Blogging in education

The use of blogging for education has had substantial take-up - Edublogs alone hosts more than 400,000 educational blogs, and there are many more with other hosts. What began as a tool for users to post their commentary within a chronologically displayed template has now been developed and extended to support a range of educational uses, including:

[from http://supportblogging.com/Educational+Blogging]

• Teacher communication (to students, parents or other teachers)
• Dialogue Generation (where the teacher posts questions about current learning, and the students may respond through the comment facility or their own blogs)
• Student Blogs (may be public or of restricted visibility, allowing students to communicate their ideas and receive feedback through comments)
• Teacher Blogs (to share resources, philosophies or methodology, to reflect on practice)

[from Educational Blogging - EDUCAUSE Reveiew]

• As replacements for standard class web pages
• To link to Internet items that relate to the course
• To organize in-class discussions
• To organize class seminars and to provide summaries of readings
• Students may be asked to write their own blogs as part of their course grade

Duffy & Bruns (2006) divide the uses of educational blogs into academic, organisational and pedagogical:

"Within a personal academic perspective a blog can support:
• reflection on teaching experiences
• categorised descriptions of resources and methodologies for teaching
• ramblings regarding professional challenges and teaching tips for other academics
• illustration of specific technology-related tips for other colleagues.


Within an organisational perspective a blog can support:
• a common online presence for unit-related information such as calendars, events, assignments and resources
• an online area for students to post contact details and queries relating to assessment.


Within a pedagogical perspective a blog can support:
• comments based on literature readings and student responses
• a collaborative space for students to act as reviewers for course-related materials
• images and reflections related to industry placement
• an online gallery space for review of works, writings, etc. in progress, making use especially of the commenting feature
• teachers encouraging reactions, reflections and ideas by commenting on their students’ blogs
• development of a student portfolio of work."

[Duffy & Bruns (2006) The Use of Blogs, Wikis and RSS in Education: A Conversation of Possibilities]

To consider the variety of uses of blogs in education, Scott Leslie of edtechpost.ca devised a matrix of some of the possible uses, including considering blogs written or read, by students or instructors, written for themselves, for their instructor/students, for their peers, or for the rest of the net. You can find Scott's matrix here, although note that he doesn't consider it a complete list as it doesn't include blogs by institutions or educational support staff such as librarians.

The benefits cited are many, including:

• promote critical and analytical thinking.
• promote creative, intuitive and associational thinking (creative and associational thinking in relation to blogs being used as brainstorming tool and also as a resource for interlinking, commenting on interlinked ideas).
• promote analogical thinking.
• potential for increased access and exposure to quality information.
• combination of solitary and social interaction.
[Fernette and Brock Eide, cited by Will Richardson (2006) in "Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful webtools for classrooms", in Duffy & Bruns (2006) The Use of Blogs, Wikis and RSS in Education: A Conversation of Possibilities]

* foster the development of a learning community
* give students ownership over their own learning and an authentic voice
* gives students a genuine and potentially worldwide audience for their work
* helps students see their work in different subjects as interconnected and helps them organize their own learning
* teaches a variety of skills

[Stephen Downes in "Why Use Blogs In Education"]

* helps students find a voice
* Creates enthusiasm for writing and communications
* Engages students in conversation and learning
* Provides an opportunity to teach about responsible journalism
* Empowers students

[supportingblogging.com]

* to support critical reflection
* to develop community of pracitce

[Yang, S.-H. (2009). Using Blogs to Enhance Critical Reflection and Community of Practice. Educational Technology & Society, 12 (2), 11–21]

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Core activity 9.1 calls for me to define a maximum of 6 categories which address the range of blog use in education. The lists and links above show that blogging has been embraced and absorbed into educating in such a way as to make a small set of categories quite a challenge. I have attempted to include the range with the following set.

Pedagogical uses
This covers blogs provided by instructors of tutors in order to support their students, to provide activities or resources for coursework, or to develop collaborative work environments for their students. An example of this is Street Math 101, which provides support for a particular group of maths students.

Sharing and commentary
This may be by and between educational professionals (and any other interested readers). For example, many like to share useful resources they have discovered, or ask questions and advice about tools or methodologies they are trying, such as EdTech Tools which "celebrates all the latest gadgets, gizmos and good old-fashioned new technologies that are helping to move education forward".

Others comment on news or issues around education, such as Kapp Notes which discusses issues concerning learning, e-learning and the transferring knowledge from retiring baby boomers to incoming gamers.

Student owned
Student owned blogs in themselves have a variety of uses, including learning logs, reflections on learning, development of an ePortfolio, or as a place to complete or store course activities. Examples include Jan's blog of her OU MA (and more) learning Nick Delzotto's Eportfolio Blog, or Emma's PGCE Reflections.

Organisational
Some blogs offer a public face of an institution, or may be maintained by other educational support services such as libraries. Some organisations may use their blog to promote news, events, recent publications, or to stimulate debates, for example Flux by Futurelab.


Issues with blogging for education
Alongside the range of uses of blogs, there are a range of issues, both pedagogical and technical.

Pedagogical issues:

Commenting function - This allows students to obtain feedback on their work, or commentators to engage in debate. However, allowing completely free public access to comment on blogs may be inappropriate for some users (particularly minors), and a careful line needs to be drawn between getting value from the wealth of knowledge of potential commenters, and protecting the privacy or tentative early steps of a noivce blogger.

Caveat emptor - Blogs are not generally submitted to rigorous review or editorial control. Therefore, while content may be good, readers need to consider the validity of any comments contained in them. While on some blogs with many followers dubious or incorrect statements may be highlighted by comments, for many blogs there will be no critque or correction or content which may be lacking in some respect. From a pedagogical perspective, learning to select and appraise sources is an important skill for students to develop when they read public blogs.

Plagiarism - If you post model answers online, even after an assignment, they are open to be copied and used by others. While many institutions make use of plagiarism detection software, with the extent of the current blogosphere it's infeasible to consider that all deliberate or inadvertent plagiarism will be detected.

Technical Issues:
Tools - There are lots of tools out there which make writing a blog easy - at least the technical part of it! You still have to come up with the content :-)

Maintenance - Blogs typically grow and grow, with old material archived but available. As new ideas, syllabi or emphases for learning develop, old stuff needs to be actively removed if it is not to confuse or conflict with the current material. This contrasts with the situation with teachers' paper based materials, which are generally not available to students after use.

Access - Assumes all can access the educational resource that a blog contains. Universal internet access is not yet a reality.

Privacy and security - Internet security and safety concerns are well publicised. Bloggers need to consider their posts to ensure they do not compromise their identity or physical security. Particular safeguards should be in place when blogs are set up as part of a curriculum for children.


Further reading

As ever with the web there is a massive amount of potential out there...
If you're searching for educational blogs, the choice is overwhelming, but hopefully you'll find something in whatever flavour your prefer in blogged.com's Education directory, or blogcatalog.com's Academic, Learning and Educational blogs list.
 

Podcast Review - Jan Moreland on using wikis for teachers' CPD

Core activity 8.3 was to review a podcast produced by a course colleague in a recent activity. I selected Jan Moreland's recording, which is available in Jan's blog post: Using wikis for reflective practice. Jan taks about how her school has used wiki technology in an effort to encourage reflective practice amongst school teachers. 

Sound quality
The recording was very clear, without background noise or distortion, and Jan's voice was measured both in pace and volume, which made it easy to follow.

Broadcast quality
Jan spoke clearly on her subject without hesitation or repitition, and it was evident that she had carefully thought through the content and progression of her recording.  It was well constructed - I found the introduction sentence at the beginning, telling me what was to come, particularly useful, and that the couple of requests for comment and feedback were well-placed, particularly given the subject matter of CPD.

Suitability
The audience for this podcast were other H808 participants, but Jan's blog makes her work more widely available. The clarity of her explanations means that this work will have wider value to other educational professionals, as well as being understandable by those who are perhaps less familiar with teaching and CPD developments.

Length, interest and engagement
3 and a half minutes. This looks short when I write the length, so I was impressed at the scope of content that could be included in a short piece, without it being hurried or excessively brief. Jan made, expanded and developed several points, and held my interest throughout. I would say that the length was appropriate given the task, but I would happily have listened to a substantially extended debate - the subject matter was interesting and is deserving of further discussion. Perhaps when TMA deadlines are out of the way! 

Academic quality and suggestions for improvement
This piece is based on some action research Jan has completed, and also includes several points which she offers as her opinions. I feel this is a nice balance. Jan mentions at the beginning of the recording that she will refer to a journal article by her, but I felt that this was then not very clearly referenced in the rest of the piece - I couldn't quite tell which parts of the recording related to the journal, and which were views only in the podcast. I'm sure the article provides an interesting extention of the content in the recording, so given an opportunity to record a more substantial piece this could be included. However, for the purposes of the H808 task the recording was fine - I'm just interested and so would like to be able to hear/see more another time!

Suggestions for use
This recording discusses the successful steps taken by one school to develop their CPD programme for teachers. It will provide useful suggestions for others looking to develop their CPD offerings, or for those interested in the use of wikis. Jan's requests for suggestions to improve their practice using wikis also mean it could also offer a nice context for a CPD brainstorm on successfully developing wiki use.

Exploring Teleplace

Activity 8.1 is to engage with a new technology, consider some of its key features in relation to my own educational practice or context, and identify potential issues for other users. One of the focuses of my practice is the investigation of virtual work spaces for distance learners. For this reason I selected to explore Teleplace. Teleplace describes itself as "an intuitive environment for distributed teams to communicate and collaborate on multiple applications and documents in real time" (http://www.teleplace.com/).

This post has 3 parts. Firstly, a learning log of my interactions with Teleplace, secondly, some thoughts about its features, and its use for education and training, and thirdly, the identification of some issues which may affect other similar users.  

Learning log

1. I first spent a bit of time looking around www.teleplace.com, reading FAQs, etc
2. Googled for Teleplace and education to see what other practitioners are doing/recommending/commenting (found very little education-related content specifically for Teleplace (as opposed to virtual worlds in general)
3. Signed up for a free 30 day trial - simply clicked link on Teleplace web site, filled in my details, and I was taken to a page with my login and download credentials. User name, password and download links were also emailed to me.
4. Download of the installer opened automatically. Download on ordinary broadband line took about a minute.
5. Installed - very simple. Setup wizard steps you through agreement to EULA, and install location choice. Took about 5 minutes to copy all its files, but no intervention from me needed. At end of install, click Finish to launch Teleplace.
6. Logged in using name and password from registration email.
7. This takes you to the 'Lobby' - the list of available Teleplaces: 'Project', 'Reception' and 'Training-Center'. There is also a list of templates available to help quickly build spaces like a library, conference room or office. I opted for the Reception as the list of contents (right of the Lobby window) showed documents were included which sounded helpful - Adding Your Stuff, Welcome, Your Appearance, etc. I clicked on Reception and then Enter Teleplace.

8. The Reception area started up with a Welcome slide show, which I went through. This included the purpose of various information panes in Teleplace, seeing who's 'in' the Teleplace, navigating to landmarks, movement using the keyboard, mouse and shortcuts, and links to further orientation information.

The Reception area includes a number of poster boards with basic information. I followed these (there were arrows between them) , taking me through 'Your Appearance', 'Adding Your Stuff', Sharing Applications', and 'Get Together' (about inviting colleagues).



9 - I then spent about an hour using the templates to create rooms (Teleplaces) and add tools to them.
In that time (and it would be much quicker a second time!) I created 2 rooms which include tools (some already in the rooms, some I added) such as:

• a timer - set it going to keep track of time working on a collaborative activity
• a feed reader - currently collecting BBC news
• a whiteboard
• a brainstorm wall with sticky notes/topic discussion cards
• a Word document for shared online editing, or for saving local copies to work offline
• a screen projecting a pdf document
• a dropbox - where files imported to the Teleplace go if you're not in the place at the time
• a wall clock showing current time
• an auditorium with elevator to group working tables
• a library with shelves on to which you can add/remove documents
• break out work rooms
• web browser with live web page
• a tabbed wall - add notes to multiple topic threads in one location.

Other facilities, some of which I have explored:

• You can connect new rooms on the fly by simply dragging them on to a teleport door.
• Functions included for meetings including lead a meeting, tally a question, restrict movement of others in meeting
• Individual and group chat possible - chat is bounded by walls
• Built in VOIP - I didn't require any configuration, simply plugged in my headset, and was away
• Web cam integration
• Text chat - private chat
• Video conference integration
• Ability to record sessions and take screenshots
• List of available Teleplaces for instant teleport, or walking around by arrow keys
• Customisable avatars
• Transcript of actions

Features for elearning and distance learners

The above list of functions and tools obviously offers plenty of potential for Teleplace as a learning environment. However, technology alone does not provide effective learning, so I have attempted to consider possible uses of these features.

• Mentoring - a secure personal space for mentor and mentee to meet and work together. Private rooms can be used, or conversation can take place in 'public' areas. However, this is not a public 'world' in the Second Life sense - a Teleplace is set up by an organisation, and is only accessible to those who are granted access by invitation.
• Formal training programmes - as an alternative to classroom environment, or as a groupwork space for dispersed students.
• Social space - a 'cafe' type space for dispersed students to meet up with others - sort of like a message board or forum, but with greater flexibilty. This could help support group cohesion and interaction outside of core activities, and reduce some of the isolation of being a distance learner.
• Group collaboration - use interactive applications (e.g. Word, Excel, web browser) to work on a document at the same time as others. Use a laser pointer to highlight key aspects. Simply drag documents from your PC desktop/file structure onto a document viewer in Teleplace. You can then leave documents there for others to use even after you have left the Teleplace, or keep control of them and 'take them with you' when you log out.
• Recording - classes/interactions can be recorded, allowing for post-training analysis or archiving. This could facilitate the instructor's PDP, support student revision, or be used in developing and refining courses for subsequent presentations.

The key to Teleplace's power to me seems to be that it is ready to use out of the box. It includes templates for all sorts of pre-built spaces (e.g. office, conference room, library, ouside terrace, fields, reception hall, etc). These can be selected for use with very few mouse clicks. Similarly, all the tools can simply be added to the space by mouse clicks. No programming or scripting is required, and no graphics expertise is needed to construct the environment. That said, for those who do have their own environment/building models, these can be imported into Teleplace, allowing role-play training or orientation and safety training to be delivered in a 'mirrored' environment. I haven't gone so far as to explore this feature though.

Issues

• Beyond the 30 day trial this isn't free. Pricing depends on the number of users, but is in the region of $50 per user per month. Once the 30 day trial expires, any spaces developed are lost - collaborative work in documents can however be downloaded back to users' individual PCs, and so is not lost.
• Virtual environments are not for everyone. Some people will be happy with existing text-based chat or email collaboration methods.
• Like all internet based tools, users will need sufficient bandwidth for operation, particularly VOIP/conferencing. It would be sensible to check requirements and users' computer specifications before any activity in order to prevent frustrations or delays once a collaborative activity has begun.
• The avatar movement is 'clunky'. This might irritate some people, although others may feel that the avatars are just a function for positioning your viewpoint in the Teleplace, and realistic movement is not a requisite of effective collaboration.
• Teleplace, like other virtual environments, offers many options for teaching and learning, including instructor led, explorative, constructivist and self-paced formats. The elearning practitioner developing learning in Teleplace needs to understand the available range, and know how to select an appropriate pedagogy.

Wordle for this blog (5 - November)

For a moment's relief from struggling through the mire of reflecting on our group collaboration for TMA02, I've turned to the delightful Wordle.

Here's the image created from November's posts.

Some thoughts on collaborative group working in an asynchronous forum

We've finished the collaborative activity 6.3, and to be honest the requirement to refelect on it in TMA02 is like asking me to go and relive a car crash. I can reflect on this in a positive way, by completely detatching it from the specifics of our own group experience, but I don't find the kinds of reflections in our group forums which criticise the actions of certain individuals helpful, and so won't be responding there. Similarly, my reflections here are about group work in general, and not our specific roles, tasks, or outcomes.

One reflection I had early on was regarding the importance of understanding roles in group. It was suggested that we should allocate roles at the beginning of the task, but I think this is actually very hard for any group to do from the position of not knowing the individuals in the group, and not yet having a clear conception of the task. While it might be useful to have individuals take on specific roles, in a group which does not know each other well you cannot tell who will be suited to what roles. This problem isn't unique to online forums (there'll be a similar difficulty in any ad-hoc team), but the additional constraints and problems of asynchronous communication make this all the harder for a new online team.

Communication in an asynchronous forum is fraught with well-documented difficulties, including misinterpretations leading to upset or offence, problems with crossed threads (e.g. two people writing at the same time, and so unable to see the other's response, and therefore appearing to ignore it or to duplicate suggestions) and the sheer difficulty of catching up with a multi-threaded discussion if you are away from any period of time. There are difficulties with language and explanations - what appears clear in the author's head can easily be interpreted differently by readers. Given the lack of opportunity to clarify misunderstandings, the asynchronous online forum seems to require extra levels of clarity, precision and tact, including judging when not to respond. There is also a difficulty in reaching agreements or decisions when there is no way to know when individual participants will be available to read and respond.

The nature of the collaborative forum forces participants to use certain agreed working methods. While these may be accepted by all members of the group, it is likely that no one method will be the optimum for everyone's individual learning and working styles. Organisation which one person sees as adding clarity may muddy the waters for another, for example the use of several locations for different elements of discussion - for some it may be very useful to keep aspects discreet, for others this may just add to confusion of where to find content.

Clearly, given my use of a car crash analogy, this group work has actually been a hurtful experience. More frustrating is that I'm not clear what I was supposed to learn from it - and I have seen comments from so many demotivated students in this past fortnight. The requirement to reflect on the group's success is fine done in private, but postings to group forums just seem likely to further inflame misunderstandings and upset. This has left me very likely to be very wary of engaging with group work in future, and rather than help me build trust and community, has left me wanting to run screaming from the place. I don't believe this was the OU's target, but the reflection seems to be requiring further raking over of ground which many of us just want to move on from and leave behind.

My professional values...

The first thing I should note here is that this statement is almost certainly incomplete. Trying to complete an exhaustive list would be impractical, and I suspect that I will realise I have missed values as I read the comments of my course colleagues.

As an underpinning for my professional behaviour in general I would begin by echoing the core values of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) (of which I am a Member):
honesty, integrity, fairness, confidentiality, competence, objectivity, environmental sustainability and health, safety and risk.

These provide a firm foundation, but obviously don't offer any guidance on educational or educational technology aspects. For the technology-enhanced-learning aspects I would look to the values of the Association for Learning Technology (ALT):

• Commitment to exploring and understanding the interplay between technology and learning
• Commitment to keep up to date with new technologies
• Empathy with and willingness to learn from colleagues from different backgrounds and specialisms
• Commitment to communicate and disseminate effective practice.

However, these also do not give voice to the educational values which I hold. I feel that I have a commitment to learners, and to the support and development of learning opportunities in general. This includes respect for individual learners, to supporting and enhancing their learning by incorporating relevant research outcomes. I feel passionate about the transformative power of education (in all its guises), and committed to learning opportunities for all.

The Higher Education Academy values include a commitment to continuing professional development and evaluation of practice, which (while I do not share their higher education focus) I also support. Commitment to developing my competence and understanding of pedagogical issues, including methods of supporting and enhancing teaching and learning is one of my core professional values, and is my prime reason for undertaking the MA ODE.

One conflict that I note as I write this is between my current professional practice, and the professional values I hold personally. In particular, I work in an organisation where the majority of work is defence focused. I have begun a new role as an Instructional Designer, and this requires adherence to the military's preferred methods of training. While understanding, supporting and working for client needs is a feature of many professional codes, I am left with a tension because of my pedagogical views on the value of students becoming independent learners, or the development of metacognitive skills, for example. This tension is not specific to military training, but I suspect common in many fields where there is a requirement to train students in specified procedures, and a need for consistency of delivery. However, issues like this challenge my values of supporting the student as an individual and applying research-evidenced best practice to specific tasks.

Differing professional values

In this post, for activity 7.1. I explore the professional values mentioned by the Association for Learning Technology in the CMALT prospectus, by the Higher Education Academy, and by several other professional bodies.

The ALT's CMALT prospects specifies a surprisingly limited list of only four values:

• Commitment to exploring and understanding the interplay between technology and learning
• Commitment to keep up to date with new technologies
• Empathy with and willingness to learn from colleagues from different backgrounds and specialisms
• Commitment to communicate and disseminate effective practice

While the document does mention in passing "taking a committed and serious approach to professional development" and "critical reflection on practice, achievements and expertise", (and therefore implies that these are also professional values), I found it surprising that these aspects were not made explicit, and that while it is mentioned that CMALT will allow you to demonstrate these attributes, they are not an underlying principle.

The professional values expressed by the UK Higher Education Authority are:

1. Respect for individual learners 
2. Commitment to incorporating the process and outcomes of relevant research, scholarship and/or professional practice 
3. Commitment to development of learning communities 
4. Commitment to encouraging participation in higher education, acknowledging diversity and promoting equality of opportunity 
5. Commitment to continuing professional development and evaluation of practice 

Point 5 here makes clear the value of commitment to professional development. There are further notable differences between the ALT and HEA's value statements. I found it particularly striking that the ALT makes no mention of values which directly involve learners. While it is a society of technologists, there is a need to understand the learners for whom they develop technology, and I feel that learning technology professionals ought to have a professional commitment to students, whether or not they work directly with them. Stemming from this need I would also expect a learning technologist to have an understanding of educational or pedagogical principles, and hence a value of commitment to appropriate understanding and application of these principles.

Interestingly, neither the ALT or the HEA make any reference to ethical principles or standards, and consequently there is no comment on procedures if such standards are not met. There is also no mention of quality, or the aspiration towards it, for professional knowledge, application or behaviour.

Other organisations, such as the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) provide more detailed codes of conduct. For example, the IET has 22 rules of conduct, each of which are underpinned by one or more of 8 principles (honesty, integrity, fairness, confidentiality, competence, objectivity, environmental sustainability and health, safety and risk).

It is possible that the less prescriptive approach of the ALT and HEA are indicative of a teaching profession which has (until relatively recently) had considerable freedom in its own organisation. Conversely (and in particular for the ALT), it may be considered unsurprising that a fledgling profession (if indeed it is one) has not yet established the depth and rigour that underpin professions such as engineering or medicine. However, the fundamental principles such as honesty, integrity and fairness, as exemplified by the IET's code of conduct, might be considered to be universal, and so should be expressed somewhere.

Some organisations, such as the IET or the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), have a value set which further illuminates the key activities of the profession. For example, the BACP values include a commitment to:

• Respecting human rights and dignity 
• Ensuring the integrity of practitioner-client relationships 
• Enhancing the quality of professional knowledge and its application 
• Alleviating personal distress and suffering 
• Fostering a sense of self that is meaningful to the person(s) concerned 
• Increasing personal effectiveness 
• Enhancing the quality of relationships between people 
• Appreciating the variety of human experience and culture 
• Striving for the fair and adequate provision of counselling and psychotherapy services. 

By contrast, the ALT's only values which make clear their professional activities are commitment to exploring and understanding the interplay between technology and learning, and to keeping up to date with new technologies. It seems that there is much left unsaid in these statements about what learning technology professionals do. Perhaps this is again due to the relatively undefined nature of the profession, and to the fact that it incorporates many roles. In fact, the ALT themselves acknowledge this in their statement that "values and codes of practice differ from institution to institution, discipline to discipline, role to role, and may evolve through time". It is therefore perhaps understandable that their listed values are not as prescriptive as more defined professions, but I fear that this lack of coherence may hamper attempts to become a recognised profession.