Knock knock, who's there? is "A blog for all students, colleagues and anyone else who's interested in discussing the intricacies of the English language", run by a colleague of Jason's (see previous post). The site has started posting texts written by students.
Sunday
New Class Blog
http://y5r.motime.com/ is a new class blog created by Jason Reagin, a teacher in China. This is what he says about the new blogging experiment:
"I have set up another 'motime' blog for my class. It is called Y5R (the name of my homeroom class). One of my main concerns all along has been that in order for my students to have their 'own' blog they would have to sign-up with a free service... If you have any suggestions about how I can solve this problem with the students not have an e-mail account please pass them along!"
Can anyone offer help to Jason?
You can find this entry and others at http://wjreagin.motime.com/ - it seems as if Blogger is blocked in China, and so he has set up a weblog with another provider.
"I have set up another 'motime' blog for my class. It is called Y5R (the name of my homeroom class). One of my main concerns all along has been that in order for my students to have their 'own' blog they would have to sign-up with a free service... If you have any suggestions about how I can solve this problem with the students not have an e-mail account please pass them along!"
Can anyone offer help to Jason?
You can find this entry and others at http://wjreagin.motime.com/ - it seems as if Blogger is blocked in China, and so he has set up a weblog with another provider.
Thursday
elise.com: On the Job: An Overview of the Weblog Tools Market
The piece elise.com: On the Job: An Overview of the Weblog Tools Market by Elise Bauer gives a nice summary of the current situation with weblog tools. Of course, Blogger is the leader, with Livejournal following closely behind. More hosted services are mentioned in the article, as are weblog tools such as Wordpress, Drupal and Greymatter, which require installation on a local server, and so are normally more popular with more technically-minded bloggers.
The article goes on to show perceived market share, and which tools attract which type of person.
The article goes on to show perceived market share, and which tools attract which type of person.
Wednesday
Je blogue, et vous, vous bloguez? is a presentation that Barbara Dieu gave at Cyberlangues Colloquium in Sao Paolo last Wednesday August 25th. It's a very good introductory presentation (in French) to blogging, and in addition, includes the following links to innovative blogs that can be adapted for language learning:
Buzznet is a sit for photo-blogging. You can see an example of a teacher using it here: Vance Stevens' photoblog
Moblogging is a form ofg blogging by mobile. Again, an example can be seen here:
Audio blogging. Barbara has some examples on her weblog Bee2online
There are other example blogs given on Barabara's presentation, so be sure to check it out.
Buzznet is a sit for photo-blogging. You can see an example of a teacher using it here: Vance Stevens' photoblog
Moblogging is a form ofg blogging by mobile. Again, an example can be seen here:
Audio blogging. Barbara has some examples on her weblog Bee2online
There are other example blogs given on Barabara's presentation, so be sure to check it out.
Saturday
Educational Blogging article
Stephen Downes has written an interesting Educational Blogging article in the Educase Review, "looking at the nature and history of blogging, educational applications, tools and technologies, trends, and early experiences in educational blogging."
The example given at the beginning of the article reflects on an example weblog community with three different types of blogs being used by the students and teachers:
"This virtual space is composed of three sets of weblogs, or blogs: a classroom Web space, where announcements are displayed and work of common interested is posted; a public, personal communication zone, where students post the results of their work or reflection; and a private personal space, reserved for students’ thoughts and teacher guidance." and the point of this is "to promote reflective analysis and the emergence of a learning community that goes beyond the school walls."
There is a more detailed description of the workings of this at the Institut St Joseph site, and the public 'tutor' weblog site and the 'class and student' weblog site can also be examined.
One thing I find is interesting about this project, which looks highly organised and professional, is the avoidance of using the term 'blog' or 'weblog'. They use the term 'cyberportfolio' instead, which does not need explanation. In the past, I have had problems communicating to students the concept of the 'weblog', and some students ended up thinking it was a kind of 'forum', but this was not a good idea, especially a forum is an impersonal space that people contribute to sporadically and infrequently, and the idea behind a weblog is that the contributions should be regular and personal.
The article also discusses many aspects of educational blogging, including the idea of using a weblog to assign homework. This is frowned upon. It is also noted that "many writers have noted, writing a weblog appears in the first instance to be a form of publishing, but as time goes by, blogging resembles more and more a conversation."
The example given at the beginning of the article reflects on an example weblog community with three different types of blogs being used by the students and teachers:
"This virtual space is composed of three sets of weblogs, or blogs: a classroom Web space, where announcements are displayed and work of common interested is posted; a public, personal communication zone, where students post the results of their work or reflection; and a private personal space, reserved for students’ thoughts and teacher guidance." and the point of this is "to promote reflective analysis and the emergence of a learning community that goes beyond the school walls."
There is a more detailed description of the workings of this at the Institut St Joseph site, and the public 'tutor' weblog site and the 'class and student' weblog site can also be examined.
One thing I find is interesting about this project, which looks highly organised and professional, is the avoidance of using the term 'blog' or 'weblog'. They use the term 'cyberportfolio' instead, which does not need explanation. In the past, I have had problems communicating to students the concept of the 'weblog', and some students ended up thinking it was a kind of 'forum', but this was not a good idea, especially a forum is an impersonal space that people contribute to sporadically and infrequently, and the idea behind a weblog is that the contributions should be regular and personal.
The article also discusses many aspects of educational blogging, including the idea of using a weblog to assign homework. This is frowned upon. It is also noted that "many writers have noted, writing a weblog appears in the first instance to be a form of publishing, but as time goes by, blogging resembles more and more a conversation."
Tuesday
Three Reasons to Publish an E-Newsletter AND a Blog
Three Reasons to Publish an E-Newsletter AND a Blog:
This article is aimed at those involved in marketing, but it's still interesting to see how blogging continues to make headway as a way of communicating to people electronically.
This article is aimed at those involved in marketing, but it's still interesting to see how blogging continues to make headway as a way of communicating to people electronically.
Monday
COLIN PATON: Reflective blogs
COLIN PATON details a recent implementation of blogs in a Brazillian teacher training programme:
"We have recently implemented the use of blogs on our training courses for teachers. We call these blogs 'reflective blogs' as we ask teachers to record their teaching practice through self observation and then reflect upon it. These blogs are kept on our Teacher's Portal and are open to all teachers to read and comment on."
"We have recently implemented the use of blogs on our training courses for teachers. We call these blogs 'reflective blogs' as we ask teachers to record their teaching practice through self observation and then reflect upon it. These blogs are kept on our Teacher's Portal and are open to all teachers to read and comment on."
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