Blogging as Lifelong

LearningGlenn Groulx

Assumptions About Blogging• The individual learner requires sustained,

long-term support to “learn how to learn”• Blogging is integrated into social networking

tools, not separate from them• Blogging is voluntary, expressive, and iterative• Blogging implies personal commitment,

ownership and responsibility• Blogging skills enables participation within

multiple contexts from multiple perspectives

Formal Online Blogging Contexts

LMS

Flexible Delivery

Formal Practice Networks (embedded PLNs)

Professional Learning Communities

MOOCs (extended PLNs)

Lifelong Learning Perspectives

Lifelong Blogging Paradigms

• Buddy-Blogs;• Play-building• Story-telling• Anonymous

(performance) blogging

• shifting perspectives and goals of lifelong blogger

• MOOCs• XPLNs

• Peer Blogging• Private

Journaling• Mentoring• Dialoguing• Coordinating

• Teacher-evaluated and moderated

• Exercises, assignments• Students do not control

or own posts• Skills building• Adjusting

Class Blogs(Cohort)

InstructivistCooperative

Blogs (Seminar)Constructivist

Collaborative Blogs (Blogging

Circle)TransformativeAutonomous Blogs

(Practice Network)

Connectivist

Questions for Lifelong Blogging

• How will I /How do I prefer to participate as a learner in various contexts?

• What skills are needed to manage learning?• What roles will require practice/honing?• Which communities will I become active in?• Which skills, resources, and experts do I want to develop

as a lifelong learner?• How do I become more self-regulated as a lifelong

learner?• How do I measure my own knowledge-building?

What is Knowledge Building?

• Berry-picking• Piling• Weaving• Texturing• Path-finding• Path-making• Sense-making• Path-sharing• Sense-giving

Berry Picking

Berry-Picking

Activities that involve identifying, evaluating and selecting resources; collecting ideas, links, and references; creating annotated bookmarks within Delicious, and adding annotated bookmarks to profile page;

Piling

Piling

Activities that detail decisions for classifying posts using Tags, categorizing posts, adding tags, keywords, and reasons for culling and revising tags; impressions of Tag Clouds of own and others’ blogs;

Jigging

Jigging

Activities that describe personal strategies and experiences while tapping into data streams such as Twitter feeds, network wire feeds, network activity streams, and use of email alerts and RSS feeds;

Weaving

Weaving

Activities that demonstrate summarizing of content, embedding links into posts; adding quotes and citing sources from others’ posts, articles, web sites, podcasts and other multi-media resources

Texturing

Texturing

Activities that explain strategies for tracking switches of narrative tone, voice and register; engages and addresses multiple audiences; provides textual cues such as highlighting, font changes, color-coding, meta-commenting, and layering (multiple revisions, comments interspersed with updated links and content)

Path Finding

Path Finding

Activities that describe activities surrounding searching for, evaluating, identifying and selecting online tools, experts, and resources (hit-miss experiences)

Path-Making

Path-Making

Activities that describe strategies (what works, most promising practices) used for search and collection routines for using search tools/portals; posts that review others’ posts that describe path-making activities

Path-Sharing

Path-sharing

Activities intended to inform and share best practices with others and/or that involve sharing experiences of how they have learned within the network, and mentoring others on skills and knowledge required for path-finding and path-making;

Sense-making

Sense-Making

Activities that engage in self-talk, rehearsals, or pause-points, or involve pulling ideas into coherent frameworks such as schemas and typologies; posts that involve elaboration, evaluation, and analysis of ideas and concepts;

Sense-Giving

Sense-Giving

Activities that involve passing along experiences and summary impressions, or which demonstrate modeling skills, mentoring, reporting, exchanging ideas, and acting as witness and observer and commenter;

QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSIONThank you for listening!