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Blogging for Beginners 2007

Syllabus

This six-week EVO2007 workshop (January 15th to February 25th, 2007) aims at introducing English teachers into the world of blogging and its potential for teaching and learning.

If you are a blogging newbie, this is your chance to set up and enhance your first blog, and explore the world of possibilities weblogs provide us with. By the end of the workshop, you will have mastered the basics of blogging (including some tricks to make your blog unique!) and will be ready to effectively integrate this powerful tool into your teaching.

Objectives

By the end of the workshop, workshop participants will have:

created a blog
posted and edited entries
commented on other blogs
tried team blogging (inviting members)
explored options for comment management
investigated possibilities for template personalization
compared different blog hosts
grasped the concept of syndication (RSS)
compared aggregators and other syndication tools
discussed the potential of blogging as a teaching tool in the English lesson and as a tool for professional development

Discussions will take place via a Yahoogroup, and at chat sessions (on Skype, yahoo messenger and Alado). Summaries of all these will be made available through the session wiki, collaboratively constructed during the workshop. This wiki is linked to the group blog and will be kept online for future reference.

Weekly readings and blogs by different ELL teachers and researchers will be recommended for modelling and reflection, and participants will be encouraged to discuss these at the group blog. Additionally, suggestions for readings for extension will be announced.

Synchronous communication: Office hours and live presentations will be held to discuss content and pre-defined topics, provide technical support, build rapport and create a sense of community. Chat logs and recordings of the live sessions will be made available through the session wiki.

Weekly content

Week 1: Getting Started

During the first week of the course, participants will:

exchange introductions and become familiar with the group environments
try tools for synchronous communication to be used during the workshop
answer a survey to determine their previous experience with blogging
add themselves to the group map
visit the group blog
discuss the concept of blog (and distinguish it from "website" and "wiki")

Click here to see the Tasks for Week 1 (incl. suggested readings)

Click here to see Weekly Benchmarks

Click here to see the Threads for week 1

Extension: Blogging for ELT - Different kinds of blog

Week 2: Understanding and Starting a Blog

During this week, participants will:

get to understand blog jargon
enter a comment to the group blog
open an account at Blogger
plan their own blog (defining its purpose and target audience)
choose a theme for their blog
create a database of participants' blogs
explore recommended blogs and reflect upon these models

Extension: Blogging for ELT - Selecting the best bloghost for class blogging

Click here to see the Tasks for Week 2

Click here to see Weekly Benchmarks

Click here to see the Threads for week 2

Week 3: Blogging: off we go!

During this week, participants will:

edit their blog profile
post their first entry to their own (or the group) blog
edit and format their entry
add images and links to their blog entries
explore options for comment moderation and establish their blog settings according to their preferences
familiarise themselves with the basics of syndication
try Feedblitz as a way of keeping track of other participants' blogs.
explore recommended blogs and reflect upon these models

Extension: Posting to a blog - adding an audio or video file

Click here to see the Tasks for Week 3

Click here to see Weekly Benchmarks

Click here to see the Threads for week 3

Week 4: Involving Students in Blogging

During this week, participants will:

identify the steps involved in getting students to blog
study several cases of class blogging and reflect upon what determines the success of such experiences
debate whether teachers should correct students' postings
compare alternative ways to respond to students' postings
consider ways in which teachers can find partners and audiences for their blogging classes

Extension: Successful Class Blogging - Blog pedagogy

Click here to see the Tasks for Week 4

Click here to see Weekly Benchmarks

Week 5: Going Beyond: Make your blog unique

During this week, participants will:

Add files (audio or other types) to their entries
Identify the main areas in blog templates
Learn the basics of HTML so as to get ready to ... personalize their blog templates / ... embed multimedia widgets in their blogs /... embed an aggregator in their blog template

Extension: Useful tips to template customization

Week 6: Rounding Off

During this week participants will:

Discuss the challenges of blog integration into their teaching contexts
Share blogging projects for the year 2007
Ponder over the future of blogging
Assess their own learning
Evaluate the workshop

Extension: The Future of Media