Educational Uses of Blogging

Blogs can be used in an educational setting in many different ways. An educator can use a blog site to spread ideas or start discussions among students. Blogs can also be used to remind students of assignments, homework, trips or anything else that could be forgotten by students.  A blog can be used as a reference for these reminders. Blogs can also be used to educate the general public of life experiences such as a blog of a terminally ill patient. Blogs can be viewed by future generations to get go know ancestors.  Audio can be attached to blogs as well.

https://doc.novay.nl/dsweb/Get/Version-14367/LearningWebs.pdf

Different types of blogs are discussed here on this site as having different goals, uses and styles but have one commonality and that is format.

There are two discussed characteristics of web logs: writing as a collection of small entries and an informal personal voice.

One positive thing discussed about web blogs, is that an entry is usually a stand-alone entry that does not require reading the entire page to understand. 

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/mena_trott_tours_her_blog_world.html

Mena Trott discusses the use of blogs to educate the masses and get things done.  But her personal interest in blogging is genealogical and capturing her life for future family to enjoy. Bloggers can share a struggle, like fighting terminal illness publically to educate others about the experience. 

http://web20teach.blogspot.com/2007/08/twitter-tweets-for-higher-education.html

This site discusses the potential for teachers to use Twitter in an educational setting for homework and reminders for the students. Also it is discussed that students can get updated on Twitter, as well as updated their own Twitter status by cell phone.

http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7027.pdf

This site explains what Twitter is, who is using it, how it works, where is it going, the down sides of it, and educational uses of it. In the educational section there is discussion of “micro-podcasts” which are short audio tweets. Twitter has so many uses. This site discusses how twitter is a blog site as well as a social networking site and how widely it is used. Individuals and companies use Twitter as a platform to spread ideas and thoughts. This site discusses Twitter as useful for Metacognition due to the sites 140 character limit. This site also discussed Twitter’s usefulness for event or conference attendees to post a short synopsis of learned ideas.

http://emergingtechnologies.becta.org.uk/index.php?section=etr&catcode=ETRE_0001&rid=14363

This site discusses the differences between micro blogging and traditional blogging. Micro blogging is explained as a blog with a short amount of character that are on point. On the other hand, traditional blogging can cover a lot more information and thoughts.  There are other uses of blogging for education discussed here on this site.  This site outlines Yammer, ShoutEm and Edmondo which are blog style sties used for educational purposes. Yammer, is a site which requires a business email to sign up for an account. ShoutEm allows users to create communities. Lastly the site Edmondo is discussed which is particularly useful in an educational setting. Edmondo focuses on educational groups where a teacher can set up groups within the site.

http://www.edmodo.com/blog/2009/03/24/introducing-edmodo-20/

This site described Edmodo as a blog site used for educators. This blog site allows the users to tag posts, there is also grades tab, a class calendar, the site holds the ability to add RSS feeds, inline viewing of YouTube and other video share sites. There are also many other features of Edmodo outlined on the site.

http://web20teach.blogspot.com/2007/08/twitter-tweets-for-higher-education.html

This site discusses the potential for teachers to use Twitter in an educational setting for homework and reminders for the students. Also it is discussed that students can get updated on Twitter, as well as updated their own Twitter status by cell phone.

http://onlinecollegedegree.org/2009/03/19/100-tips-apps-and-resources-for-teachers-on-twitter/

This site will send a researcher to 100 different links with Twitter uses. There is an education section, which has 12 links available to click on that are suggested uses of Twitter in education. These 12 links include ideas, tools and guides for using Twitter in an educational setting.