SA9.2

The Google Doc table as it looked after my latest additions to it.

The activity gave me the opportunity to use Google docs for the first time.

[Need to add to this entry. E.g. mention the other collaborators, especially Nigel S. See Cafe forum]

CA9.1 - desktop research

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In this activity your task is to research the use of blogs in education. You should locate a variety of sources that might include some or all of the following: - journal articles - news articles - blog entries - podcasts - case studies and examples - conference papers.


Having started this activity later than everyone else (on the forums), and having read the information they have posted, it seems rather futile to spend a great deal of time on this activity.

So I've googled "education blog"; "education blog UK"; and "what are blogs used for". There is tonnes of information out there and many many people have already provided their answers to the questions posed. It simply seems illogical to try to make my own categories of blogs for education when other people have made perfectly good categories already. I can't believe that we are being required to work "hard" instead of "smart".

Wikipedia (2009) defines a "blog" as:
A blog (a contraction of the term "Web log") is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

Then goes on to say:
Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (artlog), photographs (photoblog), sketches (sketchblog), videos (vlog), music (MP3 blog), audio (podcasting), which are part of a wider network of social media. Micro-blogging is another type of blogging, one which consists of blogs with very short posts. As of December 2007, blog search engine Technorati was tracking more than 112 million blogs.[1] With the advent of video blogging, the word blog has taken on an even looser meaning — that of any bit of media wherein the subject expresses his opinion or simply talks about something.

Wikipedia lists types of blogs as:

Personal Blogs
The personal blog, an ongoing diary or commentary by an individual, is the traditional, most common blog.
Corporate Blogs
For business purposes. Blogs, either used internally to enhance the communication and culture in a corporation or externally for marketing, branding or public relations purposes are called corporate blogs.
Question Blogging
A type of blog that answers questions
By Media Type
A blog comprising videos is called a vlog, one comprising links is called a linklog, a site containing a portfolio of sketches is called a sketchblog or one comprising photos is called a photoblog.[4] Blogs with shorter posts and mixed media types are called tumblelogs.
By Device
Blogs can also be defined by which type of device is used to compose it. A blog written by a mobile device like a mobile phone or PDA could be called a moblog.
By Genre
Some blogs focus on a particular subject, such as political blogs, travel blogs, house blogs,[6] [7] fashion blogs, project blogs, education blogs, niche blogs, classical music blogs, quizzing blogs and legal blogs (often referred to as a blawgs) or dreamlogs. While not a legitimate type of blog, one used for the sole purpose of spamming is known as a Splog.

Further down the same page wikipedia talks of an "edublog" and defines it as (wikipedia 2009b):

a blog written by someone with a stake in education. Examples might include blogs written by or for teachers, blogs maintained for the purpose of classroom instruction, or blogs written about educational policy. The collection of these blogs is called the edublogosphere by some, in keeping with the larger blogosphere, although that label is not necessarily universally agreed upon. Others refer to the community or collection of blogs and bloggers as the edusphere.

It goes on to list:

Notable Edubloggers
Stephen Downes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Downes]
Michael Feldstein [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Feldstein]
Will Richardson [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Richardson]
James N. Farmer [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_N._Farmer]


Multiuser edublogging platforms
Free Edublogs - Widely used edublog by teachers. [http://edublogs.org/]
Classblogmeister - Widely used free edublog for students and teachers. [http://www.classblogmeister.com/]
EduSpaces - Social networking site for educators which includes blogs. Uses the Elgg platform. [http://eduspaces.net/]
TeachFor.Us - Teach for America teacher blogs, running Lyceum [http://TeachFor.Us/]
Teacher Lingo - Community of teacher blogs. Uses Community Server platform from Telligent Systems. [http://teacherlingo.com/]


-----------------

Jim in (http://discuss1.open.ac.uk/Login/FAVC-002C5775/FAVC-002C577B/FAVC-002C577C/I09C6F084?Templates=Printable) wrote:

"Educause ‘Additional Examples of Blogs’, Educause Learning Initiative, [online] Available from: http://www.educause.edu/ELI/ELIDiscoveryToolGuidetoBloggin/AdditionalExamplesofBlogs/13561 (Accessed 5 January 2009).

categories mentioned
* slices of life
(stream of consciousness writing by a blogger)
* topic blogs
(politics, library issues, learning technology)
* marketing blogs
(usually by a small business, providing extra information on a service or product - i.e. a new book)
* event blogs
(chronology of things happening at a conference, meeting, broader event from the perspective of the blogger)
* learning journals
(to gather reflections)
* scholarly blogs
(to share ideas related to a specific field)
* how to or best practices blogs
(how to create effective blogs)

I thought all of these categories could be linked to education in the broadest sense. At least five of them could be linked to "formal" educational use - topic blogs, event blogs, learning journals, scholarly blogs.. and how to / best practices. They could be further reviewed from the perspective of a teacher, student, administrator - each of these would have a different reason or point of view in how the blog might be used. "

------------------------

Nigel S, has used:
Personal) Reflective blogs
Collaborative blogs
Advisory/ informative blogs
Archive blogs

Source: forum message
-------------------

Keely has used:
Sharing general educational news
Blogs to learn from (informative blogs)
Sharing experiences
Advisory blogs
Reflective blogs (students engaged in courses)
Sharing resources and links
Learning & technology information news

Source: http://learn.open.ac.uk/mod/oublog/viewpost.php?post=5498
------------------------

Colleen has used:
Advisory blog written by educational organisation
Blog maintained by an individual with expertise in learning technologies
Reflective blog written by a student on a course
Blog maintained by teaching practitioner to share good practice
Publicly available blogging opportunities for teachers and students

Source: forum message

----------------------

for CA9.1 @ 09-01-09

I tried to access the links given in the unit resources in order, but http://technorati.com/blogs/tag/education , http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/erm04/erm0450.asp?bhcp=1 and http://edublogs.org/ would not open but http://oedb.org/library/features/top-100-education-blogs did. I read the first paragraph on the oedb site page that opened (oedb, 2009) and it supported my understanding that my research can only be peek at what the internet has to offer because there are far too many blogs on the internet for me to carry out detailed research. The first pragraph states that "There are over 30,000 blogs hosted at edublogs.org alone" (oedb, 2009). Jim and Nigel S also commented in the forums on how necessarily incomplete our research must be due to time constraints.

The oedb page went on to list its "Top 100 Educational Blogs", and separated the list into 10 categories. I used the listed categories as a starting point for my own search.



References
oedb (2009) http://oedb.org/library/features/top-100-education-blogs (accessed 09/01/09)

wikipedia (2009a) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog (accessed 7 January 2009)
(wikipedia 2009b) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edublog

Reflection for blog at 06-01-09

Right, things are getting serious now; if I want to leave 2 weeks for the ECA I need to finish units 8, 9 and 10 this week.

I'm amazed, with so little time left till the end of the course, that the tutors still haven't made a meaningful return to the forums.

I've read some other people's contributions (from the forums and their shared blogs) which have helped calm my nerves and given me some ideas (Emma, Colleen, Jim, Nigel S, Keely, Karen).

Let's see if I can post this to my blog today. I've had access problems again lately. Now I can usually view the blog but I can't edit the posts (I wanted to add tags to the posts that don't have them, which is about 90%), I wanted to change the name of the blog from "Metacog-what??!!) to something more formal/boring like "H808 blog". As I write this I'm still waiting for the blog to open. This morning I woke up thinking that I should perhaps move to a blog that actually allows me to use it 24/7. Some 3 years ago I blogged for about half a year. The experience was very positive as access was 24/7 and the blogs themselves had much greater functionality/"customisability". There was a definite sense of community that was enhanced by the blogs - not impeded by them.

It would be very nice if I got my TMA02 results back. I'd like to see the comments well before I have to write for the ECA. But Alan gave me an extension and my TMA02 was finally handed in on 26th Dec (coz of a couple of days of formatting problems).

Well, after 20 mins the blog still isn't opening. I started a blog for my students on Blogger so I know that it's accessible here in China. I'll open one for H808 now. This is very disappointing. Not at all what I expected when I started this course.

Ok, I've set up my new blog. It's at http://jmartel-h808-blog.blogspot.com/ . But I can't move posts over because I can't access my OU blog!!!!!!!!!! I've tried using Safari, Firefox and IE on a Mac, and IE7, Firefox and Safari using XP. At least my blog is showing no favouritism...Ah, I spoke too soon, a few minutes later IE7 on XP opened my blog - with errors, however the main text is visible. Then I tried to add a post and it's now loading interminably. Ok, time to forget moving the blog. I'll do that when I can.

Unit 6 woes...

24 Nov 2008, 12:02

Edited by Jose Martel Penate, 24 Nov 2008, 23:15

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Emma and Karen have put parts of this thread on their blog coz it contains some useful reflection on the course. I thought that was a good idea so I've done the same but copied the whole thread. (Italics are Keely, Emma or Karen's text.)

-----

From: Keely Laycock 22 November 2008 20:30:13
Subject: Course reading Unit 6
To: H808 08I Cafe

Hi All,
I've noticed it before, but having just finished wading through the reading for Unit 6, I wondered if anyone else is as fed up as I am with all the core reading and activities concentrating on elearning within the post 16/HE sector? If we can use the work in this Unit for TMA02 part 1, it would be more benficial for some of us to have a 'selection' of core reading rather than having to find all the resources for my own context, that of elearning within secondary schools.
Keely



---------------



From: Jose Martel Penate 23 November 2008 01:59:03
Subject: Re: Course reading Unit 6
To: H808 08I Cafe

Hi Keely and everyone else,

Well, I'll freely admit that I'm feeling bored and lost since starting Unit 5.
I don't seem to relate to what we're being asked to read, research, learn.
I'm not sure if this is due to the excesses of work/stress caused by TMA01. Or if the constant study over 8+ weeks is finally taking it's toll. Or simply if my personal, everyday context has little to do with what I'm being asked to do.
It is true that I'm no longer used to studying and this course is very intensive.

In an effort to try to get some kind of grasp on Unit 6 I've read what other students have produced and shared. I've looked at the forum for unit 6 - messages from Philippa, Maria, and Mitchell - and some blogs. So far I've looked at Emma's blog and Jim's blog (see below for links). Both have interesting and useful information that I'm going to take a closer look at.

I often find that by reading other student's messages/work I see completely different points of view to my own (that's if I actually have a point of view on the subject in the first place!). Often this will make me question my own abilities and leave me wondering if I have what it takes to be an elearning professional. But I do think I'll pass this course - I'm learning to give the answers that are expected of me. Does this make me more of a professional? Probably.

Jose



---------------



From: Emma Nugent 3 23 November 2008 16:30:40
Subject: Re(2): Course reading Unit 6
To: H808 08I Cafe


Jose Martel Penate writes:
Hi Keely and everyone else,

Well, I'll freely admit that I'm feeling bored and lost since starting Unit 5.
I don't seem to relate to what we're being asked to read, research, learn.
I'm not sure if this is due to the excesses of work/stress caused by TMA01. Or if the constant study over 8+ weeks is finally taking it's toll. Or simply if my personal, everyday context has little to do with what I'm being asked to do.
It is true that I'm no longer used to studying and this course is very intensive.

I think it is all of these, I note that very few people have engaged in Supp Activity 6.2... a sign of how we're all feeling perhaps anyway, if you keep to the schedule you can have a well earned break at Christmas. I'm even going to somewhere without internet access for a week so I ensure I take a break.

In an effort to try to get some kind of grasp on Unit 6 I've read what other students have produced and shared. I've looked at the forum for unit 6 - messages from Philippa, Maria, and Mitchell - and some blogs. So far I've looked at Emma's blog and Jim's blog (see below for links). Both have interesting and useful information that I'm going to take a closer look at.

I often find that by reading other student's messages/work I see completely different points of view to my own (that's if I actually have a point of view on the subject in the first place!). Often this will make me question my own abilities and leave me wondering if I have what it takes to be an elearning professional. But I do think I'll pass this course - I'm learning to give the answers that are expected of me. Does this make me more of a professional? Probably.

Thanks for the compliment Jose but I took this approach too as i found Unit 6 a little perplexing and it helped reading other people's comments but you have to be strict with yourself incase of accusations of collusion so don't read them too intently just in case you find yourself regurgitating what others write. What I am finding is that the course structure is sometimes confusing but also see that this is a good thin...read on.

6.1 is all about the academic side of the elearning prof, I got disgruntled by this being a non academic; but 6.2 is about the learning technologist, still not my background but close if you include the management side of things. Hopefully by the time we get to the end of the course it will all fit together nicely, a reflective model no doubt. The reading in unit 6.2 reminded of what we're read about reflection weeks ago, about allowed what you learn as you go on to change your beliefs, opinions etc which is working for me on this course. It's nice when you see the comments you make in one unit written in one of the core readings of the following section. I'd better copy and paste this into to my blog quick...

Jose


Keely Laycock writes:


>Hi All,
>I've noticed it before, but having just finished wading through the
>reading for Unit 6, I wondered if anyone else is as fed up as I am with
>all the core reading and activities concentrating on elearning within the
>post 16/HE sector? If we can use the work in this Unit for TMA02 part 1,
>it would be more benficial for some of us to have a 'selection' of core
>reading rather than having to find all the resources for my own context,
>that of elearning within secondary schools.
>Keely

That's a really interesting point and not one that was at the forefront of my mind being someone who works in HE; but you are right because I don't think my elearning career will remain in HE necessarily and it's important to learn about all sectors...perhaps one element of the TMA should be a comparision with a context you know nothing about too...it would encourage sharing amongst those of us working in different sectors. Maybe an idea for a future presentation of this course.I'd put this in the main course forum so it's alerted to Robin to see there is any pre-HE reading planned later on.

Good to "chat", is that the bell for the next article to read going off now...

Emma



---------------



From: Karen J. Ogilvie 23 November 2008 16:43:59
Subject: Re(2): Course reading Unit 6
To: H808 08I Cafe

Jose Martel Penate writes:
Hi Keely and everyone else,

Well, I'll freely admit that I'm feeling bored and lost since starting Unit 5.
I don't seem to relate to what we're being asked to read, research, learn.

I'm so glad its not just me!

I'm not sure if this is due to the excesses of work/stress caused by TMA01. Or if the constant study over 8+ weeks is finally taking it's toll.

I wondered that too - am I just tired?

It is true that I'm no longer used to studying and this course is very intensive.

This is intensive but i've done a couple of other OU courses recently aand still feel the same. I feel that its quite difficult to get motivated since I finished TMA01 - things seem to have lost theit focus for me.


In an effort to try to get some kind of grasp on Unit 6 I've read what other students have produced and shared. I've looked at the forum for unit 6 - messages from Philippa, Maria, and Mitchell - and some blogs. So far I've looked at Emma's blog and Jim's blog (see below for links). Both have interesting and useful information that I'm going to take a closer look at.

I've done that too and read some very useful stuff which has helped to focus my thoughts (thanks all) but I do feel as if I'm snooping

I often find that by reading other student's messages/work I see completely different points of view to my own (that's if I actually have a point of view on the subject in the first place!). Often this will make me question my own abilities and leave me wondering if I have what it takes to be an elearning professional. But I do think I'll pass this course - I'm learning to give the answers that are expected of me. Does this make me more of a professional? Probably.

Agree with this too, however, sometimes I'm just left feeling inadequate - why couldn't I have come up with this myself? The scary thing about the last couple of units for me is that I beleive I am an elearning prof... By doing this course, I hope to achieve some accreditation for years of work and experience in practice... Perhaps its because my background is science/IT and I've never had to do all this 'social analysing' before. I'm very hands-on and concerned about good poractice, fit for purpose and usability etc.... but I am struggling with here, particularly with unit 6 part 1.

Best wishes
Karen

Jose




---------------



From: Jose Martel Penate 24 November 2008 01:22:05
Subject: Reply to Emma and Karen
To: H808 08I Cafe

Thanks Emma and Karen,

It is good to know that others are or might be feeling the same way...and it's very good to get support on things that aren't strictly course related. It really does help.

Re reading fellow students work, I agree it's a tricky business and best if used as a guide for our own reading which can lead to the production of our own notes. Simply copying isn't great for deep learning and there's a danger you can find yourself regurgitating what others write. (Hmmm, the last bit of that sentence sounds strangely familiar...did I read it somewhere?...nah, must be mine...) But reading other people's work can also give us new ideas - and I think this can lead to even trickier problems of copying and collusion if we don't reference properly in our own notes. But I think the pros of reading fellow students' work outweigh the admittedly serious cons. I also get the feeling I'm snooping or even stealing other people's thoughts/ideas but as long as I acknowledge where the ideas came from I think it's fine. After all, if they want to avoid ppl using their notes they wouldn't put them in places where we have access to them.

I definitely feel inadequate on this course. I'm surrounded by ppl with often tens of years of experience in their field and tons of professionalism and confidence. But that's the way it is. I just have to get on with it. And after my weekend of self-indulgent stewing in my woes, your messages have helped me climb back up.

Ok, back to unit 6...

Jose

Tags: student reflection tma01 stress unit 5 professional unit 6 emma keely karen copying collusion

Some initial thoughts on tutor blogs...

16 Oct 2008, 01:01

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I was starting to look though the blogs again (I haven't for a while) when I came across a post by Nigel S that caught my eye, Tutor perspectives - Interesting!, available from: http://learn.open.ac.uk/mod/oublog/viewpost.php?post=2886

Below is my reply to his post:

Hi Nigel,

Thanks for posting this, it hadn't occurred to me to peek into our tutors blogs, though I had noticed the links on the blog index page - I think I'll take a look after posting you this.

A thought that comes to mind is, does it help a student to see that their tutor is questioning their own actions/reactions/thoughts/etc? Would a student prefer to feel they have an "expert" tutor, omniscient, infallible?

I suppose being able to view a tutor's ponderings and perceived flounderings can be educational for the student as a "walk the walk" role model. But would this still be the case if the tutor was doing some serious professional-self-questioning/doubting and didn't find a suitable solution? In this case, I assume the student would not be allowed to see the tutor's musings, as, though they may be educational, they would also (perhaps) undermine the student's confidence in their tutor's professional ability.

And following on from that thought, if the tutor does censor their reflections (for student-viewable posts), would their reflections continue to be good role-model material? The student would only be seeing the tutor's Hollywood-happy-ending posts, and the student may be always feel only 60 minutes in - stuck in unfortunate plot twist, with no happy ending in sight.

Of course, maybe a good tutor will always find the right solution...

Jose

Hmmmmmmm...? Thought to follow up later...

14 Oct 2008, 01:51

Edited by Jose Martel Penate, 14 Oct 2008, 01:52

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Jim left me a comment on the preceding post (Reflections on my strengths and weaknesses as an elearning practitioner), which led me to thinking about whether professionals find it harder to be sincere and reflective. Jim said that the way I write (using an "honest" and "humble" tone) invites others to reciprocate. In the past, I have found this to be true.

A couple of years ago I had a blog and I wrote in the sincere, unpretentious, friendly style that I tend to favour. In a very short time people were reciprocating. However, that community was very different to this OU VLE. There, the environment encouraged risk taking: no-one's "real-life" identity was readily available; people were not being urged to reply; people's comments/feedback were not going to be analysed; etc.

To be continued...if I have time and remember.

Attempted focused musing and rumination

27 Sep 2008, 22:53

Edited by Jose Martel Penate, 27 Sep 2008, 23:01

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Do we need to prove something in our messages to each other?

Do any of us (students) want a sense of community? Or is it enough to simply comply with the course requirement to communicate with each other, since it seems that many of us have little in common and have no need, or desire, to befriend our "peers". When I talk about blogs I keep referring to a sense of community, but we're not here for community, we're here to learn/get a qualification.

Does professionalism breed contempt?

Does the use of 'professionalese' promote an increasing intectuallisation of our OU environment and manner, intelectuallisation that some of us need to in order to pass this course?

One of my first contributions to the forums was an attack on professional-elitism. However, now some days later, I'm wondering whether a professional can be anything but an elitist. And it's a fact that academia does have its requirements for precise language use - a precision that does make sense to me.

Hmmmm...Ok, maybe I should think about things that are more relevant to the actual course...

Blog-intellectualitiness

27 Sep 2008, 03:12

Edited by Jose Martel Penate, 27 Sep 2008, 13:47

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This is a copy of my reply to blog post on another blog:

X,

I'd hardly say that keeping a blog can be called "vanity publishing". My idea of vanity publishing is someone using their own money to print their manuscript/composition (that has been rejected by publishing houses) for a very limited public distribution. Though blogging may have some similar characteristics, can it really be called the same?

I would agree that probably more often than not, blogs one may come across (out there in the world) will be of little interest. If that is the case, I would suggest you follow one simple rule: don't read them. However, I'm sure you wouldn't propose the creation of a "Blog-Police" to ensure that standards of ... what?... "intellectualness" are kept up.

You mention 2 overriding, fundamental questions:
* Do I have something important to say?
* Is a blog the most effective way of communicating what I have to say to my intended audience?

I think few of us ever know if we have something "important" to say or blog. And what's the definition of "important" here anyway? And "important" to who? I would be willing to bet that if all the bloggers in the world were asked the question, "Should you always blog about something important?", the vast majority would say no. Blogging is often about being a part of a community; sharing oneself and learning about others. I'm not sure that a blogging community would last long or be very popular if the only posts written were strictly to the point with no human references or touch allowed. I'd say that blogs are often written and posted at those odd little times of the day when one can put work/study/the kids aside for a moment and escape to that virtual world were one can find real understanding. For me and my H808 blog, those times of the day are breaks in my study, a time to let my mind relax, explore, let go, and that is reflected in the kind of things I've blogged. Admittedly, a lot of what I've written may not make sense (to you), but I wanted to write it, and so I did. And you can read it or not read it, that's your choice. What I wrote was important to me, and that's enough.

As to whether a blog is/can be the most effective means of communicating with an intended audience, I suppose that depends. One could send emails, but that's personal not public. One could post a reply in the group forums, which are public, but more impersonal. When I read a blog I get the feeling of entering a private-public space; a space that is private, yet open to the public. The blogger's views are not thrust upon me, as an email invading my private space would be, and their posts have (I like to think) a more human and sometimes more intimate quality - not usually present in forum posts - that I feel is necessary for a sense of community. So, blogging may not always be the most effective communication tool, but is being effective always that important?

Jose