Using blogs in the classroom

Plans (past)

Here's what I wrote last August about my plans to using a blogs in my Internet classes:

Using a Blog in my Internet Class

I'm going to be having my students use blogs in the course CPSC 104, a course without prerequisites about the Internet.

I'm assuming that a blog will provide one outlet for the writing I want them to do in the class. I'm particularly concerned about writing for the Web in ways that are interesting, informative, and substantial. I feel pretty comfortable with ways to do that, since I've been doing that with students for sometime, but not through a blog. I also want to use a blog as a means to have students think about presentation issues and some elementary HTML. I will eventually want them to include hyperlinks and images in their blog entries, and I'm assuming (again) that some will want to spruce/spice up their blog entries.

Questions I have deal with how to introduce students to using a blog in ways that allow them to How to deal with the notion of a blog in a structured way. Some thoughts are for me to:

• introduce the notion of a blog and show several examples
  
• include in a list of HW questions they have to answer, some questions about blogs and also ask them to name, briefly describe, and give the URLs for 3 blogs they find interesting
  
• show them in class how to set up a blog with blogger.com
  
• have them do an in-class lab where they set up a blog at blogger.com
  
• over a week or so, give them some specific topics to write about in their blogs
  
• at the end of the first week of their using a blog, we'll talk about RSS and show them how to use a news aggregator to check on other blogs.
  
• during the second week of their using a blog require them to include one or more hyperlinks in a blog entry
  
• After that we'll see where it all goes - what other things they want to do with HTML.
  

Posted by ernie at August 21, 2004 09:06 PM

What did we did

Fall semester

• gave some experience but virtually no success
  
• blogs not started until the end of the first week , with no posting due until the end of the second week
  
• assignments: tied assignments to reading in the text and topics we were discussing in class
  • Have at least three entries posted to your blog.
    * One that deals with an event on campus
    * One that gives a description of a Web site, but not a users guide to the site. In other words, describe the site giving its purpose and importance long with bibliographic information, but don't go into how to use the site. Be sure to include the title and the URL of the site.
    * One on a topic that you choose.
  • Post at least three entries to your blog this week that deal with searching. Include a description of one or more search engines (with URLs), and another entry that describes a site that's helpful in learning how to use search engines effectively.
  • Add at least three entries to your blog. One should be related to the material in Chapter 4 of the text. Write another on a topic related to one of the items discussed in the section "Content Issues" pages 74 - 76 of the text.
  • and so on... tied assignments to readings in the text and topics we were discussing in class.

Spring semester

• Started talking about and working with blogs on first day.
  
• Common ignorance. As in the first semester almost all of the students had not heard about blogs.
  
• Blogs were getting good press. Video from ABC News naming bloggers People of the Year, and entertaining press:
  • Blog Cabin Republican - Daily Show
  • "Fact" Obsessed Bloggers - Daily Show
    
• Worked with students in lab to set up blogs and set features
  
• Assignments: - tied assignments to readings of contemporary or breaking reports about using the Internet.
  • (Due first day of week 2 of the course) Be sure you've set up a blog with settings that match the ones suggested in the attached handout, "Blog Settings."
    
    * Post the URL to your blog in forum "Blog URLs" of the Discussion Board in Blackboard for this course.
    
    * Post three entries to your blog. Each entry should be at least 100 words. Check the spelling and the grammar, and include URLs as hyperlinks where appropriate:
    1. Post an entry that supports, refutes, or otherwise comments on the statement "many students have difficulty recognizing trustworthy sources, though perhaps the underlying problem is a lack of understanding of the Internet as an unmonitored
    source of information." from " "Critical Thinking in the Internet Era" listed above.
    2. Post an entry that describes an event on this campus. One from the recent past or an upcoming one.
    3. Post on any topic you choose or use the post to describe a Web site.
    
  • * Be sure you've set up a blog with settings allow for an RSS or Atom feed.
    
    * Be sure you set up an account at Bloglines.com and add at least five student blogs to your list of feeds.
    
    * Post three entries to your blog. Each entry should be at least 100 words. Check the spelling and the grammar, and include URLs as hyperlinks where appropriate:
    
    1. Post an entry that deals with copyright as stated in the article. What's your opinion of the points made in the article?
    
    2. Describe an event related to computer security that you've been personally involved in, and in the case your life has not been that interesting then report on an article in the press recently dealing with this topic.
    
    3. Search news.google.com, find an article dealing with copyright or digital piracy issues. Write a summary of the article. Be sure to state the title, author(if known) and the URL of the article. A summary contains a statement of the main points in your words, or quotations from the article.
    
    * Read and post at least one comment on an entry that's in the blog of another student in this course.
    
  • * Post three entries to your blog. Each entry should be at least 100 words. Check the spelling and the grammar, and include URLs as hyperlinks where appropriate:
    
    1. Pick out one or more conclusions from the report about search engine users above, and support or refute it based on your experiences and/or some supporting information that you've found on the Web.
    
    2. Write an entry on a topic related to one of the items discussed in the section "Content Issues" pages 74 - 76 of the text.
    
    3. Describe your efforts and results in searching for information about yourself. List the search engines, directories, or other services you used to find some thing about you on the Web, and describe the techniques you used. (You can't say there is nothing about you on the Web since your email address is available through a form at the Web page with URL http://www.umw.edu/people_search/default.php)
    
    * Read and post at least one comment on an entry that's in the blog of another student in this course.
    
  • and so on -- tied assignments to readings of contemporary or breaking reports about using the Internet.
    
  • Student Blogs

Issues

• the perception of forced bogging
• some technical problems
• need to build in other uses of RSS

Plans (future)

• proceed as before, but work for more student involvement
• treat blogs as part of a larger set of tools for social networking, community
• suggestions?

.