Weblogs as Academic Tools: Cases and Cautions Margaret D. Anderson Psychology Department SUNY...

Weblogs as Academic Tools: Cases and Cautions

Margaret D. AndersonPsychology Department

SUNY Cortland

Academic uses

Pedagogy drives technology use

tech appropriate to the task genuine not contrived use integrated into course grading not overly rigid assignments

Weblogs

“weblog” – Jorn Barger – 17 Dec 1997 (Wikipedia)

Series of thematic entries – reverse chronological order

Written by one individual Or thematic, written by many

My academic needs:

Not limited to class enrollment or semester

Customize – insert photos, links, video etc.

Determine security level Very intuitive structure Word limit

LiveJournal

Open source Account levels Multiple languages Tec support Change in template

1 - Traditional course

Weekly journal assignmentsHardcopy – problemsWeb basedNeeds: privacy accountability (date stamp) interactive (post comments) simple

Model 1

One-to-one, Two-way communication, Closed

System

Closed system of personal communication between students and instructor using LiveJournal

CLASS MEMBERS LIVE JOURNAL INTERFACE

INSTRUCTOR

2 - Off site supervision

Student interns Remote sites Site supervisor(s) Faculty supervisor Confidentiality Interactive Ease Attachments

Model 2

Multi-user, Two-way communication, Closed

system

Closed system of communication among student intern, faculty and site supervisor using Live Journal

STUDENT INTERN

FACULTY SUPERVISOR

SITE SUPERVISOR

LIVE JOURNAL

SI SS FS

LJ

3 - Multiple linked courses

Individual posts Determine accessibility Personalize format Interactive

Model 3

Multi-group, Multi-individual, Two-way

communication, Closed System

Closed system of communication among

six linked courses

COR ACOR B

CAP A

CPN A CPN B

CAP B

CPNI / A

COR A I / A

COR B I / A

CAPI / A

PROGRAMCOORDINATOR

4 - Asynchronous course

discussion board as one element of course

Discussion board requirements

Instructor generated question Students respond to question Students respond to peers input Needs:

√ Ease√ Interactive √ Security level – limit to class

members

Discussion software Shareware

Free Easy to structure/maintain No security Local sys op

WebCT Not free Not intuitive Sys op Limited to class members Limited to semester

Model 4a

Multi-group, Two-way Communication, Closed

system

Closed system of communication among class members

CLASS MEMBERS

INSTRUCTOR

LJ TOPIC

Model 4b

Expand system Add other groups (classes)

Closed system of communication among multiple classes

CLASS A

CLASS B CLASS C

INSTRUCTOR

LIVE JOURNAL “ TOPIC”

Open system

Open discussion to “digital community”

Model 5

Multi-user, Two-way Communication, Open

system

Open system of communication including multiple classes

CLASS A

CLASS C

CLASS B

INST.

“TOPIC”

Cautions

Determine pedagogical use Determine logic structure Select software

Thank you!

Questions????

Margaret D. AndersonPsychology Department

SUNY Cortland,NY 13045

andersmd@cortland.edu