Blackboard Tip of the Week (sent 9/17)

A blog is a personal website that contains content organized like a journal or a diary. Each entry is dated, and the entries are displayed on the web page in reverse chronological order, so that the most recent entry is posted at the top. Readers catch up with blogs by starting at the top and reading down until they encounter material they’re already read.
Typically, blogs contain the work of one individual, however, blogs combining contributions of several people, ‘group blogs’, are also popular.

In the article, Educational Blogging, the author, Stephen Downes discusses the current trend that is sweeping the world of online learning: the use of weblogs to support learning. He goes on to say that when students enter postsecondary education, they, “may have had more experience writing online for an audience than writing with a pen and paper for a teacher. Such students will bring with them a new set of skills and attitudes.”

Ideas for Use in the Classroom:
• Instructor using blogs to post class information such as lists of readings and assignment deadlines. This fosters in the teacher a familiarity with the technology and with students a habit of regularly checking the online resource.
• Have students blog about a current issue, about a specific piece of writing, or some question that comes up in the course.
• Have student blog about a reading assignment, or their status in a large class project.
• Set up a group blog, so that students could discuss a group project. The Blog tool in Blackboard allows you (or students) to attach documents, post photos or images, and embed a video.
• Encourage students to read each other’s Blogs and to comment on them.

Here are the directions for setting up a Blog in your Blackboard site.