blog-efl

An interesting discussion has just started on the IATEFL BESIG (Business English) YG email list about blogging and Business English (BE). It started when Cleve asked about BE and BESIG blogs, wondering why they weren't any (many?). Then, after a few Qs & As about excatly what a blog was, a few of the list members declared themselves to be anti-bloggers. Of course, I had to respond. Here's an extract from the discussion so far: > Forgive me, for I hate blogs :-) My question to you: how do you see blogs as > contributing towards DISCOURSE amongst a community? Reflection, yes, I can > see that - something happens to you, you reflect on it, and write it up on > your blog; fine, I get that. But discourse? > ...functionality which allows a blog reader to post a comment, but all the > mechanisms I've seen for that are cumbersome and generally unused (exactly > because they're cumbersome). In my opinion and experience, if what you wa

The Search Engine FindForward has the option to produce a search query as an RSS feed. From the site, enter a term to search on and select "Get RSS" from the drop-down menu. This leads you to a URL similar to this: http://www.findforward.com/?q=blog-efl&t=get-rss This can then be included in an aggregator and I suppose you can stay updated on specific search listings. Great, now how can I best use this?

There is an intersting graphic on a possible "future VLE" (virtual learning environment) here

As part of the EV2005 Weblogging course, there are chat sessions about blogging taking place. The latest was with three guest speakers: Dana Watson in East Lansing, Michigan,USA, Yu Hua Chen (Stella), in Changhua City, Taiwan Jason Reagin in Suzhou, China I couldn't make the session, but decided to make a summary about what was discussed, with my own comments & observations.

Free-ESL-Blogs - 100% free blogs : "These are custom made blogs especially for ESL teachers and students. Here you'll find blogs from teaching in Japan to living in Greece to studying in China to... well all kinds of stories from all around the world from both teachers and students of English. "

Wired News: Like It or Not, Blogs Have Legs : "With blogs...anybody with an internet connection can engage anybody else. Concepts are presented, attacked, sliced, diced, added to and subtracted from, mangled, massaged and molded until what is left is an amalgam of the finest we as an online society have to offer. For the digitally well-endowed, it's akin to free-market capitalism, with information as its currency. And not only do we all get to watch, we can join in. "

The Jan05_05 issue of the International Journal of Instrucctional Technology & Distance Learning" has an interesting article on 'Encouraging Creativity in Online Courses One of the sections that caught my eye was this one about "elements of learning activities that most engage students intellectually" : "...they echo key attributes of creativity: - finding interests and problems - looking in new ways - communicating personal ideas - creating new products and solutions to problems. ...elements include: - Students help define content of course - Students had time to wonder/determining a particular direction that interests them - Topics had a "strange" quality - something this is common but seen in a new way to evoke lingering questions - Teachers encouraged different forms of expression and respected students' views - Teachers were passionate about their work. The most meaningful activities were "invented" by the t

Incorporated Subversion has reprinted an article from a Pakistani newspaper about blogs in education entitled 'Keeping an education-related online diary'

James Farmer on his blog links to a survey on Course Management Systems (CMS) used by universities, noting that two of the most popular ones (WebCT and Blackboard) were both criticized for various problems. He has more about CMS here: http://incsub.org/whatisacms.htm

Incorporated subversion by James Farmer takes a look at blogs vs discussion lists in online learning environments (OLEs). Here's a little about what he says about the limitations of discussion boards: Discussion Boards "offer little opportunity for users to “project themselves socially and emotionally, as ‘real’ people”...In developing teaching presence in a discussion board environment the teacher has no more capacity than the learner in terms of sustaining discourse or of projecting him or herself as a “real” person." As a contrast, he notes that "In terms establishing social presence it can be argued that weblogs offer a significant opportunity for users to project themselves as “real” people." And his conclusion is that: "while discussion boards may have a role to play in the shaping of future OLEs it is arguable that this role should be complemented by the implementation, within or alongside these systems, of weblogging functionality.

Linguablogs is a list of "blogs by language nerds"

Thanks to Stephen Downes for the link to this issue of Lore, which has lots of reflection on academic blogging: http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/lore/digressions/index.htm Here are a few tasters from some of the thought-provoking articles: "I think blogging is making me a better teacher, and it may make me a better writer and scholar as well. I can only hope it is also helping my students to achieve their own goals, in the composition class and elsewhere." Carlton Clark "One of the pleasures of blogging is that you never know how things will develop. Maybe the blog will take off as an educational tool for my students. Maybe even others will benefit from it. Or maybe the interest will be low.It'll be fun finding out." Billy Clark

Digital Portfolios Resources has a large collection of links all about using digital portfolios, and including stuff about using weblogs as part of digital portfolios. I aslo came across The Digital Portfolio Weblog/Webquest which looks worth investigating.

Language Learning & Technology has an article discussing how the popular computer game The Sims can be adapted for language learning. Here's an extract from the abstract of the article: "This commentary examines how content originally designed for entertainment purposes can be modified to provide natural and context rich language learning environments, without sacrificing its entertainment value. First, I examine a modification to the number one selling video game The Simsthat intelligently combines game data from the English edition with data from editions of other languages to form a bilingual gaming environment. This exposes learners to abundant L2 vocabulary, yet still provides enough L1 support not to detract from the game" I've just had an idea to extend it - students could also set up a blog and post to it as if they were a member of their Sims family.

Happy New Year1 Things are quiet around here, but should pick up again soon, although I'm going to be busy in January with (as I mentioned beforehand) this: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/weblogging See you there?