Wikis and Blogs in the TAFE Classroom

Teachers identified the following strengths of blogs for use in the IT Section:

1. Blogs are free and easy to create….maintenance may be an issue.

2. Use of templates simplifies design.

3. Content can be entered from anywhere at anytime.

4. Content may be accessed from anywhere at anytime.

5. Posts provide students with an opportunity to practice writing skills .

6. ‘Old’ posts can be archived and can be retrieved from a calendar.

7. A blog may have multiple authors.

8. Anyone can contribute comments about posts. Comments may be moderated before they are displayed.

9. Blog posts can be monitored using RSS feed aggregators.

10. Organisation of blog content can be achieved by creating and assigning categories to posted content. Specific content can then be retrieved by specifying a category.

11. A blog environment for the IT Section may include a) Teacher blog, b) Student blog, c) Project blog, d) Group blog. For example:

Lots of discussion highlighting the challenges for the introduction and maintenance of wikis by teachers. Interesting that at the completion of the Wiki workshop the general feeling from teachers was that there is more potential for wikis in a TAFE classroom than blogs.
Teachers found the MediaWiki (BluWiki) wiki markup code difficult to use in comparison with the WikiSpaces editor and recommended adopting WikiSpaces as the wiki for use in the IT Section. Teachers were unanimous that a simple WYSIWYG interface is essential for creation and maintenance of class wikis.

WikiSpaces showed potential for students to attach project work on their own wikis however issues were identified regarding security, privacy for Internet based resources.

The Head Teacher stressed the usefulness of a wiki that would allow attachment of administrative documents (e.g. timetable information) for access and amendment by teachers.
Contact Tony if you would like further information on the workshop, copies of exercises and links to the participating teachers’ blogs.

RSS stands for Rich Site Summary or Real Simple Syndication.

Blogs (and an ever-growing number of other sites) generate a behind-the-scenes code in a language similar to HTML called XML.

This code, usually referred to as a “feed reader” makes it possible

for teachers to “subscribe” to the content that is created on students’ blogs

so they no longer have to visit the blog itself to get it. As is true with traditional syndication, the content comes to you instead of you going to get it, hence “Real Simple Syndication.”

Finding the time to click through students’ sites and keep abreast of any changes on
a regular basis would be nearly impossible. But what if you only had to go to
one place to read all of the new content on all of those sites? Wouldn’t be so
difficult, would it? Well, that’s exactly what RSS feeds allows you to do by using
a type of software called an “aggregator” or feed collector. The aggregator
checks the students’ feeds that the teacher subscribes to, usually every hour, and it collects all the new content from those sites. Then, when the teacher is ready,
she/he can open up your aggregator to read the individual student blogs.

In this session’s exercise you will use Bloglines to create an aggregator (feed reader) that will enable you to link to and monitor your students’ blogs. The aggregator will also notify you when a change e.g. a new entry, has been made to a student’s blog.

The two major options for teachers creating blogs are either a WWW hosting service (e.g. Blog.com, WordPress.org) or an application downloaded and installed on their own or campus server (e.g. MoveableType).

Hosting services. A hosting service is a Web site that will give you access to everything you need in order to create a blog. It will offer a form for you to input your entries, some tools that allow you to create a template for your blog, and access to some built-in accessories. Your blog is hosted on the hosting service (hence the name), and the URL will typically reflect the hosting service’s URL. The best-known (and one of the earliest) hosting service is Blogger (http://www.blogger.com).

Installed Applications. A remotely installed application is a piece of software that you obtain from the provider and install on your own Web site. These systems are similar to Web-based applications such as ColdFusion or Hypermail. Because of this, the number of users is much lower, but those who do use them tend (arguably) to be more dedicated and more knowledgeable than those who use hosting services. Installed applications are also more suitable for institutional use, since access can be controlled.

In this workshop we will use the WordPress application hosted from the Edublogs.org website – a great initiative for Australian educators and their students. WordPress can be downloaded free for use as an installed application.

1. Example of a teacher blog to support TAFE students.

This blog contains descriptive links to resources to support student learning. As links are posted to the blog they are categorized by subject or area of interest.

2. Examples of student and teacher blogs for the TAFE subject “Conceptual Skills”:

2.1 The teacher blog displays entries posted prior to each class session describing exercises to be completed by students. Students post a comment when their exercise has been completed and uploaded to their blogs.

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2.2 This example of a student blogs displays or links to completed class exercises. Note that student’s blog incorporate text, audio and video and may be used as a portfolio of class work – a ‘blogfolio’.

2.3 An RSS Feed Reader (The Bloglines aggregator ) is used to link to and monitor the progress of students’ blogs. RSS Feed Readers will be covered in detail in session 4.

3. Here are examples of a teacher and student blog for the subject “Quality Assurance for Business Solutions”.

3.1 The teacher blog.

3.2 A student blog Note that student’s projects are in .doc and .ppt formats for downloading.

In Stephen Downes article “Educational Blogging” he highlights the use of blogs by students as a ‘personal publishing tool’, however some teachers are using blogs to organize class seminars and to record the progress and contributions of students in collaborative projects. Used in this way, the blogs become “group/project blogs”—that is, individual blogs authored by a group of people.

Mireille Guay, a Canadian teacher notes: “The conversation possible on the weblog is also an amazing tool to develop our community of learners. The students get to know each other better by visiting and reading blogs from other students. They discover, in a non-threatening way, their similarities and differences. The student who usually talks very loud in the classroom and the student who is very timid have the same writing space to voice their opinion. It puts students in a situation of equity.”

Refer to this session’s handout for directions for creating your ‘student’ blog.

Welcome to the “Blogging in a TAFE Classroom” workshop.

The aims of the workshop are:

1. Provide information on the pedagogical application of blogs to enable you to identify areas for their potential use in your own teaching areas.

2. Develop skills in developing ‘classroom’ blogs using the WordPress software application.

3. Identify through discussion, the potential and limitations of blogs in the TAFE classroom.

Prior to each session in this workshop an entry will be created in this blog that will provide you with links to recommended readings and web/blog sites to review. I invite you to add your comments.

Guidelines for workshop exercises will be provided using good old paper technology.

Our workshop sessions will be:

1. Create a ’student’ blog. 2. Review examples of blogs in a TAFE classroom. 3. Create your teacher blog. 4. Create an aggregator for the RSS feeds of student blogs.

The aim of this blog is to complement traditional teaching methods and establish a community of practice (knowledge network).

Getting started – How are blogs being used in work and education.

1. Blogs in the Workplace.

An example of a company blog used to keep customers and staff informed of the development of new products and services. 

2.  Blog – Website Differences

An example of the increasing use by companies to use blogs to complement their static brochure/commerce websites with dynamic blog information. CLICK ON THE BLOG LINK IN THE WEBSITE’S MENU. 

3. How can blogs benefit teaching ?

Go to this excellent example of the use of a blog to support teaching.

Note the following:

THE TEACHER’S BLOG.

1. The ‘Archive’ enables access to all posts in the blog and provides a view of the subject’s management.
2. Blog authoring is restricted to the teacher. In the student blogs authoring is available to all ‘contributors’ i.e. students with a Blogger blog.
3. The teacher has added links to WWW resources in the sidebar.
4. The teacher has added links to student blogs for Discussion Groups and Projects.

STUDENT DISCUSSION GROUPS AND PROJECTS BLOGS.

1. Each member of the group has responded to an email invitation to join the group from the blog’s orginator. The students are registered in the blog as contibutors with authoring privileges. Refer to the ‘Members’ option.
2. The contibutor’s name provides a link to a profile which in turn can link to the student’s individual blog.
3. Note the posts and comments from all students in the group.