Blogs & microblogs
The word blog comes from two words "web" and "log" = "blog". A blog is a type of online journal which owners update with information they want to share with others. The posts are in chronological order and readers usually have the ability to post comments and questions. The content of a blog might be personal for, example a day reflection on your vacation, or it might be professional to share your expertise with others. Many organisations, including newspapers, now include blogs in their arsenal of methods for communicating with the world.
Blog sites include:
Microblogs are those which restrict posts to very short messages. The posts can contain links and photos and can be reposted or forwarded to others. Hashtags are used to group messagers together. Users can follow other users/organisations.
Microblogging sites include:
Using Blogs for peer feedback and discussion
This Learning to Teach Online http://bit.ly/d18ac5 case study features Tam Nguyen from The University of New South Wales, describing how a blog was used in one particular teaching context to promote peer-to-peer interaction, feedback and discussion. Tam's students also integrate YouTube and Flickr into their blogs, maximising the potential of both social media and a learning management system.
While the case study does examine one particular teaching application of a blog, the principles discussed can just as easily be applied to any teaching situation where the ability for individuals to chronologically record a learning process, collate different learning resources such as text, video and audio, and increased peer feedback or discussion between students is desired. This episode will examine the context, planning and teaching within the case study, and highlight any issues that were encountered, and benefits that make this type of online teaching worthwhile