OK, not really mine, since we largely co-create learning blogs, but here are some examples:
(2001ish) I originally put together some scripts to blog in 1999, blithely unaware of what a blog was, to use in an undergraduate class. I wanted two things that discussion boards were not giving me: unstructured discussion and a clear public face. The students performed better when distributing their work publicly, and the students were very positive about the experience.
(2002ish)Started a Moveable Type blog server for graduate students in the program. This worked very well for students in the summer, but not so well the following year, with other instructors. (See, e.g., Lauren Andreacchi.)
(2003ish) The Media Law class was one with about 180 students commenting on blog postings. This was facilitated by using a reputation system, though this doesn’t show up in the archive. The karma system didn’t work, and there were as many students that disliked the blog as liked it. Many students complained that the “conversation” was too often “me too.”
(Now) Launched a new blogserver, based on WordPress. Only two classes are using it this semester, a small Com Theory grad course, with each student having an individual blog, and a mixed grad/undergrad class that looks at social software, with student groups of 3-5 each having a blog. The former has (sorry guys!) worked better than the latter this semester.
I’ve used a course wiki only once, for a graduate seminar. There were some marginal successes there, but students largely contributed only when required to.
Over the next couple of days at the Social Software in the Academy Workshop we’ll be talking about how these new technologies might have to do with higher ed. If you have ideas, let me know.
My Teaching Blogs
OK, not really mine, since we largely co-create learning blogs, but here are some examples:
(2001ish) I originally put together some scripts to blog in 1999, blithely unaware of what a blog was, to use in an undergraduate class. I wanted two things that discussion boards were not giving me: unstructured discussion and a clear public face. The students performed better when distributing their work publicly, and the students were very positive about the experience.
(2002ish)Started a Moveable Type blog server for graduate students in the program. This worked very well for students in the summer, but not so well the following year, with other instructors. (See, e.g., Lauren Andreacchi.)
(2003ish) The Media Law class was one with about 180 students commenting on blog postings. This was facilitated by using a reputation system, though this doesn’t show up in the archive. The karma system didn’t work, and there were as many students that disliked the blog as liked it. Many students complained that the “conversation” was too often “me too.”
(Now) Launched a new blogserver, based on WordPress. Only two classes are using it this semester, a small Com Theory grad course, with each student having an individual blog, and a mixed grad/undergrad class that looks at social software, with student groups of 3-5 each having a blog. The former has (sorry guys!) worked better than the latter this semester.
Some Grad Com Theory blogs:
* Sarah
* Theory.IstheReason
Some Media in the Information Age blogs:
* Best Blog
* Smurf’s Garden
I’ve used a course wiki only once, for a graduate seminar. There were some marginal successes there, but students largely contributed only when required to.
Over the next couple of days at the Social Software in the Academy Workshop we’ll be talking about how these new technologies might have to do with higher ed. If you have ideas, let me know.
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