CITER2008 Empowering communities and ...

CITER2008 Empowering communities and transforming learning Type: Paper presentation Author:

Dr Paula Hodgson Title: Learning-centred blogs Abstract There is now increasing interest among educators in schools and universities in engaging learners through the use of web logs (blogs). Learners can easily articulate questions and also publish their learning experiences and reflections. Moreover, blogs have great potential to facilitate collaboration and peer interactions, so that they become a breeding ground for the development of an effective learning community. However, learners tend to use blogs mostly for entertainment purposes. This paper will discuss how some educators design structured learning tasks and ways to motivate learners to participate in course-based blogs. Introduction World Wide Web has been gradually adopted for educational purposes since the 90’s. Nowadays, the physical boundary of learning space is seamlessly merged with the Web despite whatever learning management system (LMS) schools and universities have adopted. The networked environments can potentially extend the learning opportunities both beyond the physical classroom and interactions between learners. Many learners can easily access information and resources in multimedia through the Web. They can readily download resources which are prepared by teachers such that they make references when studying a course of work. However, a habit of dependence has become entrenched, with learners continuing to expect teachers to provide resources; they also expect these resources to be more attractive. Despite of the dependence, educators can reshape the learning culture. Instead of preparing for more resources, they can deploy new Web applications to stimulate student engagement in active learning. A bundle of applications available in Web 2.0 provides greater opportunities for learners to be networked and interact with peers and professionals; both educators and learners can produce creative resources by choosing tools that are available in the applications. In this paper, I will discuss how educators repurpose one of the applications, web logs which is commonly used for social networking to educational context, and how educators encourage learners to engage in tasks for learning. Features and potentials of blogs Web logs are known as ‘blogs’, which are widely used in social networking, and users can easily contribute to and connect with people who share a common interest. A blog is a dynamic web environment in which information, experiences and news can be written by a subscribing author and can be published instantly and presented in reverse

chronological order. Technically, it is perceived as easy to use once authors have been shown how to create and edit entries (West, Wright, Gabbitas, & Graham, 2006). However, students tend to use blogs mostly for entertainment purposes, and they are not accustomed to responding to blogs (Davidson, 2008). Thus, repurposing a social networking application for education can be quite challenging. In addition, learners can communicate directly through mobile phones and do not see the need to interact through blogs. Therefore, educators need to be aware of the challenge of how to reorient learners towards making educational uses of a blog. The dynamic knowledge generating blogs have greater advantages over many websites that provide information which is not regularly updated (Quible, 2005). If this is to be updated, only the website master or by an administrator who can have accessed and right to edit to the website information. On the contrary, blogs allow author to publish work creatively with the use of multimedia, but require no special web publishing skills. Audience can make comments and the author can read the 'up-to-the-minute posts' (Nardi, Schiano, Gumbrecht, & Swartz, 2004, p. 42). Besides, new information is continuously updated. Learners can browse it with Real Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds. RSS feeds is a blog tool that allows learners to subscribe current information from one or more source, and the contents can be aggregated for reading in 'one convenient and coherent view' (Martindale & Wiley, 2005, p. 56). Furthermore, (Nardi et al., 2004)learners can contribute flexibly in blogs similar to any asynchronous communication tools, and potentially this allows them to contribute more compared with the face-to-face context (McConnell, 2006). Blogs provide a new learning experience as readership can extend beyond course mates. Typically, communication tools available in LMS are accessed by course members only. Educators can choose to have the option that allows non-course audience to access through subscription or by invitations (Tryon, 2006). While not all students have experience in writing in blogs, this can be their first time experience to write to and receive comments from a wider audience in blogs. Furthermore, blogs can be deployed in such a way that they become a breeding ground for the development of an effective learning community which encompasses both meaning and quality interactions between participants (Lankshear & Knobel, 2006; Wang & Fang, 2005; Wenger, 2000). Educators can decide if blogs are to be used for course users or open to wider audience. Setting up course-based and community-based blogs To set up a learning-focused blog, an educator can provide course information and resources, and have links to online discipline-related practice or journals. Making the course content dynamic, s/he can subscribe quality articles with RSS feeds to the blog. This type of content-rich blogs is useful for learners who are fresh to the discipline and need more guidance and resources when they study a course. Students can access and review current resources more directly from the course-based blog, and spend less time in searching information. Most of the activities are centralized in a blog.

A second type of blogs can be in a form of community. A community-based blog is structured so that student have their individual blogs and they are all grouped in the main community website and that the course information and resources are made available. Students are provided with the right to choose the style of their blogs from a set of blog design templates, and write their own blogs. With a large group of students, educators can organize individual blogs in groups, so that peer group members can easily browse one another blogs and interact with others conveniently (Fig. 1). This type of blogs is structured so that students individually can have a open space for them to creatively write and design their learning logs (Fig. 2); a group mentor, who can be one of the students or a senior student is assigned to coordinate and support to group members, and to encourage communication between group members and between groups.

Fig. 1 Blogs in the community-based website

Fig. 2 Individual blog of the community-based website

Alternatively, learners can communicate with peers in the online forum available in LMS, and keep journal writing in private blogs (Kajder, Bull, & Van Noy, 2004). This would allow learners to retain their personal learning space and publish them when they feel ready to do so. As learners may actively engaged in the types of course-based blogs as described above, they may not revisit the blog when they have completed the course. Godwin-Jones (2003) suggests that learners can have their individual blogs link to the course-based blogs. In doing so, this allows learners to retain the ownership of their own blogs; learners can keep a learning journal that they can easily retrieve their recollection and reflect on their learning experience across courses that they attend in school/university study. Designing and implementing learning-focused blogs Depending on the learning outcomes of the institutional aims or courses, educators can set up some learning tasks in blogs with respect to the activities in lectures, tutorials, laboratory work or placements. For instance, if learners are expected to develop capacities in collaboration and communications as one of the institutional educational aims, learners can be asked to post the individual contributions and summary of group

discussion to their blogs so that learners can have opportunities to reflect if they have developed the capabilities through the process. If a course is set to have learners develop ability to analyse political affairs, the educator can ask learners to make commentary on the current news articles that they read from the RSS feeds and comment on local of international political movements. Blogs can be implemented to tackle learning challenges and can be an extended learning space for learners to express if they have not done so in class, particularly as it is technically perceived easy to use. For instance, educators commonly find that learners raise few questions, and it is frequently observed that the more confident and vocal ones are more ready to participate in class. Learners can be asked to post questions that they have on a certain topic before or after class, and educators can organize face-to-face discussion in class to discuss the questions. Blending in the online blog interactions, learners can construct learning through the conversational framework as described by Diane Laurillard (2002). Alternatively, they can record critical incidents that they have observed or experienced in placements in private blogs (Hodgson, 2007). This can facilitate individual or group reflection on personal and professional practice (Schön, 1987). Once a course-based blog is set, it is important to have a brief orientation on how to use the blog at the beginning of the course. This can minimize learners experiencing frustration over technical problems. As this may be the first time that learners are asked to do tasks in blogs, clear instructions to them on structured and open activities are necessary (Tryon, 2006). Learners can be highly suggested to articulate questions, learning experiences and reflections (Beldarrain, 2006). To encourage voluntary contribution to blogs by learners, educators can cultivate learners’ intrinsic motivation through appreciation of learners’ postings (Hodgson & Wong, 2008). Samples of blog contributions can be highlighted and discussed further in class, or can be further referenced with the teacher’s comments (West et al., 2006). Alternatively, outstanding learners’ work can be invited to link to their educators’ blogs (Martindale & Wiley, 2005). On one hand, learners would perceive this as recognition of their performance. More importantly, their work can be viewed by professionals in the discipline through educators’ blogs. However, this is not uncommon to find that learners may respond to each other's blogs in an ad hoc basis (Martindale & Wiley, 2005). Most learners participate regularly or respond to peers if their contributions are graded for marks as in assignments (Dickey, 2004; Hodgson & Wong, 2008; West et al., 2006). Assessment tasks can be marked quantitatively, based on the frequency of contributions, and postings can also be assessed qualitatively based on the thoughtfulness and quality of reflection (West et al., 2006). Educators can set up group topics or projects as assessment tasks and learner groups are required to contribute their findings and analysis, and provide peer comments (Nardi et al., 2004). To ensure thoughtful contributions, learners are required to post their readings from scholarly sources and critiques of relevant research materials (Martindale & Wiley, 2005). Learners can make reference to the contributions extending from what have been discussed through blogs when they start working on assignments. Course-based community blogs

Quality and regular contributions can lead to the building up of shared knowledge. To extend blogs from individual contributions to a collective and collaborative learning environment such that learners share common interests, that is building a learning community, it is necessary to establish group goals and have individuals holding accountability (Slavin, 1989). Incremental development can be gained by learners sharing resources, knowledge and experience when they are working in collaborative situations (Watson & Harper, 2008). Also, setting expectations for how learners can contribute constructively to group learning activities is equally important. To make groups function cohesively and effectively, they need to feel connected, mutually supportive and socially empowered when working towards common goals. Subsequently, the synergy contributed by group members may possibly have higher levels of performance (Vygotsky, 1978). If group tasks are to be assessed, educators may set criteria to assess quality of group work, and individual contributions and their participation in group tasks. Educators also need to be aware of time needed to allow learners to be familiar with the use of criteria for assessment and review postings with quality comments, and challenges experienced by learners when they are required to conduct self- and peer-assessment through the use of criteria. As a cohort, blogs keep records of all the postings chronologically, it is highly useful for groups to review their progress and reflect on both the process and outcomes of the group work. Over time, the course-based blog will become a knowledge repository for the subject discipline. Archived student entries from previous cohort(s) can be repurposed for further discussion or ideas for projects for the current cohort (Martindale & Wiley, 2005); learners may also learn from reading what were posted, including what skills were demonstrated and how peer work was commented by the course tutor and peers (Hodgson & Wong, in press). Alternatively, educators can select good exemplars to be made available for the coming cohort. When a course is over, the course-based blog that has been used to capture learning tasks and activities will provide a rich source of data for both the educator and learners to reflect on if the intended learning outcomes are acquired in additional to results set in tests and the examination. Across cohorts, educators can easily retrieve valuable information on student contributions and rich resources gathered between educators and learners. Conclusion Increasing interest is observed among educators to engage learners learning through the use of blogs in Hong Kong. As a learning tool, blogs can be used to instill intellectuality while learners publish quality work actively and creatively, thereby foster academic collaboration in the learning community. However, a collective intelligence does not just happen in vacuum. Educators need to (2) have thoughtful planning in terms of how to maximize the features and potentials that blogs can offer, (2) set clear guideline and instructions on how learners can contribute constructively and how their work is to be assessed, (3) create a supportive learning culture that facilitate learning between peers and with educators in the learning community, and (4) reflect on the learning experience of the course and across courses.

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http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019 b/80/1b/c4/82.pdf Watson, K., & Harper, C. (2008). Supporting knowledge creation: Using wikis for group collaboratioin [Electronic Version]. Research Bulletin, 2008, Issue 3. Retrieved Apr. 18, from http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ecar_so/erb/ERB0803.pdf Wenger, E. (2000). Communities of Practice and Social Learning Systems. Organization, 7(2), 225-246. West, R., Wright, G., Gabbitas, B., & Graham, C. (2006). Reflections from the Introduction of Blogs and RSS Feeds into a Preservice Instructional Technology Course. TechTrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning, 50(4), 54-60. Acknowledgement I would like to express my sincere thanks to staff whom I had the opportunities to learn and share ideas on using blogs for learning, teaching and assessment while I was working in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. I pay special tributes to Kitty Chan, Leo Hung, Creamy Kong, Dr Pamela Kwok, Donald Man, Paul Penfold, Dora Wong, and Calvin Yu.