Blog-based courses in higher education: experience from Tallinn University

Hans Põldoja

http://www.tlu.ee

Blog-based courses

Course format

• Course blog + learner blogs

• Additional Web 2.0 and social media tools (Twitter, SlideShare, YouTube, …)

• Open enrollment

• Open educational resources

• Assignments through blog posts

• Feedback and discussion in comments

Challenges in blog-based courses

• Coordinating and following the course activities

• Creating and sustaining the learning community

• Designing content and activities

• Feedback and assessment

EduFeedr

http://www.edufeedr.net

Twitter

Challenges in blog-based courses

• Coordinating and following the course activities

• Creating and sustaining the learning community

• Designing content and activities

• Feedback and assessment

Personal introductions / About pages

Learning contracts

Blog rolls

Challenges in blog-based courses

• Coordinating and following the course activities

• Creating and sustaining the learning community

• Designing content and activities

• Feedback and assessment

Publishing course content

• WordPress pages for lecture notes

• SlideShare for presentations

• YouTube for videos and screencasts

• Mendeley for research publications

• Dropbox for resources that cannot be shared in public web (scanned book chapters, etc.)

Designing assignments

• Assignments combine practical and theoretical learning goals

• Assignments encourage reflection

• Assignments allow each learner to come up with an original solution

Student posts as content

Different learning paths

Basic knowledge badges

Basic knowledge on

learning objects and repositories

Basic knowledge on authoring tools

Basic knowledge on

computer-based

assessment

Basic knowledge on

new technologies

Basic knowledge on copyright of

digital learning

resources

Basic knowledge on

quality of digital

learning resources

Content package author

Assessment test author

e-Textbook author

Advanced knowledge on

learning objects and repositories

Advanced knowledge on authoring tools

Advanced knowledge on

computer-based assessment

Advanced knowledge on

new technologies

Advanced knowledge on copyright of

digital learning resources

Advanced knowledge on

quality of digital learning

resources

Blogging assignment 1 Blogging assignment 2 Blogging assignment 3 Blogging assignment 4 Blogging assignment 5Group assignment on developing a digital learning resource

Blogging assignment 6 Literature review

Describing the advantages and

disadvantages of learning objects approach

Searching for learning objects from learning object repositories by metadata and licenses

Creating simple content packages, tests and e-

textbooks, and describing these with metadata

Following copyright principles for digital learning resources

Evaluating the quality of a learning resources using an evaluation framework

Using one authoring tool to create a more

comprehensive digital learning resource

Analyzing the current issues, research studies and trends in one sub-topic related to digital

learning resources

Learning outcomes

Assignments

Advanced knowledge badges

Skills badges

Challenges in blog-based courses

• Coordinating and following the course activities

• Creating and sustaining the learning community

• Designing content and activities

• Feedback and assessment

Commenting

Liking

Summary posts

Open Badges

Conclusions

Benefits of using blogs

• Supporting learners to develop and express their ideas

• Supporting collaboration and group work

• Getting feedback from others

• Enriching the learning environment

• Promoting new educational practices

• Motivating learners

Example data from a course

• 15 weeks

• 15 learners + 1 facilitator

• 162 blog posts (incl. 22 from the facilitator)

• 239 comments (incl. 44 from the facilitator)

• 81 trackback links between the blogs

Related publications• Põldoja, H. (2010). EduFeedr: following and supporting learners in open blog-

based courses. In Open ED 2010 Proceedings. Barcelona: UOC, OU, BYU. http://hdl.handle.net/10609/4861

• Põldoja, H., Duval, E., & Leinonen, T. (in press). Design and evaluation of an online tool for open learning with blogs. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology.

• Põldoja, H., & Laanpere, M. (2014). Exploring the Potential of Open Badges in Blog-Based University Courses. In Y. Cao, T. Väljataga, J. K. T. Tang, H. Leung, & M. Laanpere (Eds.), Lecture Notes in Computer Science: Vol. 8699. New Horizons in Web Based Learning (pp. 172–178). Cham: Springer. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13296-9_19

• Väljataga, T., Põldoja, H., Laanpere, M. (2011). Open Online Courses: Responding to Design Challenges. In H. Ruokamo, M. Eriksson, L. Pekkala, & H. Vuojärvi (Eds.), Proceedings of the 4th International Network-Based Education 2011 Conference The Social Media in the Middle of Nowhere (pp. 68-75). Rovaniemi: University of Lapland.

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Hans Põldoja Lecturer School of Digital Technologies Tallinn University Estonia

hans.poldoja@tlu.ee @hanspoldoja

http://www.hanspoldoja.net http://www.slideshare.net/hanspoldoja