September 2005 Archives
After you have studied this chapter you will know what XML is. You will know the difference between XML and HTML. You will also know how to start using XML in your browser and in your applications.
Begin you learning here.
The end of palm OS? Read on ...
Co-authors:
TAN Yuh Huann, OW Eu Gene John, Jeanne Marie HO Pau Yuen
Introduction
This paper provides an overview of weblogs. The first section presents some definitions and key features of weblogs and the ease of creating and maintaining weblogs. The second section presents the potential of using blogs for educational purpose, as well as some issues and concerns.
The definition of blogs
Jorn Barger coined the term �weblog� in 1997 (Blood, 2000). A weblog is essentially a web page �logging� hyperlinks to websites which a web-surfer finds interesting. The term weblog was later truncated to �blog� (Merholz, 2002). The terms Weblogs, or blogs, are currently used to refer to online journals (Nardi, Schiano, Gumbrecht, & Swartz, 2004). The Blog Herald reported that over 60 million blogs existed worldwide in May 2005.
Key features of blogs
A defining feature of a blog is the order in which posts are arranged on the site. A blog is primarily a website that is frequently updated with new posts. The posts are arranged in reverse chronological order, with the most recent entry at the top of the blog (Paquet, 2003; Ward, 2004). In addition to this feature, Paquet (2003) described four other characteristics of a blog: personal editorship; hyperlinked post structure ; archival features and free, public access to the content.
Personal authoring of blog posts often utilises text, hyperlinks, pictures and graphics. With the availability of high bandwidth and storage space, blogs may also be populated with posts containing video clips and audio clips. Some blog owners may improve the interactivity of their blogs by utilising the comment feature. The comment feature allows readers to respond to a post by leaving their comments and opinions on the post.
Blogs have very strong archival features. Within blogs, posts are automatically archived and the archived content is searchable and retrievable through the input of keywords using the search function. In the blogosphere, Rich Site Summary (RSS, also known as Really Simple Syndication) feed is another feature available in many blog engines. With a RSS aggregator (e.g. Bloglines from http://www.bloglines.com), readers of a blog can subscribe to the feeds to keep track of new posts in the blog. With RSS, one can obtain updates in multiple blogs without actually visiting the blogs through a web browser.
Figure 1 below is a screenshot showing some common features of a blog.
The ease of creating and maintaining a blog
A blog can be created with 3 or fewer steps in less than 10 minutes. The practice is similar to composing an email. Updating a blog with new posts requires only a few mouse clicks. Owning a blog is made possible with the availability of free or inexpensive weblogging services, such as Pitas, Livejournal and Pyra Labs' Blogger.com. These easy-to-use services have resulted in the fast and astounding growth in the number of blogs. (Paquet, 2003).
After a blogger has updated his/her blog, the blogging platform automatically archives posts and replaces them with the latest content on the front page. This is done without the need for any user intervention.
The potential of blogs for teaching & learning
This section presents the theoretical underpinnings for using blogs for teaching and learning. Some promising results of the use of blogs are highlighted to illustrate the educational benefits that could be brought about by blogging.
Rationale for using blogs in education
Much of the pedagogic use of blogging is grounded in Vygotsky�s theory (Ferdig, 2004). Through social interactions mediated by language (but not restricted to language), edublogs offer students the opportunity to surface their ideas in a social plane. The ability to comment on these ideas enables individuals to participate in social construction of knowledge and meaning making. Scaffolding of the meaning making process carried out through commenting can further enhance learning (find out more about scaffolding in the �Issues and Concerns� section). Blogging then supports the internalisation of knowledge by allowing students to look back at their archived posts and reflect on what they have written and the comments provided by their peers or teacher.
Benefits of using of blogs for teaching and learning
Figure 2 on the next page illustrates the potential of blogs.
The literature suggests that blogging can be used to positively enhance the teaching and learning of language and music. Kennedy (2003) reported on the integration of blogs into English classes in secondary schools and stated that �web publication gives students a real audience to write to and, when optimised, a collaborative environment where they can give and receive feedback, mirroring the way professional writers use a workshop environment to hone their craft�. (as cited in Barlett-Bragg, 2003).
Ward (2004) encouraged his English writing class students to blog and his post-course survey confirmed that his students enjoyed the experience though they had no prior web design experience. His students� English language showed improvements and they were more careful in their writing as a larger audience (inclusive of peers) could view and read their work.
In the teaching of Chinese language, Tan, Teo, Aw & Lim (2004) experimented with blogs for the building of student reading portfolios. Students were asked to post and exchange ideas and reflections on their readings through their personal blogs; these reflections collectively formed a reading portfolio over time. Findings from the post-project survey indicated that students felt their writing improved as blogs allowed them to view how others wrote. The students felt encouraged when they saw the positive comments that were given to their posts. In addition, they discovered that their proficiencies in Hanyu Pinyin had improved as a result of inputting Chinese characters using it.
Chong & Soo (2005) examined the pedagogical efficacies of blogs in undergraduate music education. They found out that blogging allowed learning to extend beyond the classroom and students were encouraged to engage in critical reflection. As evident in the students� posts, blogging also facilitated the exchange of ideas between peers and the process of students analysing their peers� posts.
Helpful pointers to facilitate planning for the use of edublogs
The following list of ideas is adapted from Davis�s post on how edublogs can be used (Davis, 2004):
1. You might like to create a reflective, journal type blog to...
� reflect on your teaching experiences that may include:
o description of what worked for you in the classroom or what didn't work.
o something you learned from another teacher.
o teaching insights you gained from what happened in your classes.
o exploration of important teaching and learning issues.
� share ideas and resources for teaching activities.
2. You might like to start a class blog to...
� provide online readings for your students to read and respond to.
� gather and organise Internet resources for a specific course, providing links to appropriate sites and annotating the links to highlight their relevance.
� post instructions for assignments such as prompts for writing.
� showcase students� work such as art, poetry, and creative stories.
� post photos and comment on class activities.
� communicate with parents.
� link your class with another class somewhere else in the world.
3. You can have your students create their own weblogs to...
� create an ongoing portfolio of samples of their writing.
� write comments, opinions, or questions on daily news items or issues of interest.
� discuss activities they did in class and tell what they think about these activities
� showcase their best writing pieces.
4. You can also ask your class to create a shared weblog to...
� carry out project work in small groups
� showcase products of project-based learning.
� document their progress, findings and answers as they embark on a project, such as WebQuest .
Section 1 of Table 1 describes what a teacher could blog about in his/her professional capacity. This could form part of his/her professional development as the same issue may pose a different meaning at different stages, as a teacher grows with experience. Other teachers reading the blogs can provide insights or tips by providing comments, hopefully creating an informal community.
Sections 2 to 4 describe ways to engage students as bloggers, either to blog individually or to maintain a task specific group blog.
The above list is neither subject specific nor exhaustive, hence more ideas can be generated to suit teachers� teaching and learning context.
Some issues and concerns on the use of blogs for Teaching & Learning
In this section, we will examine some issues and concerns pertinent to the use of edublogs in Singapore�s context.
Inputting of Chinese and Tamil language
For Chinese and Tamil Language teachers, a potential issue that might affect the implementation of edublogs is students� access to computers that are capable of inputting and displaying Chinese and Tamil characters. The availability of Microsoft Windows XP has resolved the need to purchase and install additional software to input Chinese and Tamil. The built-in Window Input Method Editor (IME) allows the input of many languages, including Chinese and Tamil. However, many of the computers at home may not have the IME activated. As such, teachers may need to advise students on the activation steps .
Scaffolding of learning tasks
Blogs serve as another information technology tool that enables learning. However, learning will only be effective if the students are given instructions on how to create a good post, what information to include in a good post, how to give feedback and respond to a feedback given to a post, and so on. These instructions are also known as educational scaffolding (Wood, Bruner & Ross, 1976, cited in Wikipedia). Educational scaffolding may include instructions and guidelines for tasks, problem-solving approaches and work routines. Suggestions put forward by students on their Blogger experience also indicated guidance on tasks could help in forming their thoughts (Luca & McLoughlin, 2005).
Plagiarism
Copying others� work and turning it into one�s own is not new, and the openness of the Internet has made retrieval of solutions and answers a breeze for students (Suarez & Martin, 2001). The problem of plagiarism could possibly plague blog entries. However, Oravec (2003) argued that the availability of blogs to the wider Internet audience could well work against the problem. Students will be able to view each other�s work in the individual blogs, and each student can act as an extra pair of eyes to prevent one another from conveniently copying others� work. Peer pressure may help to reduce the likelihood of plagiarism, as one would not want to copy and be faulted by his peers.
Legal liabilities � copyright, defamation, racism
Teachers may also have to educate students on the legal liabilities for publishing content online. One age-old concern is the infringement of copyrights. In their posts, students may attach pictures, audio files or any other files which may be copyrighted. They can begin their journey of respecting others� intellectual properties by seeking permission from the copyright owners before they post any such materials in their blogs.
Blogging is a means of expressing one�s feelings and emotions but students should also be taught to express themselves responsibly. They should not post information that is hearsay or will hurt others� feeling. This may result in the act of defamation, where someone�s reputation is adversely affected.
In our multi-racial society, students should also cultivate their respect for other races when they blog. They should not post any racist remark that demonstrates discrimination or prejudice against the other ethnic groups.
Anyone who violates the copyright acts or is found guilty of defamation or racism is liable to have legal actions taken against them.
Conclusion
Blogs in education is relatively new in the Singapore context. In the wider social context, blogging has already been readily embraced by the young in Singapore. This phenomena affords educators an opportunity to transfer the ownership (both of the blog and of learning) to students by leveraging the many features of blogs, Teachers should examine their existing processes, and consider how blogs can replace some of their existing practices. The benefits of edublogs can be fully realised only when it is integrated into the teaching and learning practices of the education community.
ANNEX
List of edublogs references/resources websites
1. weblog-ed � the read/write web in the classroom
2. EduBlog Insights - Comments, Reflections and Occasional Brainstorms
3. EduBlog.NET - converging edublogs from a singaporean perspective
List of freely available blog creation/hosting sites
1. Blogger
2. LiveJournal
3. MSN Spaces
REFERENCES
Barger, J. (1999). Weblog resources FAQ. Retrieved Jun 20, 2005, from Robot Wisdom Weblog, http://www.robotwisdom.com/weblogs/
Bartlett-Bragg, A. (2003). Blogging to learn. The Knowledge Tree, Edition Four, 2003. Retrieved February 01, 2005, from http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/knowledgetree/edition04/pdf/Blogging_to_Learn.pdf
Blog Herald (2005). World wide blog count for May: now over 60 million blogs. Retrieved June 01, 2005, from http://www.blogherald.com/2005/05/25/world-wide-blog-count-for-may-now-over-60-million-blogs/
Blood, R. (2000). Weblogs: a history and perspective. Retrieved Apr 18, 2005, from Rebecca's Pocket, http://www.rebeccablood.net/essays/weblog_history.html
Davis, A. (2004). Ways to use weblogs in education. Retrieved June 17, 2005, from http://anvil.gsu.edu/EduBlogInsights/2004/10/05
Downes, S. (2004). Educational blogging. EDUCAUSE Review, 39(5), 14�26. Retrieved February 01, 2005, from http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/erm04/erm0450.asp?bhcp=1
Ferdig, R. E., & Trammell, K. D. (2004). Content delivery in the 'Blogosphere' [Electronic version]. T.H.E. Journal, February 2004. Retrieved February 01, 2005, from http://www.thejournal.com/magazine/vault/articleprintversion.cfm?aid=4677
Luca, J., & McLoughlin, C. (2005). Supporting collaborative learning with blogs. Proceedings of the Ed-Media 2005, Montreal, Canada, June 27-July 2, 3711-3714.
Merholz, P. (2002). Play with your words. Retrieved Jun 20, 2005, from peterme.com, http://www.peterme.com/archives/00000205.html
O�Donnell, M. (2005). Blogging as pedagogic practice: Artefact and ecology. Paper presented at Blogtalk Downunder, Sydney, May 19-22. Retrieved June 01, 2005, from http://incsub.org/blogtalk/?page_id=66
Oravec, J. A. (2003). Blending by blogging: Weblogs in blended learning initiatives. Journal of Educational Media, Vol. 28, Nos. 2�3, October 2003, 225-233.
Paquet, S. (2003). Personal knowledge publishing and its uses in research. Retrieved 29 May, 2003 from http://www.knowledgeboard.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=96934&d=744&h=746&f=745
Soo, W.M. (2004). Strategies for educational blogs. Paper presented at the Educational Research Association Annual Conference, Singapore, November 24-26.
Suarez, J., & Martin, A. (2001). Internet plagiarism: A teacher's combat guide. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education [Online serial], 1 (4). Retrieved July 08, 2005, from http://www.citejournal.org/vol1/iss4/currentpractice/article2.htm
Tan, Y.H., Teo, E.H., Aw, W.L., & Lim, W.Y. (2005). Portfolio building in Chinese language learning using blogs. Paper presented at the BlogTalk Downunder 2005 Conference, Sydney, Australia, May 19-22. Retrieved July 08, 2005, from http:// edublog.net/files/papers/portfolio_building_in_cl_learning_using_blogs.pdf
Ward, J. M. (2004). Blog assisted language learning (BALL): Push button publishing for the pupils [Electronic version]. TEFL Web Journal Vol 3 No 1 2004. Retrieved February 25, 2005, from http://www.teflweb-j.org/v3n1/blog_ward.pdf
Wikipedia (2005). Edublog. Retrieved June 17, 2005, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edublog
Wikipedia (2005). Hanyu Pinyin. Retrieved September 14, 2005, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanyu_Pinyin
Wikipedia (2005). Jerome Bruner. Retrieved July 7, 2005, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome_Bruner
DOWNLOAD
The full PDF version of this paper can be downloaded here.
stumbled upon the word "interoperability" last friday while attending a workshop with guat kheng at 1 marina boulevard. she related the word to eportfolio interoperability, and this morning i saw these 2 related links, what a coincidence!
1. IMS Global Learning Consortium ePortfolio Specification - was created to make ePortfolios interoperable across different systems and institutions.
2. ePplusfest - organised to present the state of the art of ePortfolio technologies and demonstrate and explore the possibilities for interoperability between ePortfolio platforms and other information systems
Teachers' TV in UK has released a video on the weblog experience in West Blatchington Junior School.
Stream and watch it online. [alternate link shared on a Attribution- Educational Purposes - NonCommercial-ShareAlike copyright basis]
Warning to teachers: It's hard to remain unexcited and not wanting to try out blogging for your students after watching this video.
Read this posting, mentioning and linking to a Master Thesis on Blogs! Yes, it's by James Torio and the title of the thesis is as above. Grab the FULL version here.
was preparing the informed consent for project muvocast with john this morning. to blog the 2 urls that we have referenced:
1. Office for Protection from Research Risks - TIPS ON INFORMED CONSENT
Some news/write-ups:
1. Apple will start using Intel (PC) CPUs from 2006
2. A*STAR launched Radio Frequency Tags (RFID) with smaller footprints
Technology wrtte-ups:
1. The Self-healing PC, cover story sharing features of 11 utilities to keep the computer healthy.
2. The Muscle in the Mouse, describing how an Optical mouse works
Some hardware mentioned:
1. Apple's Mighty Mouse, featuring touch- & force-sensitive technologies
2. Palm Vein Authentication by Fujitsu
Some hardware reviewed:
1. Mono Laser All-In-One (print/scan/fax) Printers, 5 models
2. ATI vs nVidia High-End Graphics Cards Comparison, 10 AGP cards, 10 PCI-e x16 cards
3. Dual-Layer DVD Writers - Sony DRU-810A, Imation IMWDVRW16DLI
4. Portable Media Player - Qool QMP-2210RX, NHJ MPM-201
5. DLP Projector - BenQ PB2140
6. Mobile Phones - SonyEricsson K750i, Samsung SGH-E720C
7. Digital SLR camera - Nikon D50
8. Mini DV - Samsung VP D655i
Some software tips:
1. Photo Recovery Tools - Software to recover DELETED items from storage cards (DataRescue PhotoRescue 2.0, PC Inspector Smart Recovery and 3 other software)
Some software reviewed:
1. Internet filter - GuardWare iShield, filters pornographics
The National Interschool Blogging Championship is over after 3 months of competition. Last Friday (9/9), students from the finalist schools have gathered at VJC for the awards ceremony, where the final results were announced and prizes awarded. Here's the report in the press on the event ...
? ?? ?????????????????????�???�???????
?????SuperStar??????????????????????
????????????????????????????
???????????????????????????
??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
??????????????????????�??�??????????????????
????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????�?�?????????
????????
?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
????????????????????�???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????�?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
?????�?�?????????????????????????????????????????????
????????????��???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
???????????
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
??????????????????????????????????????????????????????
????????- 4/9/2005???
Anne Davis's 5th grade students from J. H. House Elementary school in Conyers, Georgia, had created this b[l]ook. Browse through the pages, look at the illustrations as well as the words and get a feel of how these primary school pupils are feeling about blogging.
Especially like the 'V' entry:
Vvideo blogs, voice, viva, venture
nothing ventured, nothing gained!
Hopefully, in the future, our school will have video blogs. Video blogs allow you to show yourself telling the news stories, instead of you just typing them. Until then, we�ll have to voice our opinions as loudly and as clearly as we can while typing. There are also photo blogs and audio blogs. There�s a saying nothing ventured, nothing gained and we believe that. We always try our best. Our group has had a good venture with weblogs and hope we will continue in the future. Until then we say Viva weblogs!
In his series of postings to examine how one can give people blogs, James Farmer mentioned the software pLog which has features that are comparable to MT, but most importantly it is free. Will need to download and explore it further.
today is teachers' day, happy teachers' day to all teachers :-)
this is the first teachers' day away from school, missed the students. yesterday, had 3 met ups with ex-students: (1)had lunch with 凯ç³(03-5n1), glad that she's doing fine with her course which she'll be completing at the end of the year; (2)visited 冰容(04-4e1) at sgh, stayed and chatted with 1+ hours, glad to see that she's recovering, condition has improved much since 1+ week ago. pray that she'll get well soon and discharge from the ward; (3)went to marina south zhenfa live seafood after leaving sgh, about 20 04-4e1s were there. good n glad to see my students still coming together for gatherings. (some of you may be recapping the evening in your blogs, if you are reading this and would like a link, leave me a comment)
2 articles from 04-3e2 arrived in the snail mailbox: (1)can see the trust in singpost service by ç®ç»®ã€ä¹çŽ²ã€è© è–‡ from the still-in-1-piece item that arrvied; (2)a nice little card made by æ–¯æƒ . 2 sms greetings arrived from 丽ç³(04-4e1) n 世玮(03-5n1).
ç¦»æ ¡åŽè¿˜èƒ½å’Œå¦ç”Ÿä¿æŒè”络ã€æ”¶åˆ°ä»–们的ç¥ç¦/挂念，心ä¸æœ‰ä¸€ç§èŽ«å的滋味。相信这是缘分，所以也ç»å¸¸å˜±å’å¦ç”Ÿè¦æƒœç¼˜ã€‚哦，差点忘了，还有æ€ä½³çš„ä¸€åˆ™ç½‘è®°ã€‚ä»¥ä¸Šä¸€åˆ‡çš„ä¸€åˆ‡å‹¾èµ·æ— é™å›žå¿†ï¼Œåœ¨æ¤å†é€ä¸Šä¸€å¥è€è¯ï¼Œ"åŠ æ²¹ï¼åŠ æ²¹ï¼"，尤其是那些就快è¦é¢ä¸´è€ƒè¯•çš„。ä¿æŒè”络 :)
