Owing to the reading assignments, I am now able to distinguish the different types of blogs as a teaching tools. According to the BBC webpage, Blogging for ELT we are referred to there are three blogs types for teaching. 1. The Tutor blog, 2. the class blog and 3. the learner blog. The same information is also provided by Aron Cambell in the article Weblogs for Use with ESL Classes.
From my reading of the two articles, it seems the blogs I have used were more of a Tutor blog type because I created them to extend classroom practice and the students did not put input in the blogs. After reading the articles have also got more ideas on why we should be using blogs in our classrooms. I find the guidelines provided particularly very relevant in order to avoid misuse of the tool.
Moderating comments on a blog can be a real concern for teachers both in terms of our students reactions as well as the non targeted audience. The sample actitivies mentioned in Blogging for ELT page seem interesting in particular the international link activity. Indeed blogging can be used to promote cultural exchange between schools from different places.
Personnaly, I believe blogging offers one of the most flexible and affordable asynchronous tools for teachers to manage a class. It's mostly free so far and the teacher can organize different situations of interactions. For novice blog teachers, getting familiar with dashboards (blogger or wordpress) can be a little intimidating for a teacher who is not very familiar with internet tools, but if one goes past creating the first posts, it just becomes routine. This raises the issue the level of computer skills teachers and students need to have in order to effectively engage learning with different blog types. In other words, should the teacher's approach to blogging be solely guided by students' needs? if not, what criteria should teachers take into account to approach blogging as an effective teaching tool?
Dear Abdouse
ReplyDeleteI am really impressed by your blog. You have organised it well .The get up as well as the tag navigation is fine.Your tag cloud is charming.How to add one like this?
You have introduce three types of boggers. The first two are known to me. Again you have wisely categorised the uses of blogs.Blogs are really affordable, user-friendly and useful.All the tools including blogs should be used not only to attract attention but to enhance learning also.
In this matter you have achieved the goal.I appreciate your blogging.
Best
kayyum
Hello Kayyun
ReplyDeleteThanks for your nice and thoughtful comments.
Regarding the Tag cloud, it's the first time I have tried it but if you understand the principle of gadget integration it's as easy as doing two steps finding the gadget or the code, and pasting it to the right place.
Blogger includes a feature which is called gadget. A code that will enable the blogger to display or do certain number for things on the blog. There are some pre-made ones which you can find at the layout Tab at your blog dashboard. If you don't find the gadget you want over there, then you will have to find the piece of code online and integrate it by yourself. For the Tag cloud code here is where I got it: http://i-blogtools.blogspot.com/2011/11/how-to-add-3d-spherical-animated-tag.html
The Next step after you get the code is to find the place in your blog where you are going to paste the code (integration). There are a couple of ways of doing that. One way is to go to the gadget lists.There is placeholder for you to add your own gadget (the piece of code). It's the one which is provided for html or javascript. Normally it should work; if not you will have to access where blogger designers have written the html code of your blog. You can do so by going to TEMPLATE, then EDIT HTML. Once you access the html code area you can past the code of your gadget.
But you should know where to paste code before doing so, if not you can mess your blog. Generally the place where you got the code gives you information about where you should past it. Anyway, There a way to restore your blog to default.
By the way, The Tag cloud I have used is managed by blogumus. The same tag cloud can be acheived by wordle from wordle.net but it's seems it a static one. But Both of the them can be used to teach. They both have advantanges and limitations I believe depending on their use.
Thanks again Kayyun for your comments.
Abdoulaye
Dear Abdouse,
ReplyDeleteAn old Chinese saying goes, "When staying with three of your friends, there must be one to teach you something." It is very true after reading your blog. I was not acutally aware that the Virtual World in EFL teachers is so vast until I attended the class. From the article, I learn blogs are catagorized into three. And you must be one I can consult often.
These days, I have been thinking about for what use I may put a blog into practice in my English teaching. Probably after the class, a new idea will come to me.
As for the templete blogger, I don't have a complete idea about it. I get it from my online course' teacher, Mr. Elliott in University of Oregon.
I feel honored to read your article, and I learn a lot. Thank you.
Chengkuo Yu
Dear Abdouse,
ReplyDeleteI'm new in using blogs.That's why I try to read almost all my friends' blogs in order to get more about blogging. I've found your post very helpful. Your words lead to analyse our work and apply it to future.Thank you.
Regards,
Saodat
Hi Abdouse,
ReplyDeleteYou have created a very nice Blog for the class, and your posts include a lot of useful information.
Regards,
Luis