Marica Ševelj | 3 July 2006

Weblogs as dynamic learning spaces

Distance learning is perceived and experienced by many as a lonely way to learn.

http://elgg.net/dtosh/weblog/398.html

Blogging geyser

This sudden growth was like a geyser: dramatic, unpredictable, and trending vertical. Henning (2005)

Blog…Blogging…

Blogger …Blogosphere…

Post …Weblog…

Weblogger…

http://marica.ako.net.nz

Weblogs are as varied as their maintainers, and they are creating a generation of involved, impassioned citizens and articulate observant human beings.Rebecca Blood (2002)

Six pillars of blogging

1. Publishable

2. Findable

3. Social

4. Viral

5. Syndicatable

6. Linkable

Scoble & Israel (2006)

Patti Digh (2005)

Global audience

… critical thinking skills, writing skills and

information literacy … chance to reflect …

carry on writing about a topic over a sustained period of time,

maybe a lifetime … engage readers and audience in

a sustained conversation … synthesise disparate learning experiences and understand their collective relationship and relevance.

This just seems to me to be closer to the way we learn outside of school, and I see those things sorely lacking anywhere in traditional education. Richardson (2004)

Kolb’s learning cycle

The blogger’s brain

… the learning cycle arises naturally from the structure of the brain.Zull (2002) The art of changing the brain

We learn by both getting information from the outside through our concrete experience and by putting information back to the outside by our actions.

We learn from the outside in, and from the inside out. Zull (2002)

Kolb’s learning cycle revisited

Inside

Outside

Blogging combines the best of solitary reflection and social interaction.Drs Fernette and Brock Eide (2005)

Input-outcome model of reflection (Moon, 2004)

I nputs to reflection Outcomes of/ purposes for reflection

Reflection

There is also the capacity to ‘be reflective’, which seems to be an orientation to the activities of life

rather than a mental process as such.

vs

"A LOT of people spend a lot more than $US3000 a year on their hobbies," James Farmer says, laughing.

His hobby may be better described as a quasi-religious quest: he preaches a gospel of interactive learning.

At his web portal, edublogs.org, teachers and students can set up free blogs using WordPress, an open-source tool.

http://incsub.org/

Five stage blogging process (Bartlett-Bragg, 2003)

Research tool

Their blogs soon developed beyond digital ethnographers’ journals into a hybrid between

a journal, academic publishing, storage

space for links and site

for academic discourse.

Torill Mortensen & Jill Walker (2002)

Challenges (or opportunities)

Blogs are dynamic learning spaces. They can break down the isolation of distance learning through ever-expanding virtual learning communities.