative" one might be.
Sarcasm is also not considered as constructive criticism.
On another note and to come back to the object of this blog thread of discussions, teaching blogs are not as easy as they sound. It is really easy to create a blog or a website, or a Wiki... the challenge is in motivating people not just to visit it once but to do so on a regular basis.
One very good direction which blogs are moving towards, is that of including interactivity and more activity on behalf of your students. Therefore students would also become active participants in your blog, and not just as individuals absorbing the information presented.
I personally do not have a teaching blog. In my opinion this can be very usefull.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, most read each other's blogs and can answer each other's questions. This is different from students putting foward questions in class.
I like to link blogs with Forums, as also there one can find answers to his questions before posting. During my expierence as a teacher, I have found out that most students have common questions but rephrase them differently. Through forums/blogs such issues can be solved.
I am currently working to create my blog. I plan to upload video tutorials such as the ones I did for my presentation/ assignment, demonstrating anything from basic life skills to core subjects and use of IT programmes. This will be available to present and past students for reference and communication.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIdea tajba Moira.
ReplyDeleteQed naħdem biex is-sena d-dieħla minflok l-emails, nuża l-moodle u l-bloggs, b’videos u links. Irnexxieli nsib tagħrif adegwat għal-lekċers tiegħi u bi ħsiebni nużah. Nixtieq li din tkun faċilità għall-istudenti biex jipprattika kif jikteb bil-Malti, u jisma’/jaqra materjal li jgħodd għalih. Qed noħloq sistema li fiha l-istudent ma jistax ma jipparteċipax matul is-sena.
Ovvjament, il-materjal li se npoġġi fihom ma jkunx ripetizzjoni tal-materjal tal-lekċer iżda tagħrif ieħor li jikkomplimenta dak li jkun sar fil-lekċer. Ma rridx nagħti ċans lill-istudent biex jitlef l-interess fil-lekċer għar-raġuni li n-noti li jeħtieġ qegħdin online u aċċessibbli kull ħin.