Trials and Triumphs of Blogging Internationally:

Socially Constructing Knowledge through China

and Ireland

Society for Information Technology and Teacher

Education

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

March 28, 2013

Presenters' contact info

Paige Vitulli, Ph.D.pvitulli@southalabama.edu

Peggy Delmas, Ph.D.pdelmas@southalabama.edu

Susan Santoli, Ph.D.ssantoli@southalabama.edu

Leadership and Teacher EducationCollege of Education

University of South AlabamaMobile, AL USA

Abstract

This presentation examines the trials and triumphs of using social networking to collaboratively reflect and publically engage learners in international travel experiences, cultural awareness, and interdisciplinary content.

Abstract

The authors are faculty in a college of education who used blogging as a reflective tool and form of communication before, during, and after professional international travel to China and Ireland.

Abstract

These trips occurred between and during academic semesters, respectively, affording the educators with different levels of participation among graduate and undergraduate students. The three bloggers were all female and all faculty members in the same college of education of a state university in the southeastern U.S. Both blogs were created in Blogger, a free weblog publishing tool from Google.

CHINA

The opportunity to join the China trip was rather unexpected, allowing little time for extensive planning. The spontaneity and playfulness of the title Paige and Peggy’s Excellent Chinese Adventure reflected the nature of the blog. It was not planned in advance, and in fact, one of the authors had never blogged before. However, the chance to share with students and colleagues observations, reflections, experiences, and pictures from China, a country neither author had previously visited, was too rich to be missed.

Our Excellent Group

of Adventurers in China

CHINA

• The authors took copious notes during their time in China and transferred these to the blog using an iPad as time allowed. There was a division of labor as one author was primarily responsible for writing about the trip, while the other documented it through photographs. The authors traded the iPad back and forth, inputting their entries on the tour bus, in airports, at the breakfast table, and in hotel rooms late at night or early in the morning depending on the author and extent of her jet lag.

CHINA Blog

Paige and Peggy's Excellent Chinese Adventure

http://paigeandpeggy.blogspot.com/

IRELAND

Unlike the trip to China, which occurred between academic semesters, the trip to Ireland occurred during an academic semester. The authors were selected to present at the Ireland International Conference on Education in Dublin. Because the blog authors knew of the trip before their classes began, assignments were developed for their own classes, as well as for students taking an undergraduate education media course. The blog was planned, created, and initial author posts were made well before the arrival in Ireland. Because one author was a co-author of the China blog, experiences in creating and using the China blog were called on in the preparation of the Ireland blog.

IRELAND Blog

Vitulli & Santoli: Eyes on Irelandhttp://usaeyesonireland.blogspot.com/

Challenges in China…

• “After struggling with the Internet until 3:30 in the morning and figuring out how to post on Blogger, where it may still be blocked, I awoke to a magnificent breakfast buffet in the very nice Marriott in Shanghai. Omelet and waffle bar, breads, pastries, cheeses, Chinese noodles, and fried rice were just some of the many choices.”

http://paigeandpeggy.blogspot.com/2012/05/monday-in-china.html

 

Disclaimer

“We are posting from smart phones, netbooks, and iPhones, so please bear with us through any kinks. Additionally we are at the mercy of Wi-Fi and power outages (I'm not making this up). Also, some of us (ahem) are learning the art of blogging on the fly -- literally. So, if some of the links are not live, just copy and paste to your browser.”

http://paigeandpeggy.blogspot.com/2012/05/disclaimer.html

 

The “Great Firewall” is Permeable

“Prior to traveling to China, Peggy and I set up this blog and began posting our pre-travel China-related activities and plans - we even posted from the first leg of the journey in Atlanta. Neither of us anticipated being unable to access Blogger once we arrived in China (and Facebook for me). We were extremely disappointed for the short period of time we thought our communication with family, friends, colleagues, and students through daily blog posts was blocked. As we continued to develop and save posts, I decided to try publishing again and quickly realized that although I could not view the blog, from my iPhone or iPad app, I could post. (I contacted my daughter back home to confirm the posts were being published.) Thankfully we were back in the business of sharing the photos and descriptions of the fascinating country.” http://paigeandpeggy.blogspot.com/2012_09_01_archive.html

Ireland Trials and Triumphs

• TRIAL: Posting a PowerPoint full of images to the blog…the file size was too large to upload to SlideShare.

• TRIUMPH: Discovering we could save the slideshow as a smaller file size.

• http://usaeyesonireland.blogspot.com/2012/10/iice-conference-workshop-developing.html

Ireland Triumph

• Sunday, Oct. 28: St. Patrick’s Day, At Least For Us

• Reflecting on our professional quests…o http://usaeyesonirela

nd.blogspot.com/2012/10/st-patricks-day-at-least-for-us-st.html

Dr. Fionnuala Waldron, Dr. Susan Santoli, Dr. Daire Keogh, Dr. Paige Vitulli

Ireland Triumph

The Meeting on the Turret Stairs

• Feedback from studentso http://usaeyesonirelan

d.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-meeting-on-turret-stairs.html

IRELAND

CHINA