[Air-l] Re: Weblogs in education

[JASON NOLAN]

>Message: 10
>From: dca4 at georgetown.edu
>I'm having two of my classes use weblogs this semester. Students in one
>class are keeping journals, writing about anything they desire,
>http://cct723.blogspot.com.  Another class is using them in a more
>structured manner to answer weekly questions,
>http://cct717.blogspot.com, then read each others answers.  Please
>browse, if you have a chance.
>
>Are others using blogs as an educational information sharing or
>creativity device?  Would love to discuss what you are finding. I'm
>getting very mixed reactions from students, especially those asked to
>journal.
>Dorine
>
>Dorine Andrews


I've been using them for a couple of years with grad classes. This 
year I have 20 students in a graduate knowledge media design program 
blogging, and just finishing up an assignment assessing some of the 
major flavours: blogger, Moveable Type, Live Journal and a Twiki (ya, 
it's not really a blog, but that's what they're doing with it.)

If anyone's interested in having a look at the assessment assignment, 
here it is: http://achieve.utoronto.ca/twiki/bin/view/KMD1000/WebHome 
and the ongoing student work is at 
http://achieve.utoronto.ca/twiki/bin/view/KMD1000/KmdiGroup and I'll 
have their final projects up in a month. This may be of interest to 
researchers and educators wondering why they would choose one web log 
implimentation over another.

Along with a buddy, I also have 30 undergrads studying writer critics 
(Sidney, Dryden, Arnold, Wordsworth & Elliot) who are blogging in 
place of major written assignments. Visible at 
http://edublog.com/docs/kuin/

My research assistants also use blogs to organize data. Mostly 
Moveabletype, because of the category features.

Students always hate to write. It seems. Blogger also seems to be the 
hardest for some students due to the design. Not that any of them are 
good.

If you want to talk off list email me, or iChat (aka AIM): 
complicitytheory, or if there's interest from others, a group chat on 
my CVE.

Jason
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Jason Nolan, PhD
Scholar in Residence
Knowledge Media Design Institute
Room7224
Bahen Centre for Information Technology
40 St. George St.
University of Toronto
Toronto, ON
M5S 2E4
Canada
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mailto:jason.nolan at utoronto.ca
phone:416-946-8513
http://achieve.utoronto.ca/jason/

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