Blogs and Education

Introduction to educational use of blogs

Blogs or weblogs are a widely accepted phenomenon on the Internet, because they
allow so quick and easy, that anyone publishing in their own space and share ide
as with others in the network.
1. The emergence of blogs
The phenomenon of blogging has significantly influenced the manners and customs
of the Internet. The blog format, weblog or blog is the most widely accepted mea
ns of micropublicación, personal space, professional or group, and has even been
noticed in other areas such as journalism. As an activity based on communicatio
n, teaching is not beyond the influence of blogs as educational and communicativ
e tool. Its flexibility makes it adaptable to any matter, subject and grade leve
l. In addition, relationships with other formats and applications on the network
, are an integral part of what has been called the network ecosystem, inhabited
by Web 2.0 applications, social bookmarking (technorati, del.icio.us, Blinklist,
iFavoritos , ...), generators and storage of multimedia content (Flickr, Odeo,
YouTube, Google Video, Google Maps, ...), P2P networks, and other areas that con
centrate the interest of Internet users. The teacher is now facing a generation
(Generation Y, Net Generation or Generation Network) that has grown up with the
Internet, and requires new educational approaches to develop new skills in line
with the requirements of the Information Society. We speak of a necessary digita
l literacy, which involves the ability to manage technology as a means of search
ing, processing, treatment and production of information, as well as a communica
tion tool, and therefore of socialization. The digital medium has transformed th
e linear narrative hypertext, which generates a spider web structure, a metaphor
for the web. Blogs can contribute to this digital literacy from the time that g
reatly simplifies the generation of content due to the easy use of blogs manager
s.
Basically, a blog serves to present and exchange ideas. It is a publishing and c
ommunication tool that is specially prepared for organizing and storing all that
information.
Your blog Educastur
Educastur Blog is an initiative of Educastur area and online educational service
s. Its purpose is to provide users Educastur a personal space to publish web con
tent using the blog format or blog:
http://blog.educastur.es
2. What is a blog?
a
Blog
Outside:
Although the visual appearance depends on the design of the template used, the h
ome page of a blog has elements in common. From here you can access:
• Check or articles Orde-
NADOs chronologically, beginning with the current .. • Comments on the various i
tems. • Calendar, or files by year / month / day. • Categories or themes in whic
h items are classified. • Blogroll, or directory of links to other blogs or webs
ites.
From inside:
A blog is a web application, which is administered through an online control pan
el. Includes tools for:
• Write and edit articles and
pages.
• Set
different options: writing, reading, discussion, ..., etc.. • Establish the cate
gories or topics and links to other websites. • Moderate the comments made by vi
sitors. • Managing users and permissions that they are: administrator, editor, c
ollaborator, ..., etc.. • Configure the appearance of the blog, through a repert
oire of templates.
What is a blog?
A blog (also called Weblog or blog) is a frequently updated web site, in which t
he contents appear in reverse chronological order (ie, recent first). They may c
ontain both text and images or other multimedia elements: audio, video and anima
tions.
2.0
The blogs have helped to disseminate the changes in the web, promoting a more so
cial and multidirectional information. We are witnessing the proliferation of on
line tools of multiple services, with which users can produce information and co
ntent without much effort. And what is more interesting: they can share with oth
er users. This tendency to the socialization of the network is what defines the
term Web 2.0. The essence is participation. The network becomes a haven for read
ing and writing, and information in conversation. And it facilitates the collect
ion and organization of content, with tools such as RSS content syndication. Eve
rything is on the network. No need for local applications except the browser, an
yone can create content,€publish, and share it across the network from anywhere,
anytime. You can write, edit and share images, presentations, audio and video w
ork in a collaborative virtual desktops; teaching and learning in online platfor
ms. Web 2.0 encourages communication and information transmission and processing
. The teaching activity can not be left out, and must exploit the educational po
tential of these tools.
Web
3. The article as a unit of information
a
Blog
The article or post is the unit of information / story on a blog. And as digital
media, part of the properties and resources of hypertext. Links and references
add additional information without lengthening the visual content, lightness and
agility of the post. Also, go directly to sources of information, creating a ne
twork of sites, and forming the ecosystem of the blogosphere. The image or media
element associated with the post provides a very powerful visual information, s
upporting any graphic format, audio and video, and can refer to files hosted on
other websites. The best known examples are the free multimedia repositories lik
e Flickr, YouTube, Odeo, or Google, whose resources can be viewed on their own p
ages on our blog. Though: while respecting the origin and ownership of the mater
ials with a proper citation and link.
An example of a blog post on the Educational Use of ICT. A brief information, li
nks to specific examples and references to sites and articles that expand on the
 information. At the bottom of the article, the thematic categories that are cla
ssified. In the right column, the timing of access to articles for days, and the
latest published. All this for easy access to blog content.
4. Features and capabilities of blogs
As a means of digital content publishing, blogs have a number of features that m
akes them special, and they are very profitable from the field of education:
a) hypertext and multimedia content. Transmission logs all file types support mu
ltimedia: text, image, audio, video, flash animation ... .. and allow links to d
ocuments or other websites. Therefore, they are very appropriate tools so that s
tudents develop writing skills hypertext and multimedia. b) Easy to use, separat
ing the content of design and technical implementation. Through attendance, mana
gement and online platforms designed templates greatly simplifies the process of
generating materials. This allows users to concentrate their efforts on content
, without installing any software or have advanced knowledge of html editing. Yo
u can even send content via e-mail or SMS, which opens the door to mobility and
the ubiquity of users. c) chronological and thematic organization of information
. All content is organized chronologically and thematically. It is accessible th
rough subject indexes, calendar, or search engines. In addition, each article is
published creates a permanent link (permalink), which can be referenced directl
y from other blogs or websites. The external or blogroll links are also organize
d by topic, and help create a network of related sites, an ecosystem or habitat
within the blogosphere. The thematic content and chronological files can help st
udents to develop habits of organizing information, creating their own categorie
s of articles, links, .., etc. d) Exchange of ideas, defined by participation an
d user input through comments to individual articles and content, encouraging de
bate, discussion and responsible use of cyberspace, noting the proper netiquette
. The interactive aspect is one of the most attractive from an educational point
of view, especially from a constructive view of learning.
Blog
Blog
Blog
Blog
blo
blo
blog blog
Blog
or blog
Blogosphere: The ecosystem is home to the blogs. The community that is related t
hrough blogs and content has changed the way of transmitting information on the
web, making the web a space both
Blog-
reading and writing and participation. BlogRoll: Directory of links organized by
categories or themes. They are the favorites, or "friendly sites" of the blog o
wner.
cabulario
COMMENT: Notes and observations that users make to the various articles of the b
log. Comments introduce the concept of participation and conversation on the blo
g, and enrich the content of articles.
Folksonomies and social tagging
One of the achievements of the logs is the diffusion and global reflection on th
e progress of the so-called social web. One example is the classification of con
tent through bookmarks, tags, or tags, that are indexed in popular sites like Te
chnorati, del.icio.us, Blinklist ... Where are the users who classify content by
adding their own tags, which they share with rest of the global world, we talk
about folksonomy or social tagging. A term derived from the taxonomy (classifica
tion) and folk. (Friend or colleague, in English). The folksonomies are not desi
gned a priori, but grow organically according to user input, ie from the bottom
up, and therefore do not belong to anyone or monitored by anyone, which introduc
es the social and democratic factor classification, as it has controversial aspe
ct of anarchic, according to some sectors, such as the librarian and documentary
. Social labeling provides users with a scan-based navigation, rather than searc
h, and add content semantic content classification. Another step towards the sem
antic web. In the words of Jose Luis Orihuela (ecuaderno.com), "When people on a
network (social), assign descriptors (labels) to content (semantics) of the sto
ries on blogs (Technorati tags), photographs ( Flickr tags), to favorites or boo
kmarks (del.icio.us, iFavoritos), or task lists (43 Things), then we are helping
to provide semantic value to the information available online. "
e) Different levels in the user role, which makes possible the management of sha
red or collaborative blog. This, coupled with the possibility of access from any
where, at any time, opened up great possibilities for collaborative work, transc
ending even the classroom space, and geographical space. Any person at any time
and place can assist in any blog. And back to the organization of content, blogs
can be an excellent tool to support joint projects as a work diary or logbook.
f) content syndication through RSS. This has been one of the drivers of the enor
mous popularity of blogs, and has even changed the way people access information
The use of readers and news aggregators or RSS feeds allow you with the latest
content published on those sites that interest us without having to open the bro
wser. g) Relationship with other applications on the network. Above it was noted
that blogs are part of a habitat, an ecosystem of the network, with some tradit
ions and customs related. For example, blogs, linked to other applications and W
eb 2.0 services, multiply the potential to add multimedia content, social bookma
rking, or labels (tags) that are read and indexed by other applications. This co
mponent of socialization of the web, which has ceased to be a tendency to become
a reality, should be used also by teachers.
Blog
Blog
Blog
Blog
blo
blo
blog blog
Blog
or blog
Moblogging: Blogs have gone from desktop computers to mobile devices. Moblogging
is to add content to the blog using a PDA or a mobile phone.
Blog-
cabulario
Podcasting: It's an audio recording embedded on a blog or website, so you can or
ganize or distributed via an RSS feed, so as to enable download and listen on yo
ur PC or a handheld device ..
POST: each item or entry that is published. The unit of information in a blog. Y
ou can include all types of multimedia and links to other posts or external site
s.
5. Using blogs in the classroom
Taking the above features, we can leverage blogs (edublogs, with an academic cas
e) from various teaching-learning situations, including those described as follo
ws:
a) Blog of the classroom, subject or topic. It is perhaps the most widely used i
n education. Sometimes it's the teacher's personal page, but can also be a compl
ement to the classroom, with additional information and proposals comlementarias
activities, to develop using the resources offered by blogs (writing hypertext,
multimedia, reviews, proposing links related, ..., etc.) and taking advantage o
f the interactivity of the medium.
Blog Mates
c) Workshop creative multimedia. Individual or collective, on arguments suggeste
d or free with the possibility of including all types of references in text form
(writing workshop), audio (radio, hearings), video (TV) or links to other sites
. Supports any theme: fact, fiction, short stories, reviews, ..., and the use of
multiple media formats.€d) Project Management Group. As a collective blog, whet
her for teachers, students, or collaborative work between the two, where the tea
cher or teachers of different subjects or group advising centers in conducting r
esearch. This blog proves to be an excellent daily work that keeps track of the
process and progress of the project, and once again, beyond the regular classroo
m space.
This can broaden the face of the classroom context, and to allow students to wor
k at home, in the library, telecentre, ..., etc.. b) students' personal Blog: As
an individual newspaper, and concerns about their interests, hobbies, activitie
s, ... etc. Free choice by students, caring attitudes of respect (netiquette), a
nd citing the resources used. And participate in blogs companions, commenting on
its articles and making contributions, proposals, ..., etc..
Agenda
Blog-
cabulario
Trackback: reverse link that allows to know which links point to a particular po
st, warning that another blog is quoting one of his posts. Thus, two articles ar
e related both
each other, mostly because the second appointment at first. RSS: data format use
d to syndicate (redistribute) content to subscribers to a website. The programs
that read and present RSS feeds or feeds
different backgrounds are called aggregators. Using a news aggregator, it is not
necessary to open the browser for the latest news from websites that interest u
s.
e) Ezine multimedia school newspaper, magazine, monographs on various subjects,
.., etc. This would take advantage of the power of blogging as a multimedia file
management, own or referenced from stores content (Flickr, Odeo, YouTube ...).
We have already noted the ease of administration that have the blogging tools th
at allow great results with just knowing how to write a simple text editor. Join
multimedia potential participation opportunities, which enrich the content with
input and comments from other users as; the syndication through RSS, the use of
podcasts, ..., etc.. f) Guide of navigation, where sites are discussed, news an
d contributions in the form of criticism or commentary on them. It is the metaph
or of the logbook or notebook travel: a space where incidents are recorded and d
etails of navigation, in this case discussed by the sailors themselves, who advi
se, propose and present to their colleagues who have visited the sites and their
personal opinion.
Hello world!
6. biBLOGteca: Examples of educational blogs
BLOG OF TEACHING, LEARNING OR THEME: History Classroom. Mauritius Blog Blog http
://auladehistoria.blogspot.com/ ICT Career of Alejandro Valero: http://www.educa
.madrid.org/web/ ies.mariaguerrero.colladovillalba / tic / Give the language. Lo
g of Felipe Zayas: FLE d'Artifice http://fzayas.com/darlealalengua/. JM Blog. Fi
eld: Renewable energy http://francesvirtual.blogspot.com/. Technology. IES Llane
ra: http://web.educastur.princast.es/ies/llanera/wp/ fumble. Blog de Lucía Álvar
ez. IES Moreda: http://luciaag.edublogs.org/ Music Education: FOL http://educaci
onmusical.blogspot.com/ blog, de Lourdes Barroso http://elblogdefol.blogia.com/
siding. Collective classroom blog: http://www.tinglado.net/ TeKLEEando by Cristi
na Navarrete. IES Selgas. Cudillero: http://lapizazul.bitacoras.com/ Dinosaurs.
C.P. Lafuerza Guillén. Oviedo: dinosaurs http://www.educared.net/aprende/bitagor
a/page/ STUDENT BLOGS: Bloggin 'Away. 5th English. Mieres EOI: http://web.educas
tur.princast.es/eoi/eoimiere/myweb/blog/ ePlanet. IES María de Molina: http://ep
laneta.blogspot.com/ Save the planet. Collaborative blog. CEIP San Felix. Candid
a: http://salvarelplaneta.blogia.com/ Lenguablog 2.0. IES Serrallarga. Blanes ht
tp://lenguablog2.blogspot.com/ Loreto Gutierrez. C.P. San Felix. Candida: http:/
/loretogutierrez.blogia.com/ Carlos Alvarez. C.P. San Felix. Candida: Looking ht
tp://carlosalvarez.blogia.com/ Words. IES Villena: http://www.fzayas.com/mirarla
spalabras/about/ ELECTRONIC PUBLICATION: The Fifth of Five. IES No. 5. Avilés: h
ttp://laquintadelcinco.blogspot.com/ Morcín Infonet. C.P. Horacio F. Inguanzo. M
orcín: http://www.morcininfonet.blogspot.com/ logbook. C.P. Evaristo Valle. Gijó
n: http://cpevaristovalle.blogspot.com/ C.P. The Canal. Luanco: CP http://colegi
olacanal.blogspot.com/ News Elena Sanchez Tamargo. Pola de Laviana: http://cpele
nasancheztamargo.blogspot.com/ BLOGS OF BLOGS: Aulablog. Collaborative Project:
Metro http://www.aulablog.com/ Education: http://www.aulablog.com/planeta/
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• • • • • • • • • • • •
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• • • •
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• • • •
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• •
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Information compiled by: Area portal and Online Services Educastur November 2006