13062

13062

General Session - Conference Presentation Only (20 minutes, no formal paper)

Melissa Venable, OnlineCollege.org, Beaufort, South Carolina, USA, melissa@onlinecollege.org
 * All About Blogs: Universal Tool of the Digital Academic **

So many new technologies, so little time. The availability of an increasing number of applications and devices can leave us all feeling a little overwhelmed and out-of-date. Finding the time and budget necessary to experiment with everything is unrealistic and as soon as new options emerge others are retired or become obsolete. With functionality in mind, blogging platforms provide not only flexibility, but also an easy-to-learn interface for those interested in a range of online learning activities from community building to professional development. This session will introduce a variety of ways in which today's educator, especially those teaching online, can apply blogs as a kind of "multi-tasker" or "Swiss army knife" of educational technology. Examples will be presented including types of assignments that incorporate student blogging and different approaches to using blogs at the course level, as well as use of the format to present a course syllabus, academic portfolio, research results and more. The goals of this session include providing participants with: • A description of the typical features of a blog site and a short list of recommended platforms for getting started, • Examples of the multiple ways in which blogs are currently being used by educators to solve common problems, • Potential pros and cons of an academic blogging initiative from student and instructor perspectives, • Recommendations from the presenter based on her experiences and lessons learned, and • A checklist of the items required to set up a new blog or enhance an existing one. The presenter, an instructional designer and online instructor, has been blogging with WordPress since late 2008 and has been employed as an education writer/blogger since April 2011. Her writing has also been mentioned on sites such as The Savvy Intern and NPR's All Tech Considered, and she has presented blogging topics at a range of conferences including the Sloan Consortium, National Career Development Association, and WordCamp.

All Audiences Social online blogs faculty