In this increasingly technological age teachers are constantly being introduced to new platforms to integrate content with technology in the classroom. In this blog I will be sharing reflections on my explorations in educational technology. This week the subject matches the medium. Just what is blogging anyway? How is it different from everything else that is out there? Where can you blog and what are the affordances of each platform? Finally, how can we leverage blogs in our classroom?
Just what is blogging anyway?
According to Dictionary.com, a blog is: "a website containing a writer's or group of writers' own experiences, observations, opinions, etc., and often having images and links to other websites...a single entry or post on such a website." The term blog originated from the word weblog. By breaking apart the word into its component pieces we can trace its meaning.
WEB: The Web, or World Wide Web, is basically a system of Internet servers that support specially formatted documents. The documents are formatted in a markup language called HTML (HyperText Markup Language) that supports links to other documents, as well as graphics, audio, and video files. Definition from The Tech Terms Dictionary.
LOG (RECORD): Noun-A full, written record of a trip, a period of time, or an event. Verb-To put information into a written record.Therefore, a weblog or blog is: a written record published on the World Wide Web which is formatted using HTML and may include links to or embedded documents, graphics, audio, and video.
Definition from Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary.
For the more visually inclined, you can view a basic intro to blogging created by Edublogs on Youtube.
A few takeaways from this video:
- A blog is a record of experiences, thoughts, and opinions on the web.
- Blogs are simple to use. With a few clicks you can share anything!
- Blogs allow for personal expression via customizable and easily changeable themes.
- Most blogs are comprised of four main parts: header, body, sidebar, and footer.
- Pages are static typically unchanging posts on a website. Posts are the actual dynamic online journal entry sharing your thoughts. They are typically displayed in reverse chronological order which allows for the most recently relative information to be viewed at the top of the page.
- Users can enable comments on posts which allows them to leave comments or feedback on the content.
- Users both young and old can create and post blogs.
How is blogging different from everything else that is out there?
The key difference between a blog versus other online thought sharing medium is in the delivery. In a blog, the primary method of sharing your thoughts is via written format. You may include audio, text, or video to enhance your post, but the focus is on a written dialogue.
In video logs or vlogs, the delivery of your thoughts is done through a video medium. In this format, instead of sharing their thoughts via text, users record themselves talking, reviewing, or performing actions and post their videos to an online video hosting service such as YouTube or Vimeo. Similar to a blog, on most video hosting sites users can comment on a posted video. Unlike blogs, on most vlog sites, users additionally have the option to like or dislike the post.
Another format, graphic logs or glogs, delivers content using an interactive media poster. An illustration of the layers of a glog from Glogster.com is below. One of the key differences appears to be a lack of ability to comment on a particular post. This method of delivery is also more focused on graphic content versus dialogue.
Online discussion boards or message boards offer a user experience that is similar in some ways to a blog. Messages on public boards are typically displayed in reverse chronological order. Users share their thoughts by making posts in a primarily dialogue based response. Unlike a blog, on a message board, the purpose is to spur discussion. Message boards are organized into forums or topics. Within each forum, user can create and respond to posts. Posts on message boards are organized into threads. Within an individual thread there may be tens, hundreds, or even thousands of responses (the equivalent to blog comments). Message boards have a more strict set of guidelines and rules that users must follow. With a blog, a user can post about cats one day and toy cars the next. Since it is a personal delivery medium, you decide the content you will share each day. On the other hand, with a message board, if I try to share a post about toy cars under a cats forum, the post will most likely be labeled off topic and either moved to another forum or deleted. Message boards also have moderators who oversee posted content and check for off topic or inappropriate discussion. Whereas with a blog, you are your own moderator.
Where can you blog?
There are many free and paid blogging sites. Here are four examples:
BLOGGER
Operated by Google, Blogger is simply that, a free blogging platform. Many school districts have begun to use Google's education options to give students individualize email addresses as well as providing online class hangouts via Google Classroom. Since Blogger is part of the Google family of products, students are able to easily join and create a new blog using the email address provided by a school using Google accounts. This is one of the key advantages to this interface. Blogger is fairly simple to use. While writing a blog post, students have access to a toolbar that is very similar to toolbars used in standard word processing programs. This is one of the affordances that leads to ease of use in the classroom.
The Blogger editing toolbar for posts:
Microsoft Word's Ribbon on MAC OSx:
As you can see in the above images, the iconography between the two platforms is very similar. Students who are already trained in the use of Word will be able to format their papers using their prior knowledge based on this standard iconography. Although teachers must realize that not every student in the class will be familiar with word processing programs and thus may not have this affordance.
PENZU
Penzu is a personal journal or online diary. Unlike other blogging platforms, Penzu's posts are automatically private. Thus if our students use this app, they are not by default sharing all of their thoughts with the world. This makes this app ideal for use with students under the age of 13. So, how exactly does this work in the classroom? In Penzu, teachers have the ability to create a classroom account for an extra fee. After students have created a personal account, they enter the classroom code and then have the ability to submit posts to the teacher. The rest of the class does not automatically see all of the posts. This is ideal for a classroom where you have ELLs or students with below grade-level writing skills. These students may feel shy or embarrassed sharing their writing with the class. Using Penzu, the teacher and student decide whether or not entries are shared. The key affordance here is the similarity to a traditional classroom paper journal. A student could write a private, daily entry and the teacher could comment or provide feedback without everyone seeing. If students are already used to writing journal entries on paper, they will be able to make the transition easily by simply replacing the notebook with the online entry. A more through explanation of Penzu classroom can be viewed in the video below:
WEEBLY
Traditionally used to create websites, Weebly is an online web development platform that offers both free and paid subscriptions. Weebly features a drag and drop user interface that is easy for students to use. For teachers, you can pay for a Weebly Classroom account and have the ability to create logins and passwords for students. Each student can create multiple websites within their account. Student websites can be public or password protected by the teacher. An affordance with this program is also the similarity of the iconography for adding text, videos, etc. with other standard publishing and blogging platforms that students are familiar with. An overview of how to add a blog page to a Weebly website is below:
EDUBLOGS
EduBlogs is powered by the WordPress platform. Similar to Weebly, WordPress is traditionally known for its website design capabilities. Unlike Weebly, Edublogs does not have a free option. The advantage of WordPress over Weebly is that you have a more advanced capability to add additional widgets or design elements to your site. Edublogs provides a complete online class home. Students can write and provide feedback on blog posts, use a message board, download assignments, etc. Teachers can even use the site to publish a newsletter for parents. Edublogs, like Penzu, has teacher editable security measures in place to protect the privacy of student content. A video from Edublogs highlighting ten ways you can use the platform in the classroom is below:
To sum up, there are multiple blog platforms available online. A few examples are Blogger, Penzu, Weebly, and Edublogs. A few additional unmentioned options include Squarespace, Tumblr, and Livejournal. Some blogging platforms are available for free and some provide additional content, security, or classroom management options via a fee-based subscription. Some platforms include sophisticated web design tools and others are simply for blogging.
A few affordances that are shared across most of the blogging platforms:
In this scenario detailed below, the objective of the students is to create and participate in online storytelling blogs. In Texas, ESL learners are evaluated using the TELPAS model which measures their reading, writing, listening and speaking levels. The project is designed to hit on all of these domains while integrating content with technology.
In traditional classroom settings students may participate in a written or verbal round robin story. I have used this technique effectively in my class in the past. In my studies learning Spanish in college, this is also a technique that my teacher frequently employed in small groups. In round robin story telling, a student starts off telling a story and then passes the story off to the next student at the end of a sentence or paragraph. Offline this could be done verbally while writing on the board, or even via passing notebooks around the classroom. For ELLs transitioning this activity to an online delivery system has additional benefits.
Activity Basics
This activity presumes that the students have already received basic lessons on blog creation and use. Students will be divided into classroom teams and each team will have a blog account. Within each account they will be able to create multiple individual blogs. Each student on the team will be given a different story prompt. On their online blog, the student will write/post the first paragraph of their story. Students will share their blogs with the teacher and the teacher will provide feedback online. The next day, the student's will login and open their teammate's blog. After reading the first paragraph and providing feedback, they will write/post the second paragraph of the story. Students will continue doing a round robin until the story is complete. Throughout the process the students and teacher will be continually providing feedback via the comments section. The students will be able to edit their paragraphs. At the end of the task, each student will use audio tools on the computer to record themselves reciting or speaking the story they first began. The students will upload the audio recording to the blog. The students will then listen and take notes on the stories. With continual use throughout the semester, students will be able to go back and listen to their pronunciation to chart their progression. The levels according to Blooms Taxonomy: writing (create), reading (understand, analyze, evaluate), listening (understand), speaking (understand, apply).
Where can you blog?
There are many free and paid blogging sites. Here are four examples:
BLOGGER
Operated by Google, Blogger is simply that, a free blogging platform. Many school districts have begun to use Google's education options to give students individualize email addresses as well as providing online class hangouts via Google Classroom. Since Blogger is part of the Google family of products, students are able to easily join and create a new blog using the email address provided by a school using Google accounts. This is one of the key advantages to this interface. Blogger is fairly simple to use. While writing a blog post, students have access to a toolbar that is very similar to toolbars used in standard word processing programs. This is one of the affordances that leads to ease of use in the classroom.
The Blogger editing toolbar for posts:
PENZU
Penzu is a personal journal or online diary. Unlike other blogging platforms, Penzu's posts are automatically private. Thus if our students use this app, they are not by default sharing all of their thoughts with the world. This makes this app ideal for use with students under the age of 13. So, how exactly does this work in the classroom? In Penzu, teachers have the ability to create a classroom account for an extra fee. After students have created a personal account, they enter the classroom code and then have the ability to submit posts to the teacher. The rest of the class does not automatically see all of the posts. This is ideal for a classroom where you have ELLs or students with below grade-level writing skills. These students may feel shy or embarrassed sharing their writing with the class. Using Penzu, the teacher and student decide whether or not entries are shared. The key affordance here is the similarity to a traditional classroom paper journal. A student could write a private, daily entry and the teacher could comment or provide feedback without everyone seeing. If students are already used to writing journal entries on paper, they will be able to make the transition easily by simply replacing the notebook with the online entry. A more through explanation of Penzu classroom can be viewed in the video below:
Traditionally used to create websites, Weebly is an online web development platform that offers both free and paid subscriptions. Weebly features a drag and drop user interface that is easy for students to use. For teachers, you can pay for a Weebly Classroom account and have the ability to create logins and passwords for students. Each student can create multiple websites within their account. Student websites can be public or password protected by the teacher. An affordance with this program is also the similarity of the iconography for adding text, videos, etc. with other standard publishing and blogging platforms that students are familiar with. An overview of how to add a blog page to a Weebly website is below:
EDUBLOGS
EduBlogs is powered by the WordPress platform. Similar to Weebly, WordPress is traditionally known for its website design capabilities. Unlike Weebly, Edublogs does not have a free option. The advantage of WordPress over Weebly is that you have a more advanced capability to add additional widgets or design elements to your site. Edublogs provides a complete online class home. Students can write and provide feedback on blog posts, use a message board, download assignments, etc. Teachers can even use the site to publish a newsletter for parents. Edublogs, like Penzu, has teacher editable security measures in place to protect the privacy of student content. A video from Edublogs highlighting ten ways you can use the platform in the classroom is below:
To sum up, there are multiple blog platforms available online. A few examples are Blogger, Penzu, Weebly, and Edublogs. A few additional unmentioned options include Squarespace, Tumblr, and Livejournal. Some blogging platforms are available for free and some provide additional content, security, or classroom management options via a fee-based subscription. Some platforms include sophisticated web design tools and others are simply for blogging.
A few affordances that are shared across most of the blogging platforms:
- Iconography--The majority of the sites use formatting icons similar to those found in traditional word processing software.
- Feedback--All of the blogging sites have the option to leave feedback or comments on a post. The majority of students are well versed in commenting and the purpose of commenting on posts via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
- Apps--A common phrase today, "there's an app for that!" Our students are used to using social media oriented apps on their devices. The majority of the blog examples listed above also have an app. Even if a student is not as familiar with using a desktop keyboard, within an app, the options for typing should be fairly standard across programs on the device. Often times in the classroom, when using a new app students are able to find and discover new ways to complete a task simply due to their sometimes greater background knowledge of using apps on a mobile device.
How can I use blogs in the classroom?
The key to using any form of technology in the classroom is for the technology to aid in the creation of the content. It should not distract from it. Simply using technology for the sake of using technology is meaningless. The article Blogging for English-Language Learners on Edutopia provides a list of several different ways to use blogs in an ESL classroom.
 |
| Illustration by Rebeca Zuniga |
In this scenario detailed below, the objective of the students is to create and participate in online storytelling blogs. In Texas, ESL learners are evaluated using the TELPAS model which measures their reading, writing, listening and speaking levels. The project is designed to hit on all of these domains while integrating content with technology.
In traditional classroom settings students may participate in a written or verbal round robin story. I have used this technique effectively in my class in the past. In my studies learning Spanish in college, this is also a technique that my teacher frequently employed in small groups. In round robin story telling, a student starts off telling a story and then passes the story off to the next student at the end of a sentence or paragraph. Offline this could be done verbally while writing on the board, or even via passing notebooks around the classroom. For ELLs transitioning this activity to an online delivery system has additional benefits.
Activity Basics
This activity presumes that the students have already received basic lessons on blog creation and use. Students will be divided into classroom teams and each team will have a blog account. Within each account they will be able to create multiple individual blogs. Each student on the team will be given a different story prompt. On their online blog, the student will write/post the first paragraph of their story. Students will share their blogs with the teacher and the teacher will provide feedback online. The next day, the student's will login and open their teammate's blog. After reading the first paragraph and providing feedback, they will write/post the second paragraph of the story. Students will continue doing a round robin until the story is complete. Throughout the process the students and teacher will be continually providing feedback via the comments section. The students will be able to edit their paragraphs. At the end of the task, each student will use audio tools on the computer to record themselves reciting or speaking the story they first began. The students will upload the audio recording to the blog. The students will then listen and take notes on the stories. With continual use throughout the semester, students will be able to go back and listen to their pronunciation to chart their progression. The levels according to Blooms Taxonomy: writing (create), reading (understand, analyze, evaluate), listening (understand), speaking (understand, apply).
Writing Affordances
- Use of spell check
- Ease of access to online translation and reference tools while composing a post
- Familiarity with formatting (standard iconography)
- Ability to go back and edit or revise a post without having to rewrite the whole entry or leave messy eraser marks on paper
- Familiarity with commenting in online forums ie Facebook
- The blog is always accessible. As long as students have a device and an internet connection, they can login and revise a post. This also eliminates the possibility of notebooks being lost.
Reading Affordances
- Using the Google Chrome web browser, students are able to right click on words they do not understand and look them up in the dictionary. Students may easily auto-translated words they do not understand.
- Familiarity of use with reading materials on a screen ie ebooks. Student handwriting in a notebook can be difficult for other students to understand.
Listening Affordances
- Using the Google Chrome, students are able to right click and hear words or entire passages read aloud. If a student does not know how to pronounce a word utilized in a classmate's story, they will be able to simply click and hear the word.
- Students are able to post audio clips online and refer back to them later for comparison.
Speaking Affordances
- Students who are shy about speaking in front of a large group of their peers will be able to comfortably speak.
- By recording their voices on a computer, students are able to stop and restart. They are able to listen and make adjustments or ask questions about pronunciation.
- The teacher and students will have a record of their speaking that can be used to chart progression.
Potential Pitfalls
- Not all students will have the necessary computer vocabulary or technical knowledge. New computer software can take longer to introduce in an ELL classroom due to the need to pre-teach technical vocabulary terms that the students may not already know. This pitfall can be avoided by quizzing students on computer vocabulary prior to beginning the project and pre-teaching words the students are not familiar with.
- With any online platform, there is always the possibility that students will respond or provide inappropriate comments. By using a blog site that includes a classroom plan, teachers have the ability to moderate comments.
- Teachers must always have a contingency plan with any online-based lesson. School Wi-Fi will inevitably go down when you least expect it. The teacher could have sample student stories printed. On days when the internet is not connecting, the students can practice editing entries on paper.
- Students may accidentally or purposefully delete posts. The teacher must be vigilant and make sure students know rules and consequences for deleting posts which do not belong to them.
Even with the potential pitfalls, the ability for the students use online tools to immediately aid and edit their writing, to be able to participate in a round robin story without having to worry about a notebook being lost or misplaced, read and provide immediate feedback to peers, and to be able to listen to passages and words played aloud for pronunciation makes blogging a superior tool to use in the classroom.
No comments:
Post a Comment