What are Blogs?
Blogs are particularly useful for Assessment, Feedback and Communication.
Blog is a shortened term for ‘web log’. A Blog is a record of frequently posted entries in an online space by an individual or a group. This log of posted entries can be about a particular subject, a record of thoughts and ideas or experiences.
The entries are written with the intention that others will view them. Blogs provide the ability for the reader to interact with the author(s) of the blog by using ‘comments’ to post a response to the blog entries. WordPress is a commonly used external blog site.
Blogs are media-rich spaces and allow students to create and engage with text-based formats, images, video and audio.
Why would I use blogs with my students?
- Enhances critical thinking and communication skills by providing students with a space to publish and share with others.
- Supports reflective writing. With frequent entries posted by students about their thoughts and experiences students create a record and evaluation of their learning journey. The regular reflective writing can aid students in making links and connections between theory and practice.
- For self – assessment, supporting students to identify their strengths and areas for improvement and a commitment to action plans and goals they set themselves.
- Promotes creativity, self – expression and the sharing of ideas in a range of different formats including text, video, images and audio.
- Encourages peer review with the posting of comments by peers in response to blog entries and the development and building on ideas in response to comments made by peers.
- Establishes a network between students by facilitating students supporting, informing and sharing ideas with one another
How do I use blogs with my students?
- The blog tool in Course Resources (Blackboard) can be used to create three types of blogs.
- Module Blog (all students on the module can contribute, adding entries and comments)
- Group Blog (all students within a group can contribute. Non group members can only add comments)
- Individual Blog (Only each individual can add entries to the blog, other members can view and add comments)
- As instructor, you have full control over all blogs in your Course Resources (Blackboard) module and can edit and delete entries in any of the blog types. You can also delete user comments. However you are not able to edit comments.
- You can edit basic properties of a blog topic, including the name, instructions, availability, and other settings. After you designate a blog topic for individuals or the course, you cannot change it to the other.