Blended Learning

Blog
Like a wiki, a blog is a web site to which individuals can contribute text, graphics and video. Blogs consist of
regular entries such as commentary or a description of events or other material and are displayed in reverse
chronological order (the most recent is displayed first). However unlike a wiki the focus isn’t on creating a
final product but rather it is on building a series of postings. Therefore blogs are commonly used as online
diaries created by individuals or groups, but can be used for a range of different student activities, for
example:
‣ ¾ A reflective journal (either group or individual);
‣ ¾ Exam review where the teacher posts a question and students then post responses;
‣ ¾ Class/group discussion about a particular event or issue (the teacher might post an initial trigger
question or statement, and students then post comments);
‣ ¾ A notification tool for events happening in the course (e.g. similar to Announcements).
Section 2.2
Designing and developing
Considerations:
‣ ¾ Legal issues – be mindful of the public nature of blogs and wikis, and support students in being aware of
issues of defamation, dealing with sensitive topics, and appropriate language use;
‣ ¾ Which should I choose, a blog or a wiki? This really depends on what you want the students to do. Wikis
have the advantage of content being editable and changeable and therefore are good for group work
or projects where the aim is to produce something (not chronological) at the end of the process. The
content in a blog however is static, and is built up one post at a time which is why it suits activities
where the tracking of postings is important.
For more information on blogs, visit:
Ü Blended Learning Support site > Using Learning@Griffith > Communication and
collaboration tools > Blogs
“7 Things You Should Know About Blogs” (Educause Learning Initiative 2005)
http://www.educause.edu/node/156809
Alternative blog tools:
http://penzu.com/ http://www.springnote.com/ http://posterous.com/
Section 2.2 Designing and Developing
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