Reports

Monday January 19 2009 | 000 Multidisciplinary

Teaching and Learning Using Blogs

Charles-Antoine Bachand Educational Advisor, Cégep de l'Outaouais

The Issue
Practical Applications
Useful References
What's new?

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The Issue

Thanks to my own blog, pinpointing when I found out about blogs and when I took my first steps into the blogosphere is a snap. One of the principal advantages of blogging is that it leaves a record of our movements, the evolution of our thoughts and the influence of others’ comments. I can say with authority that I published my first entry on April 21, 2005 after reading various Quebec teachers’ blogs.

But, before delving further into my memories and discoveries of using blogs in a pedagogical context, let’s examine this tool itself and its possibilities.

DESCRIBING BLOGS

Definition

The blog, a contraction of the word web-log, has been widely discussed and defined over the last few years. Blogs are generally understood to be Internet sites which take the form of a diary or intimate journal containing a series of articles presented in reverse chronological order. Each entry to the blog is generally composed of text, images, videos, audio recordings or hyperlinks. What differentiates a blog from just being an Internet diary, however, is the opportunity offered to readers to make comments about the author’s entries on the same Internet page. This difference therefore makes a blog more dynamic and interactive than a traditional Internet page. The author can make regular entries and readers are at liberty to react to them in an ongoing manner.

Essentially, blogs have a theme around which entries are published. There are blogs on education, politics, macramé and even the personal life and experiences of the author.

A Short History

Without returning to the 18th Century as some authors do, let’s accept that blogs are a result of the simplicity of the WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) concept being applied online to content management tools. Although initially the Internet necessitated the use of complex HTML conventions and code, the appearance of HTML editors simplified the task of publishing formatted hard copy to the Internet with an appearance similar to the original. This new ease of publication not only permitted comments and reflections from across the planet but also set the scene for the visionary work which was to follow.

In 1994, Justin Hall began his ‘Filter Log’ which was dedicated to the concept of categorizing Internet sites of interest. Four years later, John Barger proposed the term ‘Weblog’ to describe this new reality. In 1999 the site Blogger.com saw the light of day. Since then, this site has allowed anyone to create a blog simply by filling out a short registration form and has fueled a growing interest in blogging. Today, tens of millions of people including researchers, politicians, teachers and artists profit from the convenience of blogging tools (Warlick, 2007).

The best way to understand what a blog is and what makes it so attractive to teachers and their students is to illustrate its inner works. It is important to remember, however, that not all blogs are created equal and that they can present an impressive diversity of forms.

As an example, here is a blog created for IT integration at Cégep de l’Outaouais called Cégep en TIC [www.cegepentic.net]. This is a rather typical blog, if one can say that such a thing exists, which illustrates the different elements that make up the so-called typical blog.

The Anatomy of a Blog – An Example

Here is the main page of Cégep en TIC [www.cegepentic.net] :

Blog Title: The Blog Title is the blog’s principal identification indicating its theme.
Blog Subtitle: The Blog Subtitle gives the exact objective established by the blog’s author or authors.
Navigation Tools: Blogs offer a full range of navigation tools. They can include important entries, a calendar or a list of entry categories.
Research Tool: A research tool enables the user to locate a particular entry or series of entries.
Archives: The majority of blogs offer this tool which allows the user to go back in time to see what the blog author published at a particular point in time.
Entry Title: As a blog is essentially a diary composed of entries or articles, what is of most interest to the reader are those elements which are the work of the author. Each of these will have a title explaining their contents.
Publication Date: The strength of a blog is its timeliness. In contrast to the traditional Internet site, the blog is in constant flux. To facilitate reading the blog, each entry is automatically dated.
Entry Category: The most popular navigation feature in blogs is classification by category. A blog can contain many distinct categories, each containing the author’s entries on that subject. As an example, Cégep en TIC contains ten categories ranging from ‘Research’ containing entries about interesting research to ‘Resources’ highlighting Internet finds and ‘Workshops’ listing current offerings at the cegep.
Entry Author: Blogging software generally automatically inserts the name of the author of each entry. There are many blogs that are authored by more than one person.
Hyperlinks to Comments: As discussed earlier, the other principal characteristic of a blog is its interactivity. The hyperlink to comments allows readers to view comments left by others or to add their reactions to the author’s entry.

Various Blogging Software

There are literally dozens of tools allowing easy blogging on the Internet. Most of them are similar and contain many identical features.

It is therefore important when evaluating the different choices available to carefully determine the best match with your needs. Even though the majority of these applications do the same thing, certain are simpler to operate than others and certain allow greater flexibility for future changes.

Blogger

The most used and simplest tool of them all remains Blogger [www.blogger.com] which can get a blog up and running in a few minutes. Undeniably dependable and universally recognized, Blogger is an attractive option for someone looking for a simple efficient blogging solution. This simplicity of operation, however, has its drawbacks such as its limited options for appearance and address. This tool can be quite useful for the teacher asking students to create their own blogs.

Posterous

Posterous [www.posterous.com] was created with simplicity of operation in mind. Someone who wants to be blogging in seconds can do so if they are ready to live with the restricted presentation options that Posterous offers. Authors can even publish by e-mail. This tool is only available in English for the moment.

WordPress

WordPress [www.WordPress.com] is the standard against which other blogging software is judged. Although originally developed in English, it is available in numerous other languages including French. WordPress can be installed on the Internet site of your choice as long as it can handle a MySQL database or you can blog directly from the WordPress site. Furthermore, since a few months ago, the Personal Space of Profweb.qc.ca besides offering free hosting to any cegep personnel, also features extremely easy installation of this tool; the user need only select ‘Applications to install’ from the ‘My Space’ tab. It is important to note that one copy of WordPress allows the management of several blogs. Concretely, this means that one installation of the software allows the management of all of your students’ blogs.

DotClear

DotClear [www.dotclear.net] resembles WordPress, although it must be installed on the server of your choice. The main difference between these two tools is the simplicity of DotClear’s publication interface and the energy of its users; a question asked on the DotClear forum rarely remains unanswered. This tool was entirely developed in French for francophones and therefore satisfies those not content with the possibilities offered by Blogger for example. DotClear, like WordPress allows multiple blog hosting and offers an interface which can be personalized to the last detail.

At this point, let us remember that asking students doing as much of the work as possible is pedagogically the best strategy. Asking students to create their own blogs is an excellent way of teaching them how to operate them. In this vein, the use of Blogger is a logical choice given its simplicity of operation. Besides limiting the need to help students to a strict minimum, this exercise will develop students’ IT skills. Several studies have demonstrated that students will be far more active on their blogs if they feel that the blogs are their own and not merely a tool developed uniquely for a class. Once the course is finished, a Blogger blog remains with the student and therefore can be of great personal interest to them. The usefulness of the blog at semester’s end extends to instructors using a program approach tracking learning acquisition through several courses.

APPROPRIATE PEDAGOGICAL CONTEXTS FOR BLOGGING

Now that we have taken a quick overview of blogs and their features, their pedagogical applications merit examination.

The blog’s essential function is to enable wide scale discussion by making our thoughts and deeds public. This exposure is done in the hope of stimulating comments by others in reaction to the author’s views. This formula is also particularly interesting in contexts where the students are called upon to track their own logic, to document stages in a process or a long project or to work in cooperation within a group assigned a common task.

Illustrating the utility of blogs in several educational contexts provides easily understandable examples of their pedagogical potential.

The Teacher's Blog

Teacher blogging can be quite useful as an easy entry to the Internet. A blog provides quick web access to an instructor’s thoughts, links, texts or work. As the blog is a tool that can continuously change, an instructor can use this feature to invite students to comment on material that has been published whether it be a pertinent text or a question to stimulate debate. This simple way to make a public space for a course can also easily adapt to become accessible uniquely to class members. The Personal Space of Profweb as well as other hosts allow users to password protect blogs.

The Blog as a Learning Portfolio

Asking students to make their own blog is without doubt the most innovative and interesting use for blogging. A student’s blog being an Internet space to publish their thoughts, their activities and their products motivates them by allowing successes to be shared with the world at large and not only the instructor for evaluation. Simultaneously, a learning portfolio is being created. The teacher and the student will have access at the end of the course or program to a documentation of the student’s academic progress.

The public nature of this portfolio adds a new and fascinating factor to the student’s acquisition of knowledge. Their learning is not hidden within the classroom but on display to the curious and possibly interested passerby examining this material and the student’s thoughts as the process advances. The public nature of the work also invites classmates to give feedback to their colleagues.

The Blog in Language Classes

Student blogging can be particularly interesting in language class where the student must become familiar with writing and reading in another language. Internet publishing of texts and essays allows students to not only read the work of their classmates, but also to benefit from outside commentary. In a recent study by the research team of Ducate et Lomicka (2008), students were asked to create a blog and to read and comment on blogs in the target language. The experience was fascinating not only for the practice in reading and writing but for exposure to another culture. Research demonstrated that the students who had their own blog as opposed to a class blog seemed to create a space that was both public and private, but remained the property of the student. This feeling of ownership of the space had a particularly beneficial effect on the number of entries and the ease of publication as perceived by the student.

Blogging and Metacognition

The importance of metacognition (i.e. learning to learn) has no need to be proven in education any longer. Furthermore, the blog is a wonderful tool to develop metacognition. It can be used to ask students to identify questions and points of confusion in their learning process. The researcher Xie and her associates dealt with these issues in a 2008 study. The methodology ‘forced’ students to use a part of their work time to consider their learning tools and their learning styles. In 1985 Boud and Australasia showed even then that incorporating a learning diary into a course of study favoured metacognition. The blog is really nothing more than a step forward from this strategy. In this sense, the simple act of formalizing reflections in writing seems to have a positive effect on learning.

The Blog as an Apprenticeship Diary

Blogs are also ideal for apprentice supervision. It is possible to create blogs to allow apprentices to share their thoughts and discoveries. It is also possible to create a common apprenticeship blog for all members of a particular work study program. Such a blog not only permits teachers to communicate news, but also allows students to relate experiences occurring in their particular apprenticeship situations.

The Blog as an Artistic Portfolio

In an art class, it is sometimes difficult to organize a launch or an exposition for each student production. Blogs allow students to present their work in an informal context where friends and colleagues can be invited to view their creations.

Blogging the "Lost" Diary

In different contexts, for example History, it can be of interest to publish the diary of a missing character. Recently, a group created the diary of George Orwell [http://orwelldiaries.WordPress.com], seventy years after the fact. Of course, it is possible to ask students to make comments about entries or to discuss such a project in their own blog. It would also be possible to imagine the diary of a character from the past in order to illustrate daily life or events happening during a critical historical period.

TECHNO-PEDAGOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF BLOGS

Blogs are characterized by a number of technological and pedagogical features from other resources such as forums, course management systems or traditional academic Internet sites.

Technical Features

Technically, blogs have several advantages which are presented summarily below.

Technical Advantages	Comments
Ease of publication	Publishing on the Internet had been a bit complex for a long period until tools such as Blogger, WordPress (the choice of blog for Profweb’s Personal Space) and Posterous were developed principally to make on-line publishing as simple as possible. Using blogs automated the passage of personally written documents (or documents copied from other sites or e-mail) from the computer to the web with formatting automatically adjusted. One cannot help but agree with Warlick (2007) when he affirms that teachers don’t have the time to be webmasters.
Asynchronous Communication	The fact that blogs offer asynchronous communication as do forums allows users to think through their comments and above all to return to them.
Archives	A great number of academic resources used by teachers do not easily allow archiving of thoughts and comments made by students. An online course is often locked or erased at the end of the semester. Blogs are long lived and certainly can extend beyond the fifteen weeks of a course. It is also possible not only to evaluate a student’s progress during a course, but if necessary well beyond. Furthermore, once the course is over, the student remains the owner of their blog and can use it however he judges fit.
Neutral Territory	It has been demonstrated in an increasing number of occasions that resources which rely on a central location for exchanges or comments have a positive impact on student motivation. The fact that the blog belongs to the student and not the teacher tends to create a pride of ownership which encourages learning how to use it. The blog can then become a piece of neutral territory where the student feels at ease to invite friends and colleagues.
Integration of Different Media	Blogs facilitate the use of different media in information and communication technology. It is quite simple to incorporate text, images, videos, audio files, drawings and hyperlinks into a blog.
User Centered Bias	Essentially a diary, a blog is one of the rare IT tools which is truly student-centered. Several computer resources favour a teacher-centered approach, sidelining the thoughts and academic progress of the student. Blogs by their very nature place power and responsibility in the hands of students.

Pedagogical Features

Blogs present an impressive array of pedagogical features inherent in their form and in the fact that they are essentially diaries promoting exchange.

Pedagogical Advantages	Comments
Putting Ideas into Written Form	It has been shown for quite awhile that the simple act of concretizing ideas by putting them on paper can have a quite positive effect on learning. Blogs make this activity rather interesting.
Reviewing Concepts	Several studies indicate that reviewing learned concepts has a major effect on in-depth learning. As reviewing concepts is a particularly challenging activity the diary function of blogs facilitates this task.
Tracking Progress	Diaries and portfolios as well as blogs allow students to track their own progress. This feature can be useful in a number of contexts including allowing the teacher to discretely evaluate student performance.
Interacting with Others	Socioconstructivism, largely through Vygostky and Piaget, has shown the importance of social interaction for learning. Blogs foster peer and community interaction among students and therefore foster a more complete and holistic view. Furthermore, peer interaction has been shown to promote reflection. Also, as comments from third parties are real, they can initiate individual and joint review.
Publishing	Publishing itself has a beneficial effect on student learning. Students are encouraged to publish their thoughts in an authentic context. The notion of the teacher being the single reader falls by the wayside as students have been known to receive comments from authors, researchers and visitors from foreign countries.
Discussing Democratically	According to Habermas (1984), an ideal setting for a discussion will have three elements: the ability for anyone to initiate the discussion; no power imbalance among the participants and the good faith of the participants. Given this fact, several researchers have noted that blogs promote a truly democratic and authentic exchange. The most timid student in a discussion in class will sometimes contribute to a blog exchange with gusto.
Improving IT Skills	It is a given that asking students to create their own blog will improve their academic and technical IT skills.
Evaluating Critically	Finally, it is generally acknowledged by students themselves that as they author their own material, they can more easily critically judge others’ materials. They become readier to admit that what is published may be biased or deficient in some other way.

Note: In the above tables, we have not made references to studies in many of the elements in the interest of brevity; however, each element above has been the object of well-documented research.

OTHER ELEMENTS TO CONSIDER

The Right to Err!

It is important to note that the right to make a mistake is fundamental to blogging in a pedagogical context which is as authentic as possible. If students perceive that they are being judged, it’s a sure bet that they won’t express themselves freely. Free exchange, interaction and reflection are key components of the blogging experience, and students must feel at liberty to reflect and post as they wish at some point in their blog.

The Question of Anonymity

In the same vein, it is important to offer students the possibility of assuming a pseudonym. This allows them to express themselves more freely still without fearing others’ opinions, with or without justification. Obviously, the instructor can have a list of pseudonyms but must decide whether this list is to be made available to students. This point could become the basis for a first blog entry.

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Comments by readersReact to this text

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French

Wonderful Information on Blogs!

This information was very helpful to me. It has aided me in my Education Technology course assignment for gathering information on blogging because it answered my questions which were: Features of blogs, How it can work in teaching and learning and why is blogging effective. Thanking you for sharing your work, Respectfully yours, Deana Blossom.

Deana Blossom, Student / Teacher [2009-10-15]

FORUM DE DISSCUSSION POUR ENSEIGNANTE EN VENTE

J'ai enseigner au collegial, la vente, le marketing, le commerce international.

ginette provost, Consultante, Collège LaSalle [2011-2-25]

Forum de discussion

Bonjour, Je suis une récente enseignante en formation professionnelle et dans le cadre de mon Bacc en enseignement je dois participer à un forum de discussion. Alors, j'aimerais savoir s'il y a des membres parmi vous qui sont enseignants en vente-conseil et/ou representatation en formation professionnelle ou en gestion de commerce au collégial. Merci

Lyne Boivin, Enseignante, Centre de formation des Nouvelles Technologies [2010-4-22]

Merci

Merci et bravo pour cet article très complet. A mon tour je partage un lien vers un dossier rédigé à destination des enseignants futurs blogueurs. De l'usage d'un blog en primaire; BLOG BLEU PRIMAIRE; Enquêtes pédagogiques.

Ostiane Mathon, enseignante asociée à la formation et blogueuse, Lewebpédagogique [2009-12-03]

Wow !

Wow ! Charles-Antoine ! Quel beau tour de piste ! Les informations sont pertinentes et claires. Je ne répèterai pas les commentaires de mes collègues... Simplement, je dirais que tu as très bien délimité le territoire pour tous ceux qui souhaitent se lancer dans cette belle aventure ! Le blogue, un outil accessible à tous ! Merci, merci !

Claude Bilodeau, Enseignante, Cégep Beauce-Appalaches [2009-8-07]

Un dossier qui fait du chemin

Un dossier super qui a été référencé dans le dossier de Rémi Thibert sur les pratiques collaboratives Quelles pratiques collaboratives à l'heure des TIC?. La preuve qu'en collaborant, on va de plus en plus loin... Merci!

Françoise Marceau, Conseillère pédagogique, Profweb [2009-5-22]

C'est super !

Super ce dossier sur l'utilisation des blogs! Je suis vraiment ravie et servie car ce dossier me sera d'un grand secours. Je suis en 5e année (fin de formation) en TIC, nous sommes la 1re promotion, et nous découvrons chaque jour un peu plus en matière d'intégration de TIC. Et depuis que notre enseignant nous a demandés de créer et d'utiliser des blogs, pour la préparation de nos projets, je suis impressionnée par tout ce que j'apprends. Mon blog qui fait office de portfolio, (je l'ai découvert récemment) a pour adresse http://www.ens2009.memoire.virblan.over-blog.com, j'avoue qu'il représente mes premiers pas dans ce domaine, mais jetez -y un coup d'oeil et faites-moi vos remarques, elles sont les bienvenues. En outre, à cause de ma formation préalable (je suis en master 2 Lettres Modernes Françaises), j'aimerais, en tant que technopédagogue, créer pour la partie pratique de mon projet de fin de formation, un véritable blog d'apprentissage car mon projet consiste à mettre en ligne un cours de grammaire française (pour le collège) selon les principes de l'ingénierie pédagogique à bases d'objets (cours et mémoire organisationnelle, ressources pédagogiques...). Je compte sur vos conseils, car je sais qu'en les suivant, je fournirai un travail de qualité. Je vous remercie d'avance et j'attends vos commentaires sur mon blog ou par courriel. Merci!

Virginie Ngah, Elève-Professeur en filière TIC, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Yaoundé (Cameroun) [2009-3-11]

Livre Mais non, je blogue (Milan Jeunesse, France) et appel à témoins

Bonjour ! J'ai pris connaissance de votre site par l'intermédiaire de Mario Asselin. Je suis l'auteur du livre "Mais non, je blogue! Le petit guide des jeunes blogueurs pour bloguer vite et bien" qui vient de paraître (Milan Jeunesse, France). Je prépare actuellement pour le blog officiel du livre (http://www.maisnonjeblogue.com) un petit article sur l'usage des blogs par les élèves et les enseignants. Les témoignages de certains de vos élèves, enseignants blogueurs ou bibliothécaires blogueurs m'intéresserait beaucoup! Je m'intéresse également aux blogs de correspondants entre écoles de régions ou de pays différents. L'appel à témoins est lancé ! A vos plumes! (par e-mail ou en commentaire sur maisnonjeblogue.com) N'hésitez pas à faire suivre ce mail! Blogueusement vôtre!

Astrid de Roquemaurel, Auteur du livre "Mais non, je blogue !" (Milan Jeunesse), Animations multimédia [2009-2-07]

Merci

Merci à tous pour les bons mots. J'espère que le dossier pourra être utile dans vos milieux. @Jacques Cartier : La question se pose effectivement et il importe d'en tenir compte. Sur le plan des droits d'auteur, ce qui s'applique ailleurs (dans nos notes de cours ou dans les présentations que nous faisons en classe) s'applique bien entendu sur les blogues. J'ajouterais cependant un élément qui peut avoir son importance. En effet, le blogueur est tenu responsable des propos qui se tiennent sur son blogue, et ce, qu'il s'agisse des siens ou des propos de ceux qui y commentent... d'où l'importance de modérer les commentaires de son blogue.

Charles-Antoine Bachand, CP, Cégep de l'Outaouais [2009-1-30]

Une synthèse intéressante

Bonjour à Vous, En premier lieu merci pour votre travail de fond sur l'utilisation du blogue. Je pense à un aspect important que l'on pourrait aussi développer : la problématique du droit. En effet, en créant son blogue, on devient "directeur de publication" ce qui aux yeux de la loi n'est pas anodin. Droit d'auteur, droit à l'image, ... Bien à Vous, Jacques Cartier - www.jacques-cartier.fr Blogue à thème : http://formationdistance.blogg.org Blogue personnel : http://carter.blogg.org

Jacques Cartier, Enseignant, Mission tice du Rectorat de Besançon - France [2009-1-30]

Dossier à diffuser

Merci à Charles-Antoine pour ce dossier. C'est d'ailleurs grâce à lui si j'ai réussi à faire mon premier blogue. ;-) Je vais faire de la pub dans mon cégep pour le faire connaître auprès des enseignants.

Michel Vincent, Conseiller pédagogique TIC, Cégep de Saint-Laurent [2009-1-28]

Tout ce qui se conçoit bien s'énonce clairement...

À la lecture de ce dossier, on voit que Charles-Antoine maîtrise le concept « blogue » sur le bout de ses doigts virtuels : ce qu’il est, comment il se présente, ce qu’on peut en faire dans un contexte pédagogique, tout y est présenté clairement. Le blogue peut se prêter à des activités pédagogiques variées comme la création d’un portfolio d’apprentissage : vraiment inspirant. De son côté, le logiciel WordPress accessible dans l’Espace personnel de Profweb permet de gérer plusieurs blogues à partir d’un seul logiciel. Dès lors, dans son propre espace, un enseignant peut gérer les blogues de l’ensemble de ses étudiants : intéressant dans un contexte où le blogue peut devenir le portfolio d’apprentissage de l’étudiant ! Bravo et merci Charles-Antoine pour avoir ajouté une pierre de plus à l’édifice technopédagogique du réseau collégial!

Nicole Perreault, Animatrice, Réseau REPTIC [2009-1-23]

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