Teaching and Learning with Blogs

Meredith FarkasHead of Instructional Initiatives

Kreitzberg Library

Written lecturenotes

Discussionforums

Assignments

Quizes

Lost in translation?

Lost in translation?

So what is Web2.0?

Web 1.0: Democratized Access to Information

Web 2.0: Democratized Participation

More than just technology

•Age of participation

•The wisdom of crowds

•Social constructivism

Blogs in the Online Classroom

drupal.org

Why blogs?

Familiar medium•133 million blogs indexed by Technorati

•42% of bloggers 18-34

•77.7 million unique visitors to blogs vs. 41 million to Facebook (in May 2008)

•New types of blogging: in MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Source: Technorati State of the Blogosphere 2008 http://technorati.com/blogging/feature/state-of-the-blogosphere-2008/

Faculty communication with

students

Builds student sense of ownership over the medium

Community-building

Community-building

Reflective Learning

Reflective Learning

Reflective Learning

Discussion and debate

Discussion and debate

Discussion and debate

Writing in public

Writing in public

Everyone is teacher and learner

Blogs can…

•Promote critical and reflective thinking

•Enable collaboration and knowledge-sharing

•Create an informal environment for student discussion and community-building

•Encourage dialogue and debate

•Encourage students to teach as well as learn and co-construct their learning experience

Thanks!