Blogging: what, why and 3 hows

We didn't have enough time on our course to look at blogging in any depth. There is the technical side of what a blog is and what the different parts of the page are called plus how you create them on platforms where you can have a blog, like Google's Blogger or Edublogs. Then there is the pedagogical side, which is more interesting. I'll try to focus more on issues I think teachers want to know about. If you have any questions, please post a comment! 

What is a blog? 

What is a blog and what is a post? This video from Edublogger gives some background information. 


 


So a blog is your space on the web to write and share whatever you want. 'Post' now generally means 'to add a piece of content to your blog'. 

You can see this from a search on Google Fight, where you can compare how frequent two bits of language are on the web. The phrase 'post to a blog' appears many times more frequently on Google than post a letter.  Try a few more 'fights' yourself to see how it works.

Why have a blog? 

People write long articles about the benefits of blogging but I'll keep my ideas short and to the point: 

• Using the Internet is a natural activity for young people. 46% of the UK's teenagers say they can't live without it. 
• When you have a blog, you have a real audience. Check out this article about influential teen bloggers to learn about some real examples.   
• They give students a chance to develop their digital media literacy skills. Most countries have added this to their national curriculums and have shared materials on the web. Check out this Canadian site for an example. 

By the way, there are many activities you can do with your class to help them improve these skills, most of which resemble the activities we do with printed text in our reading lessons. The image below contains some of the words I associate with digital media literacy and was created on Wordle, a popular tool.  

• Blogs allow students to use their creativity by combining media to express their ideas. This also includes adding media and linking to outside sources. Curious about what children can do? Check out the winners of the Digital Creativity Awards. There is even a degree course in Digital Creativity!   
• And blogging encourages reflective learning since a blogger often has to come back to a post and think about it again in the light of reader comments and other stuff they've learned since the post was written. The image was taken from Sue Water's blog. Check out the original post. 

So blogs can be a useful tool for teacher development if a teacher keeps a diary or a portfolio of work and reflections on one. Learners can also use them in a similar way. They can have individual blogs, which are usually a lot of work for the teacher to read, or the teacher can run a class blog where examples of students' work can be posted. 

How to write a blog post:

My top tips:  

• Keep it relevant. In other words try to make it interesting or suited to the needs of your readers 
• Use headings to break up text. 
• Avoid italics. Use fonts that are easy to read. There is research on this! 
• Include some visual and video and any other interesting media (but not just for the sake of showing off.)  
• Link to outside sources so people can follow up on ideas. 
• Do give more than one point of view - be as balanced as possible.  
• Invite more discussion ... (see below.)  

If you would like to explore some topics related to effective blogging, the about.com site has several pages with articles. 

How to get the most out of a blog 

One of the most important aspects of a blog is the dialogue that can develop through the comments section. Have a look at Scott Thornbury's blog post on 'Gestures', and see how much extra content is found in the discussion in the comments. It's many times longer than his original post. I enjoy reading the comments and come back to them later to see what else has been added even if I don't post any myself. 

How can we evaluate a blog post? 

If your students are going to contribute to a blog, you'll want to give them a rubric. Before that, read a few blog posts in class or for homework to decide what you are looking for and discuss how the students' work will be evaluated. One very useful list of resources for assessing blogs can be accessed from Richard Byrne's blog post on the topic. (I'd strongly recommend following this blog, by the way.)  

Another approach to evaluation is to develop a 'The best blog post is...' list with your students. Here's my list: 

1.) The best blog posts are thoughtful, original, relevant, and provide insight into your learning and your engagement with your learning. This includes learning from three sources: classmates, the activities, and course content. In your blog post you can/should also provide feedback/ suggestions. What would improve the course? What would improve your learning? 

2.) The best blog posts are reflections on your learning process during our course that explain, summarise, argue for and against, question, analyse, self-assess, synthesise, your engagement with course content. 

3.) The best blog posts make your thinking and learning visible, and use examples from discussions or class work as support.  

(Adapted from a comment posted to a teacher's blog. This is a real example of how I learned from the comments and discussions that follow the post. Scroll right down to follow the discussion.)

So please feel free to add your comments and question to our blog posts. We look forward to seeing some discussion develop!