this work is published under a CC attribution - non commercial - share alike licence
The Post Industrial Media Project is a collaborative teaching and learning research project undertaken by Adrian Miles, Allan Thomas, David Carlin, Glen Donnar, Paul Ritchard, Rachel Wilson and Seth Keen of the RMIT Media program.
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preamble on how and why we use blogs in media
The use of blogs is intended to model network literacy in a significant way, which is why it has historically formed the ‘backbone’ to the stream. Blogs have been regarded as a practice or literacy (or media) in their own right and their use was originally developed over the entire three semesters of the stream. Semester one is only an introduction to the blog. This included basic technical requirements, how to change styles, some design modifications, embedding audio and video via third party services. There was no assumption that the blog would be a ‘blog’ at this point, it was treated more like an online electronic journal. Trackback and/or comments and specific blog qualities were not explored or required. However, it did give students the chance to begin to write publicly, to start to find a ‘voice’ online, to document their learning (and other things) and to begin to build an online identity. Semester two currently concentrates on the use of the blog to document and reflect learning, and to develop a portfolio of audio and/or video works. More complex forms of media embedding are introduced, as well as an introduction to RSS, syndication and subscriptions are introduced. In the past semester three developed more specific theoretical and practical issues around blogging. This would look at blogging as a particular media form, and would require students to begin to think of their blogs as participating more actively within the ‘blogosphere’. At this point comments and/or trackback, blogrolls, blog based comments on other material, blog criticism, tagging, and blog authority would be investigated and modelled.
Beeson, P (2006), “Bringing Blogs into the Classroom”, in Rolls, A (ed.), New Media as an Educational Tool (The Reference Shelf), Vol. 78, No. 2, pp.120-125.
Downing, K, Cheung, H, Wong C & Shin, K (2007), “Thinking about Thinking Online”, in Tsang, P, Kwan, R & Fox, R (eds.), Enhancing learning through Technology, World Scientific: Singapore, p.32 (and metacognition, reflection)
Kop, R (2007), “Blogs and wikis as disruptive technologies: Is it time for a new pedagogy?”, in Osborne, M, Houston, M & Toman, N (eds.), The Pedagogy of Lifelong Learning: Understanding Effective Teaching and Learning in Diverse Contexts, Routledge: London, pp.192-202
Moon, J (2006), Learning Journals: A Handbook for Reflective Practice and Professional Development, Routledge: London, 2nd edn, (learning journals/reflective practice – can be utilised re. blogs)
Richardson, W (2006), Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts: and other powerful web tools for classrooms, Corwin Press: Thousand Oaks, pp.27-34 (and pedagogy); p. 17 (definition), p.29 (and ‘connective writing’), pp.40-42 (classroom uses of), p.49 (and assessment), p.58 (list of good educator’s blogs)