June 2006 - Blogs and Wikis

This issue focuses on the opportunities for learning associated with blogs and wikis. A podcast and linked resources are included in this issue. IT Services is currently researching blogging software and working with Dr. Bill Muirhead on how best to implement a UOIT solution to academic blogging which can provide a safe and “authenticated” environment for using blogs with students. In addition, the UOIT Academic Integrity Committee is meeting to establish policies and recommendations with respect to the use of blogs for academic purposes. As more information becomes available it will be shared with the UOIT academic community.

Podcast - Blogs and Wikis

Featuring: Brian Lam, Emerging Technologies Discoordinator, Office of Learning Technology, The University of British Columbia

Interviewer: Dr. Bill Muirhead, Associate Provost, Teaching and Learning, UOIT

Play it / hear it - MP3 file - 1.9 MB

Exploring the use of blogs as learning spaces in the higher education sector
by Jeremy B. Williams and Joanne Jacobs

'Blogging' - a contraction of the term 'web logging' - is perhaps best described as a form of micro-publishing. Easy to use, from any Internet connection point, blogging has become firmly established as a web based communications tool. The blogging phenomenon has the capacity to engage people in collaborative activity, knowledge sharing, reflection and debate.

http://www.jeremybwilliams.net/AJETpaper.pdf

Using Wikis and Weblogs to Support Reflective Learning in an Introductory Engineering Design Course
by Helen L. Chen, David Cannon, Jonathan Gabrio, Larry Leifer, George Toye, and Tori Bailey

An observation and a pedagogical challenge often found in project-based design courses is that students see what they have produced but they do not see what they have learned. This paper presents preliminary findings from an NSF-sponsored research project which experiments with the use of weblogs and wiki environments, two open source tools, to facilitate student integration and synthesis of learning in Designing the Human Experience, an introductory freshman seminar on design engineering at Stanford University.

http://riee.stevens.edu/fileadmin/riee/pdf/ASEE2005_Paper_Wikis_and_Weblogs.pdf

"The blogs give us a chance to communicate between us and motivate us to write more. When we publish on our blog, people from the entire world can respond by using the comments link. This way, they can ask questions or simply tell us what they like." Downes looks at blogging in the classroom and how learning is enhanced through reflection and interaction.

http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/erm04/erm0450.asp?bhcp=1%20

Other Resources

Educause Resources site - search on blogs and wikis for the latest articles.
http://www.educause.edu/ir/

Brian Lamb's Blog - http://weblogs.elearning.ubc.ca/brian/

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