Extend the Discussion with Blogs

As I wrote in an earlier post, if I had to choose one Web 2.0 tool to use to enhance my classroom practice, it would be the Blog. Today, I’m giving a presentation on Blogging for some of my colleagues at the college, which has led me to put some of my thoughts into rather more focussed points: what exactly are the pros and cons of blogging in education?

You can find the outline of my presentation on SlideShare

You might recognize some of the points in my “reading” and “writing” pages for students and instructors as adapted from a matrix created some years ago by my friend Scott Leslie. I am constantly enriched by the activities, both online and otherwise, of my local cohort of ed-tech gurus, starting, of course, with our own Clint Lalonde.

A very interesting article from The American Historians Association
debunks some of the myths surrounding blogging.

Blogs Mentioned in Presentation

Cabinet of Wonders
Mirabilis.ca
Science Blogs (a blog that also lists and links to other blogs)

Recommended Blogging platforms:

WordPress I like WordPress for its clean, professional, look. It is not the most user-friendly of the blogs, so I might suggest it for more advanced users. It also does not lend itself quite so well to community or collaboration as does LiveJournal.

Livejournal is unfairly dismissed by the ed-tech elite as too “cutesy” and “teenage angst ridden” – like any of the blogs, the content determines the quality. There are as many thoughtful and serious writers in LJ as there are on any platform, and LJ is without parallel for its aggregation tool – the built in “friends page,” which allows a one-stop shopping place for students to find each-other and for you to find them.

I don’t recommend allowing students to choose different blogging platforms, as it becomes too complicated for commenting. Thus, I have tended to choose LiveJournal for student work and I maintain my own “professional” blog here on WordPress.

Edublogs is a WordPress type blogging service set up for educators.

You’ll notice that I haven’t mentioned Blogger. I find it the least user-friendly of the top three services, and don’t find it as customizable as either LJ or WordPress.

Three Things Make a “Post”

Let’s start with the delightful “blog” of “unnecessary” quotation marks. Along with the proliferation of apostrophes where no apostrophe needs to be, we see “quotation marks” all over the place. Someone is keeping track and commenting dryly on them.

I find this one fascinating: The Book Depository Live. Watch in real time as people all over the world buy books. Why I should be mesmerized by seeing someone buying Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys in Sweden, I don’t really know. It’s the magic of the WWW.

And a link for Shakespeare buffs to add to their bookmarks: Shakespeare and Film: A Microblog. Great source of news on new and old movie versions, dvd releases (including David!! Tennant’s!! Hamlet!!!), and useful YouTube clips.

Of Romance, Ferrets and Plagiarism

Apparently the Romance readers and writers blogs were abuzz some time ago with news that one of the hottest writers in their genre had been caught with her pants down (so-to-speak) having stolen word-for-word material from a non-fiction article about ferrets. Ferrets? You may well ask. The author of the ferret article has written most amusingly about the scandal.

What amazes me, reading the passages in which the plagiarism appears, is not only how completely shameless the copying is, but how appallingly clunky and completely unnecessary the dialogue is in the context of the passage. It’s not just “info-dump” of the worst kind, it’s “dude! wtf??” You have your characters enjoying a post-coital cuddle in the teepee, spot a ferret, and feel an irresistable impulse to launch into a lecture more appropriate for the Discovery Channel? And it’s the classic error that often catches students – have a section in your work that is so completely incongruous that someone is bound to wonder if it comes from somewhere else! What was the author thinking? Did she have a word-count to make up, perhaps? And thought – hey, ferrets are sexy little beasts; let’s introduce some nature-study to go with all the heaving bosoms and burning loins.

Literary Links for Women’s Lit

A series of articles relating to our recent reading of “Silly Novels by Lady Novelists”:

This article directly references Eliot in her review of “Confessions of a Shopaholic.”

This is the one I read out in class, talking about a new line of bad “feminist” fiction.

This is the very amusing discussion of Twilight that I read from in class. By the way, one or two of you might like to do your paper on the Twilight books!

This is a rather more comprehensive discussion of “chick-lit” from the Salon.

And finally, Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Why I Wrote the Yellow Wallpaper

My Favourite EdTech

I was an early adopter of educational technology, and have tried many different platforms and tools, from Flickr to del.icio.us, from LMSs to wikis. I like wikis a lot, and want to do more to explore their educational uses. The great thing about wikis is that they allow students to collaborate and create something of their own.

I have to say, though, that the piece of technology I return to over and over again, and the one, apart from Flickr, that informs my own life in and out of my job the most, is the blog. I like the way you can use a blog as a quick and easy homepage for your students. Create a multiple user blog, and you have a collaboration tool.

But the most significant asset of the blog, from the point of view of an educator, is its use as a tool for reflection. I have started asking students to write in a blog instead of handing in a written journal for reflection on their class work. The advantage? Number one, because it is published “in real life,” the students tend to take it seriously as an assignment. Number two, and more importantly in many ways, it’s easy for students to find each other’s blogs, and you can facilitate that connection. This way, they read and comment on their classmates’ work. I find that the one or two students who do exceptional work become an incentive for others, and the overall quality of work in the class improves as a result.

In my own life, I am addicted to blogs and blogging. Using the magic of RSS feeds, I subscribe to other bloggers in my field or the blogs that interest me. I also maintain a personal blog in addition to this one and have found it to be a valuable part of my life for personal reflection and writing practice.

Camosun Online Blogging Carnival

Help us celebrate our 2^nd Annual Conference, Walls Optional, promoting excellence in teaching and learning through technology.
Have you ever taught or been a student in a class where technology was used in a creative way?
Tell us about it!

Write a blog post, before April 30, that describes any really effective teaching and/or learning experience you have had. For those who may have lots of experience with educational technology, write about the MOST effective tool or activity you have encountered. Submit it here.

The completed Carnival will be posted to coincide with our conference date of May 6. Look for it in our blog after May 4.

Spread the Word

This fabulous video was made as a class assignment by a Camosun student. It’s an extremely effective presentation on an important topic. Let’s see it rise in popularity on YouTube!

Match It for Pratchett

Science fiction and fantasy fans were shocked by Terry Pratchett’s announcement recently that he’s suffering from a rare form of early onset Alzheimer’s.

Many of us have been touched personally by this disease. As we age, more and more of us will have to face it ourselves, or watch as people we love become strangers.

Wonderfully, Pratchett announced recently that he is donating half a million pounds, or about a million dollars, to Alzheimer’s research, and now we have a chance to help, too. Terry Pratchett’s fans have launched a challenge, to “match it for Pratchett,” and word is sweeping the blogosphere.

Help spread the word! Link back here, create your own message, donate to the organization in your country.
Gill Othen, a British English teacher and blogger, created the graphic below and would be happy if you copied it and used it. I’ve supplied links to major Alzheimer’s Research sites.

In the UK

In Canada

In the US

In Australia

Aardman does Shakespeare

Brilliantly, of course. How many plays can you identify?

Creative Writing Launch

Last night, the English Department at Camosun College celebrated the official launch of their already successful creative writing program. The evening featured open mic readings from the public, followed by “feature” readings by selected students of the “Class of 2008.” The readings ranged from hip hop poetry to a sonnet, with everything in between – a little bit of a play, part of a story, a creative non-fiction piece with help from “plants” in the audience. It was all extremely professional; the representatives in the audience from our financial sponsors must have had no doubt that their money will be well spent.

It was also the launch of an exciting new online journal, Beside The Point. It will be run by students, for students, and will provide a venue for up-and-coming writers. It is now welcoming submissions for its next edition.