Blogger

Blogger

=[workshop participants, please enter material here to describe how you could use Blogger in your online or blended course]=

BLOGS can be very useful in education. Some of the suggestion we give to our faculty members, teaching Web-enhanced courses, include: As Journal Reflections, at the end of each unit. To enhance writing skills of students To post work such as results of lab experiments and more.

At Penn State we have our own blogging system and I am currently using blogs with my ESL writing course. I have found them to be a great means to get students to simply write and continue to practice writing. It also creates a less formal setting for writing so students don't feel the same pressure to write correctly as they do in the classroom. In addition, I am able to have them explore topics that I wouldn't normally be able to discuss during our hour and 10 minute class periods twice a week.

Hi! To get us started in this area, Ray is adding material on the reach and influence of the blog, please put your info above this.

Reach and Influence of the Blog
I have published a number of daily blogs in the area of online learning and educational technology since 2000. With more than 25,000 postings, they have developed a following. Without advertising or special search engine optimization, the blogs show very high returns in Google and Bing. One of my longest-running blogs is the Online Learning Update.

For example, if one searches for online learning in Google, you will get a response such as the one below:



You will note that the blog - Online Learning Update - appears as result #3 out of 78,700,000. That is because, in part, the Google algorithm for determining placement of returns includes such blog-friendly factors as: All of these factors are commonly featured in blogs.
 * 1) How recently the web page was updated
 * 2) How many sites link to the web site / how many sites the web site links to (and the quality of those sites)
 * 3) How often the key word appears in the web site

In addition to those who visit the blog via Google searches, there are more than 2,000 RSS subscribers. And the RSS feeds are re-published at many academic sites around the world. Those who visit the blog literally do come from around the world. Here's a ~24 hour snapshop of the location of readers:



Another of my blogs, Educational Technology, also receives a favorable ranking in the search engine Bing:



You will note here that the blog returns as #4 out of 478,000,000 returns.

The importance of this is that each of us can use blogs of our own research interests to extend our reach and influence through the Web. It is possible to use this reach to identify other collaborators for research, establish relationships with other institutions, attract additional students to your program, etc.

The power and reach of the blog is extensive!