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THE USE OF WEBLOGS IN HIGHER EDUCATION: BENEFITS AND BARRIERS - Coggle…
THE USE OF WEBLOGS IN HIGHER EDUCATION:
BENEFITS AND BARRIERS
Related Work
A learning log is a tightly focused academic journal that is created as the student becomes knowledgeable on an individually assigned topic
Weblogs are defined as “personal web pages written in chronological diary form and maintained through weblogging software”
Benefits
students can share their results with others
students can
focus on content
students learn about web page creation in an intuitive way
“Blogging has the potential to be a transformational technology for teaching and learning"
Weblog Types
the proposed classification is based on two dimensions:
style
there are the interactive weblogs and the closed weblogs mostly based on whether the weblog author allows for comments on the weblog
Content
there are many sorts
of weblogs: personal topics, political/social/economic commentaries, information technology, etc.
we propose the following classification according to the role (instructor or student) played by the writer of the weblog in the teaching/learning process:
Instructor weblog
Usually contain course management information, general commentary to all students about
their learning progress, etc
Student weblog
A learning diary, created concurrently with the learning experience, and reporting on the learning content as wells as the process
A project weblog, often authored by a team of students, documents the project progress and findings
Weblog Uses
five major motivations for
blogging
*Documenting one’s life
*Providing commentary and opinions
*Expressing deeply felt emotions
*Articulating ideas through writing
*Forming and maintaining community forums
A list of
possible uses is provided in
Improving writing skills
Reading student weblogs for assessment
Sharing resources and ideas
Recording progress and process
Encouraging reflective writing
the following practices relate directly to favouring e-learning practices in HEIs:
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
Faculty members use weblogs to post class announcements syllabi, assignments, and more. in addition to offering students a forum for discussing class topics
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
Advantages
Weblogs are easy to setup and administrate in contrast to other technologies
Weblogs makes easier to publish all types of resources (text, images, video, etc.) to the Web
when compared to traditional web publishing
Weblogs can be updated easily, from anywhere without having to worry about FTP
connections, web authoring software, etc
Benefits
The first and foremost benefit of weblogs in HEIs is their use as e-learning tools. This way, the
teaching-learning process can continue outside the classroom
Weblogs help create connections between students with diverse opinions and interests.
Weblogs’ features (linking, replying, and tracking) make easier sharing knowledge and
information
Different instructors and students from different parts can share a weblog and teach and learn
together
Collaborative weblogs support team work and group learning
Barriers
Instructors may have difficulty in assessing student participation in the weblog
The use of technology- based tools may be another barrier. It can be of a structural nature, for
instance lack of computers, or difficult access to the Internet
Even though most weblogs are hosted in public, free ASPs, learning weblogs should be
hosted in private servers, so that they do not show neither advertisements nor banners
Security concerns
Research shows that there is a direct relationship between the level of disclosure and
the level of trust generated in a weblog, as happens in face-to-face relationships
If that was the case, a weblog with different levels of privacy may contribute to establish
different levels of access to the information
As a final point, people should be
aware of the future effects of the information hosted in a weblog