STUDENT BLOG: Media Class Visits ASEAN BlogFest 2012

Nary Chun reports from Cambodia about a blogfest that students recently attended.

My media class went to the BlogFest because we wanted to know more about Facebook, websites, blogging and how to use them. This is because we really like to study media and want to be able to write a blogpost. In the future, media can help us to have a good job. All the students in the media class want to connect tothe Internet, because we want the people around the world to know us

The students learnt more about a range of web topics including Wikipedia and web design.

 

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Creating the first blog entry

Ferdinand Krauss discusses some early outcomes of a recent class blogging project which involved a mix of paper and technology blogs. In October, they looked at examples of blogs and blogging practices then shared in groups about why people might want to write and read blogs.  They looked at how to create a great post and encourage discourse  with comments but this is an area which he thinks needs more work. There are some great photos of the paper blogs.

One of the lessons learned is

I provided the students with a class code so that they could create their individual accounts according to the convention I had outlined. I did not anticipate that the students would memorize the class code and continue to use it to create additional accounts when they re-visited the site (in some cases 3 or 4 times!!).

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Weekend Theme: Education

SidevieW suggested Education and there were a range of contributions. A popular way for bloggers to connect on the web is by responding to themes and challenges. Each contributor posts a link to their blog in the comments. The contributors to this theme include:

• The Lessons of the Crossbow
• Really Awful Education
• Bored of Education
• Education and my star-learner-teacher-educator-discoverer
• 7 Mind Boggling Wonders, or an Education
• School of Hard Rocks
• EducationPost

Weekend theme post

The Fate of Community Colleges in an Online World

Lauren Landry reports on concerns voiced that if traditional education is going to be replaced then does this mean that community colleges will be chopped first. She does not believe that the xMOOCs will replace community college provision because she believes there are skills that cannot be taught online and learners may not get the support needed

They’re the students who may show up with learning disabilities, or who study when compelled but aren’t checking into the library on foursquare every day. They’re the students who could benefit from additional help, but need the in-person assistance and motivation of a community college staff to push them along and help them succeed.

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5 steps to building social media presence from scratch

Lisa Nielsen shares her tried and trusted ideas for how educators can develop their presence using social media and networks, in a video interview. Her first tip:

Don’t be afraid of zero – We have to start somewhere and when it comes to social media, that means starting at zero. That’s okay. Take that first step and join the biggies like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+. Start a blog and don’t worry about not having any followers. You’ll start at zero, but it won’t be long before your connections reach the double and triple digits.

The other tips

The challenges of digital scholarship

Adeline Koh on Prof Hacker blog says that the call to use new media as part of academic scholarship is growing increasingly louder. She refers to four relevant issues including the importance of educating your audience by understanding who your audience is and how their interests can be addressed. She looks at peer review and where books fit into the process.

Should junior scholars blog their book projects? Will this inhibit them from getting book contracts later? Will their blogs count as scholarship? Workshop participants argued that blogging a book project would associate ideas with the junior scholar’s name. One participant even compared transitioning from a blog to a book to a dissertation to book. In short: we are on the brink of a tipping point in history, where blogging is going to become the norm for the initial exchange of ideas

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How can blogging help you learn?

Richard Gresswell reflects on how blogs help him and describes his understanding of how digital technologies can help people communicate after watching someone who was hard of hearing use video on Skype. He left a comment on another blogger’s post and she replied back, inspiring more questions.

it fuses together those everyday encounters and connects me with others and their knowledge and experiences. Learning through blogging takes place at this nexus of our online and offline lives, the two are inseparable, they are connected.

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Is blogging and tweeting about research papers worth it? The Verdict

Melissa Terras started a project in October 2011 to make all her articles available via an open access repository.

I decided that as well as putting them in the institutional repository, I would write a blog post about each research project, and tweet the papers for download. Would this affect how much my research was read, known, discussed, distributed?

Did it work? She writes an insightful post on the result.

The verdict

Final Thoughts – the impact of technology on education

Ms Gray recently completed a course on using technologies in education and shares her thoughts on using in a higher school maths classroom. She reflects on her experiences of using blogs, wikis, podcasts for the first time. She looks at how perspectives are changing from teacher centered to learner centered.

I have a vision for where I want to take my classroom technologically. I want to not just accomplish a task differently, but accomplish a completely different task. One goal that I have is to have an up and running blog site maintained and monitored by students (and me of course) that will be a tool for students to communicate with each other and myself. Students will be able to get homework help and even post problems to discuss. In addition to discussions and homework help, students will use the blog to reflect on their own learning and the mathematics specifically. The second goal would be for students to move away from poster boards and PowerPoint and use wikis and podcasts to complete projects. Students would use the wiki space to collaborate about the project and I would monitor each members contributions and offer assistance when needed. After using the wiki to collaborate, students will produce their final product as a podcast.

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29 reasons why every child should blog

On February 29th

Stripped down blogging to its simplest form to record one special day in time across the globe. As soon as the first time zone entered Feb29th.net this blog was open to posts. By simply filling in a form, visitors were able to post onto this blog and record their words on this extra special day. As February 29th has passed by all the time zones, this blog has now closed for posting. Over the next few days, additional features will be added enabling visitors to search tag, posts and keywords. I’d like to thank the 20,000+ unique visitors that descended on this project blog. I think I can say that it was a HUGE success. Thank you!

Including an inviting 29 reasons from the class about why every child should blog

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