WEBLOG TYPES, USES AND ADVANTAGES
Before stating the benefits and barriers of weblogs in HEIs, it is necessary to comprehend the main characteristics of weblogs. To do so, research has been carried out on the taxonomy of weblogs, which has led to discussing weblog uses (whether for learning or other activities), and finally, to the disclosure of the major advantages that weblogs offer to the aforementioned institutions.
Types In order to understand the functioning of weblogs, the first thing to be done is to address their nature. In this line of thought, literature shows some attempts to classify weblogs in terms of different features. For instance, in the proposed classification is based on two dimensions: style and content.
Regarding style, there are the interactive weblogs and the closed weblogs mostly based on whether the weblog author allows for comments on the weblog. In relation to the content, there are many sorts of weblogs: personal topics, political/social/economic commentaries, information technology, etc.
Uses A weblog keeps records for TQM (Total Quality Management) policies in teaching assessment. The information provided by the analysis of the weblog development may be used by the academic institutions to carry out a SWOT (Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis of the teaching-learning process. Finally, improvement areas can be shown for future deployment
• Faculty members use weblogs to post class announcements, syllabi, assignments, and more in addition to offering students a forum for discussing class topics [8].
• Weblogs can extend conversations and discussions past the school day, linking to resources and relevant materials, inviting parents to participate with their children, and inviting students from other parts to collaborate [19].
Advantages
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• Weblogs makes easier to publish all types of resources (text, images, video, etc.) to the Web when compared to traditional web publishing.
• Weblogs allow instant publishing with just one click: weblogs are easy to create and maintain, as opposed to traditional web pages that are labor-intensive and require at least some web design knowledge (HTML, CSS, JavaScript).
• Weblogs can be updated easily, from anywhere without having to worry about FTP connections, web authoring software, etc.