Transcript Blogging as an Educational Tool

Blogging as an
Educational Tool
Tom Barnes, Technology Coordinator
Southwest Plains Regional Service Center
Email: [email protected]
Blog: basic definitions
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“A weblog, or blog, is a frequently updated website
consisting of dated entries arranged in reverse
chronological order so the most recent post appears
first” (Jill Walker, Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative
Theory, full article)
“Personal or corporate website in which the author
writes, as their reflexion on a given subject evolves, their
opinions, impressions, etc., so as to make them public
and receive reactions and comments about them.”
(Wiktionary)
Blogging as convergence
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The blogging phenomenon is really a
convergence of two different strands:
 new
technology that simplify web publishing,
and
 a push to reclaim the web for personal
expression
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early history of "home pages" and webcams
The Post
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Posts — the basic unit of any blog — vary in
form from simple links without any comment to
article-length essays to multimedia content.
Go to http://swksreading.blogspot.com/
 Click on 20 Comments
 Scroll down to the bottom of the comments
 Click on Post a Comment
 Type your comment in the box
 Click on Anonymous
 Click on Login and Publish
 You may need to refresh (Click on View and
your browser to see the new posts
Refresh)
Creating your own Blog
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It is as easy as setting a Hotmail or Yahoo Mail
account
Go to http://www.blogger.com
Click on Create your Blog Now
Fill out the form, Click Continue
Name your blogspot – the name will become
http://whatever.blogspot.com
Choose your template
Change Settings
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A couple of setting that you may want to
change is
 Click
on Comments
 Who can comment
 Show word verification
 Comment notification address
 Enable comment moderation
Blogger Toolbar
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You can add a Blogger Toolbar to your
Microsoft Word
 Blogger
for Word is a free add-in for Microsoft
Word that lets you save a Word document as
a post to your Blogger blog with just a few
clicks, and without even opening up a
browser.
 http://buzz.blogger.com/bloggerforword.html
Websites
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Creating a Blog/Weblog
 http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articlei
d=1530&page=1
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Blogs by Southwest Kansas Teachers
 http://ulyssesscott.blogspot.com/
 http://stantoncounty.blogspot.com/
 http://fillpot.blogspot.com/
 http://mcdaniel4th.blogspot.com/
 http://rollapirate.blogspot.com/
Educational uses
As with the web generally, there are several ways
to approach blogs as an educational tool.
 Reading blogs
 Information
(secondary) source/research tool
 Primary source/cultural artifact
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Writing blogs
 Online
journal
 Knowledge management tool
 Collaboration tool (group/class blogs)
 Participate in public discourse
Scott Leslie's matrix of educational blog usage.
Problems with blogging
Teens' Bold Blogs Alarm Area Schools
 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2006/01/16/AR2006011
601489.html?referrer=emailarticle
 Blog Safety
 http://www.blogsafety.com/
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Growth and social impact
The Blog Herald (Jan. 2005)
 Google
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MSN Spaces
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8 million bloggers +
100,000 every six weeks
11 million bloggers +
100,000 every day
60 million blog readers
14 million post comments
6 million RSS users
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…but 52% of American
Internet users have never
used blogs.
Blogging’s impact:
 The media: ‘Rathergate’
and ‘citizen journalists’
 Politics: blog for america
 Business: Corporate
blogging
 Scholarship: Research in
public
Podcasting
Tom Barnes, Technology Coordinator
Southwest Plains Regional Service Center
Email: [email protected]
iPod
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Video iPod
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30GB and 60GB models
holds up to 15,000 songs
full-color album art and up to 25,000 photos
150 hours of video
starting at $299
Educational Uses
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http://www.bobbybucket.com/blog/B96573213/i
ndex.html
http://www.edugadget.com/
http://www.apple.com/education/ipod/
http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/articles/12
1705.htm
Classroom Podcasting Ideas
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Poetry Recitals
Audio Dramas
Expert Interviews
Music
Soundseeing Tour
Museum Tour
Lectures
School News
Oral Book Report
Foreign Language Practice
Tutorials
Websites
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Podcast Examples
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Willowdale Elementary School
http://www.mpsomaha.org/willow/radio/
 Jamestown Elementary School
http://slapcast.com/users/Jamestown/
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Subscribing to a Podcast
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Download software (aggregator) to collect content.
PodderX (http://ipodderx.com/ )
iTunes (http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/ )
Find and subscribe to Podcasts on the Internet.
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PodcastPickle.com (http://www.podcastpickle.com ) or
Podcast.net- The Podcast Directory (http://www.podcast.net/)
iPodder.org (http://www.ipodder.org/)
Creating a PodCast
Creating a Podcast
 Prepare a script.
 Record audio and export as a MP3 file.
 GarageBand (MAC)
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Audacity (PC)
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http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Upload the audio file to a blog to create the RSS.
Burn the RSS feed (stats, advanced features)
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http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/
http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/home
Choose SmartCast for making the feed podcast ready
Publicize the RSS URL.