Class Blog Research Articles

La web 2.0 al servicio de la comunidad en un programa de español como lengua de herencia en Estados Unidos

Este artículo analiza la utilización de la web 2.0 en un programa de servicio a la comunidad diseñado desde los presupuestos de la pedagogía crítica. El programa, consistente en la organización e impartición de clases extraescolares de español a niños bilingües de herencia hispana de un colegio de enseñanza primaria, fue llevado a cabo por estudiantes de un centro público de enseñanza superior de la costa este de Estados Unidos. Tras una descripción del programa y su contexto, este artículo analiza el uso de un blog de clase y un wiki como canales de comunicación y colaboración, y sus ventajas y desventajas para el programa. Mediante la tecnología, se consiguió fomentar la interacción entre los participantes, se proporcionaron oportunidades para la autorreflexión, se incorporó la expresión escrita como medio de comunicación y se motivó a los estudiantes a desarrollar su competencia digital. Asimismo, la utilización de estas herramientas facilitó el almacenamiento de las interacciones y opiniones de los estudiantes para su posterior análisis. El artículo finaliza con algunas recomendaciones para futuros programas de servicio a la comunidad.

A Study on the Effectiveness of Using a Class Blog in Translator Training

A Study on the Effectiveness of Using a Class Blog in Translator Training

Media representation of the Middle East: constructive student engagement in an online environment

As educators interested in pedagogical uses of technology, we utilize the internet to improve students' knowledge and awareness of the world beyond our own national borders. Web-based technologies offer us resources for our courses and can play an important role in promoting a more active style of learning from our students. Yet when teaching about politically sensitive topics, or regions of the world that are less well known, we inevitably access information that is unfiltered, out-of-context, inaccurate, or biased. This paper will be an exploration of how we taught students to critically engage with each other and with online media sources through a class blog discussing the violence in Gaza during January of 2009. During the two-week project, the students investigated this new media landscape (from blogs to YouTube) increasing their levels of techno-literacy by searching beyond their ‘normal’ sources and by recognizing the political bias present in all online venues. Evidence will show how the students went from passive consumers of networked information to active citizen participants as they expressed their opinions, countered each other's sources, and worked out how to fundamentally disagree without losing civility. The paper will detail the pedagogical practices and challenges to creating online spaces for constructive argumentation about highly volatile issues.

Multimedia blogging in physical education: Effects on student knowledge and ICT self-efficacy

The main idea behind this study was to explore the educational potential of multimedia blogging for academic disciplines such as Physical Education (PE) that are not heavily based on written discourse and where multiple representations are important in learning. A class blog was utilized as a means for PE students to reflect on and showcase their performances of four specific basketball skills, through creating multimedia posts on these skills and receiving comments from their instructors, peers and an external expert. The effectiveness of multimedia blogging was evaluated, in terms of the acquisition of knowledge of the specific basketball skills and the self-efficacy in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), as compared to that of an equivalent multimedia website which lacked the blogging component. Students' responses to the blogging activity were also investigated. The sample were 70 undergraduate PE students who were assigned to two groups, one of which used the class blog (Group A, N = 35) and the other one the website (Group B, N = 35), both for 11 weeks. The study followed a pretest/posttest experimental design, taking before and after measurements of each group through written questionnaires. Participation in the blogging activity did have a positive impact on students' ICT self-efficacy, given that Group A students exhibited significant gains in Internet self-efficacy as well as in multimedia processing and blogging self-efficacy, whereas those of Group B did not. Students' responses to the blogging activity were also positive. However, within both groups no significant increase was found in students' knowledge of the basketball skills. The implications of the findings for higher education and future research are discussed.

TEAM BUILDINGTHROUGH CLASS BLOG

Student's work for a writing class is no longer one submitted for limited readership the teacher and the writer himself as it can be publicly shared online. Posted on a webpage such as blog, it allows more people to access, read, or leave comments. Though it may sound intimidating for some shy students who are likely to keep their writing private, it is less about trespassing the confidential status of a student's work than building the student's self confidence and encouraging them to produce a better composition. It is especially through class blog which is managed by a number of students of the same class. This model proves to be beneficial for the students because not only is their writing read by more audience than their fellow classmates but they can also identify themselves as a team. This paper attempts to describe the previous researches concerning the application of blog in general and what it means by class blog, the model of class blog which has been implemented in this project, and how team work among the classmates is built through class blogs.

Using an L2 blog to enhance learners' participation and sense of community

This article describes the experience of integrating a class blog into an advanced Italian course, in order to provide an out-of-class forum for language practice and for sharing course-related ideas and information. It also reports on an evaluation of the blog's effectiveness, drawing on an analysis of the students' blog contributions and their responses to questionnaires. We argue that blogs can play a significant role in promoting learners' interaction and nurturing a sense of class community. For this to happen, however, careful attention to two key aspects is required: the way in which the use of the blog is integrated into the course content and structure, and the teachers' role in moderating and facilitating blog interaction.

Studios, Mini-lectures, Project Presentations, Class Blog and Wiki: A New Approach to Teaching Web Technologies

An international association advancing the multidisciplinary study of informing systems. Founded in 1998, the Informing Science Institute (ISI) is a global community of academics shaping the future of informing science.

The Use of a Class Blog in an English Grammar Course

The Use of a Class Blog in an English Grammar Course

Media art remix: a tool for social action

This article refers a university course that integrates environmental arts with education and suggests that it serves as a model for educators at all levels using art-making as a tool for social action. Specifically, it describes a media art remix project in which artwork is inspired by an image that an individual responds to strongly, then revises and reflects on the transformation. The project could help any teacher incorporate art into the study of social issues aimed at raising levels of awareness, helping students to think critically, and encouraging responsible action. It utilizes digital tools and educational technology in order to attract broad audiences and extend the social action component. This article describes the steps involved in carrying out the project and suggests methods of raising public awareness and consciousness, such as posting artworks on class blogs and creating art exhibitions for the general public.

The Reflective Writing Class Blog: Using Technology to Promote Reflection and Professional Development

The hidden (informal) curriculum is blamed for its negative effects on students' humanism and professional development. To combat this, educational initiatives employing mentored reflective practice, faculty role-modeling, and feedback have been advocated. Promote reflection on professional development using collaborative, web-based technology. Four-week basic medicine clerkship rotation at an academic institution over a one-year period. Students were asked to contribute two reflective postings to a class web log (blog) during their rotation. They were able to read each other's postings and leave feedback in a comment section. An instructor provided feedback on entries, aimed to stimulate further reflection. Students could choose anonymous names if desired. Ninety-one students wrote 177 posts. One-third of students left feedback comments. The majority of students enjoyed the activity and found the instructor's feedback helpful. Assessment of the posts revealed reflections on experience, heavily concerned with behavior and affect. A minority were not reflective. In some cases, the instructor's feedback stimulated additional reflection. Certain posts provided insight to the hidden curriculum. We have discovered that blogs can promote reflection, uncover elements of the hidden curriculum, and provide opportunities to promote professional development.

Understanding class blogs as a tool for language development

Web 2.0 has allowed for the development of cyber spaces where any computer user can create their own public pages to share knowledge, feelings and thoughts inviting linguistic interactions with people around the globe. This innovation has caught the attention of language practitioners who wish to experiment with blogging to enhance the teaching and learning experience. In 2007 I set up a class blog with my nine pre-intermediate EFL students in a language school in Brazil. This experience gave rise to two central questions: a) did my students see our blog as a learning tool? and b) what was blogging like in other language teaching contexts? To answer the first question I carried out some Exploratory Practice for three months. As for the second question, I designed an online survey which was answered by 16 members of a community of practice called the Webheads. Ultimately I learned that my students saw our blog as a learning tool and that blogs are being used in different ways around the world. This article presents the rationale behind using blogs in language classes, describes my research process and discusses the understanding my students and I have gained from exploring our own practices.

Exploring the field: Empowering voice and identity

This article reports on the findings of a research project (Exploring the Field) carried out with two Year 6 classes during the period of the FIFA World Cup in 2006. Drawing on Elaine Millard’s concept of ‘fusion literacy’ the pupils’ contributions to individual journals and a class blog are analysed. Key findings relate to ways in which the content of the project, which accorded with many of the pupils’ interests, combined powerfully with the communicative channels offered by the journals and blog. This combination gave some pupils new opportunities to find a writing voice and, given the global status of the tournament, raised particular issues about identity.

Guest Editor’s Introduction to Special Theme Issue: Contextualising CALL Locally and Globally

IntroductionThis special theme issue publishes a set of refereed papers from APACALL (http://www.apacall.org/) and the GLoCALL 2007 Conference, which was held at Hanoi University in Hanoi and SEAMEO RETRAC in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam from 2 to 7 November 2007. It presents diverse engagements with computer-assisted language learning (CALL) in local and global contexts. In line with the aims of the GLoCALL conference (http://glocall.org/), particularly, the authors of the papers share their knowledge and experience on how to use computer technology to make language learning more effective and pleasant and how to adapt the technology to develop language teachers' professionalism in CALL.OverviewA total of nine anonymously peer reviewed articles have been selected for inclusion in this issue. The first article, by Peter Gobel, examines English as a foreign language (EFL) students' on-task and off-task behaviour using two intelligent tutoring systems in three CALL classrooms at a Japanese university. Through a study of the frequency and impact of different kinds of off-task behaviour, the author argues that the students' off-task behaviour is strongly correlated with their overall performance and post-test scores.In the second article, Steve Engler, Christopher Hoskins and Sylvan Payne report the results of two pilot projects involving Japanese university students' use of a specific software application supplementing academic readings in English courses. By analysing the students' scores on reading comprehension quizzes and their responses to questionnaires, the authors point out that computer-generated comics are helpful for comprehension of academic readings.Jeong-Bae Son uses the third article to explore Web-based language learning (WBLL) activities including pre-created Web activities, task-based Web activities and teacher-made Web activities. The author describes a language learning Website, which was originally developed for English as a second language (ESL) students at an Australian university, and recommends that the Website, as a supplementary resource, can be integrated into the ESL classroom.The fourth article, by Antonie Alm, looks at the use of authentic video and Internet technologies such as blogs, wikis and YouTube in a German language class at a New Zealand University. The author discusses the benefits of using a German soap opera, a class blog and a class wiki, while reporting that her students were motivated by the use of video and Internet tools and enjoyed the process of producing their own video clips collaboratively.In the fifth article, Mizuho Iinuma and Hiroaki Chiyokura make use of 3 dimensional computer graphics (3DCG) and a geographic information system (GIS) for content-based instruction (CBI) in an EFL course at a Japanese university. Through a post-questionnaire, the authors asked students in the course what they thought about the new technologies. The results of the study indicate that the students enjoyed the course with a feeling of gaining better understanding of Vietnam and 3D technology was highly effective in presenting spatial and visual information.The sixth article, by Zhihong Lu, Xiaohui Huang and Juan Sun, shifts the focus to teachers, with a case study of the teacher's roles in a computer-assisted speaking class in China. …

Weblogs and Literary Response: Socially Situated Identities and Hybrid Social Languages in English Class Blogs

Students engaged in literary response on weblogs they wrote and maintained for an 11th‐grade English class. Three focal students, all members of a “regular” American Literature class in a school that is highly invested in The College Board's Advanced Placement program, forge hybrid social languages from the discourse of formal literary analysis and the discourse of digital writing. In doing so, they position themselves as “serious literature students” by employing tools of literary analysis modeled and expected by English teachers at this school, and as “web‐literate communicators” by playing with language in ways that would not ordinarily be sanctioned as appropriate in English classes. In addition, each student borrows from other intertextual social languages to read class texts in new and unsanctioned ways, sometimes consciously and unconsciously pushing against dominant school culture.

Blogging to Improve Instruction in Differentiated Science Classrooms

THERE IS a shortage of science teachers in the U.S. (1) That is a problem because this country's future could depend on our expertise in science and technology. Fortunately, while there is no magic wand to increase the number of qualified science teachers, there is a way to extend the instructional impact of the teachers we have. And the advantage of this method is that it uses a technology that is popular among students and allows teachers to differentiate their instruction for stuents with diverse needs. Widely available software now makes it easy for teachers to establish class blogs. A blog is a website that contains text, audio, and video postings on a particular subject. In addition, the popularity of such software as iTunes now makes it possible for students to access high-quality instruction from class blogs long after they leave their science classes. While all students may not have Internet connections at home, students can access and download blog files at the community library or in school computer labs or media centers during study periods, after school, and during tutorials. SCIENCE INSTRUCTION IN DIFFERENTIATED CLASSROOMS When thinking about the potential of blogs to increase effective instructional time, it's worthwhile to first consider how science teachers provide high-quality, differentiated science instruction for all students in the classroom. For example, consider Ms. Daniels, a (composite) seventh-grade life science teacher, and three of her students. Ms. Daniels has a master's degree in science education and has been teaching life science for eight years. She stays current in her field and has participated in teacher development projects through the National Science Foundation. Over the past three years she has worked to differentiate instruction for the diverse students she teaches. Ms. Daniels teaches English-language learners (ELL students), students with individualized education programs, and gifted and talented students in her heterogeneous, mainstream science classes of 20 to 24 students. She differentiates instruction to help all students learn high-level science content and develop the academic language skills necessary to effectively communicate science concepts. She builds units and lessons around the enduring (2) that she and her colleagues have established for seventh-grade life science. She explains, Helping students focus on the essential questions provides context for learning and keeps students focused. It also allows students to demonstrate their level of understanding in various ways. Today, Ms. Daniels is teaching about mollusks. Ana, an ELL student who has been in the U.S. for three years; Robert, who reads at a fifth-grade level; and Taylor, who has been identified as gifted and talented, listen as Ms. Daniels describes the characteristics of mollusks and uses PowerPoint slides to display detailed photos of clams and other bivalves. Ms. Daniels speaks clearly as she points to illustrations and related vocabulary. The students take notes in their daily science journals. Every other week, Ms. Daniels holds individual journal conferences that engage students in academic discussions about their work. She wants students to understand that scientists do not work alone. Students learn to discuss concepts using scientific terms and expressions. In these conferences, Ana uses journal notes to practice the language of science. The conferences allow Robert to verbally express understandings he cannot make clear in writing. And they give Taylor the chance to discuss the links on the class blog that allow her to access more advanced content. At the beginning of each school year, Ms. Daniels conducts several lessons focusing on text structure. She uses overheads of pages from the science text to demonstrate to the students where and how they can find key concepts, new vocabulary, and important explanations. …

Email small group peer review revisited

Abstract Attention to email exchanged among a small group of student peers supercedes discussion of networked computer labs and is distinguished from research on collaborative classroom work in general, on online peer tutoring in writing centers, on email communication in online professional writing courses, and on online discourse in general. Email peer response within small groups is different from larger-scale, one-to-many computer-based communication tools (CBCT) on class mailing lists, bulletin boards, blogs, and wikis on the one hand and smaller-scale, one-to-one email exchange between an individual student and a peer tutor on the other hand. The benefits of assignments that require small groups to respond electronically and asynchronously to each other's drafts are analyzed and illustrated: rhetorical/thematic, discursive/environmental, technological, logistical/time management. The practicalities of students’ exchange of drafts, deadlines, and other guidelines are explained and illustrated in typical student email responses and model instructor handouts.