Research Diary: Blogs and Eportfolios in Higher Education

Online Book Reviews?

Here's a professor who posts online book reviews on his blog -- along with comments about life, art, politics, and liteature.  Crazy?  Well maybe that's wehy he calls himself "madprofessor"!  It's interesting how many professors -- graphophiliacs by nature -- are taking advantage of the virtually unlimited publishing opportninties offered by blogging.

Link: Mad Professor.

Instant Messaging for Improved Teaching?

Many teachers (including this one) start out with a negative reaction to the whole idea of students IM'ing each other in class.  Turns out this also happens a lot in online classes (including my Honors Seminar, no doubt).  But in the presentation Dr. Paul Sparks of Pepperdine University, it became clear that IM -- properly channeled -- could turn into a tremendous learning tool.  Use it for group discussions.  Use it for office hours.  Use it for developing FAQ's.  Even use it for 24/7 student-to-student support networks and socially-oriented online "Happy Hours." The sky is the limit with this one (especially if you believe, according to the latest educational theory, that learning is "socially constructed" through constant interaction with professors and peers).  IM me about it anytime!  Cartoon courtesy of Jerry's Web site http://www.jerryking.com/ and to From Now On http://fno.org

Best MediaBiz Blog by Teenager

Student Journalists to the rescue!

USA Today reports that Brian Stelter, a senior journalism major at Towson University is revolutionizing the news blog scene. At an American Society of Newspaper Editors luncheon, NBC anchor Brian Williams pointed out Stelter to the guests, and explained that Stelter's blog TVNewser on Mediabistro.com is a must-read for anyone in network or cable news. Williams elaborates that TVNewser "is the closest thing to the bible of what's going on in our industry."

http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showclips.cfm?clipid=1700

Blogspam Exploding

Call it The Law of Spam.  It's only a mater of time until any new tecnhology develops the online equivalent of junkmail.  So, alas, we now have to figure out how to filter spam from out blogsites -- new tools being developed to do so! 

This is obviously of special interest to educators -- who can't afford inappropriate interruptions...

Link: MSN Tech & Gadgets.

Webfolio Inspiration

Read a wonderful article  by Rick Dollieslager, Thomas Nelson Community College, VA titled "WebFolios-A Great Alternative to the Traditional Research Paper."  It came to me as an email from On Course Workshops, so I'm not sure how to link the whole article for you here.  Guess I'll have to get busy and summarize, for once, huh?
    

In Flight Blogging

Blogging from the airport is easy now that SFO has a T-Mobile WiFi connection.  I'm in the terminal now waiting for my flight to Taipei to board.  Then on to Bangkok, Laos, China, and so forth.  Can in-flight blogging be far behind?  Gee, I could write about the quality of the airline food and other exciting stuff!

Books Into Blogs: Birding Babylon, A Soldier's Journal from Iraq > Books > Sierra Club

It's becoming increasingly common that online blogs morph into paper books.  Because -- contrary to popular media stereotypes -- many (if not all!) blogs are well-written, engaging, timely, and therefore appealing.  Blogs also seem to travel where ordinary print journalism fears to tread.  Take, for example, the following book by a solidier in Iraq:

Link: Birding Babylon, A Soldier's Journal from Iraq > Books > Sierra Club.

More Blogs = Fewer Meetings?

Foothill student Cassie Dara-Abrams has been participating in the San Jose Tech Museum's "Tech Challenge."  One discovery: more blogs = fewer meetings.  This is a benefit I hope to implement at Foothill College myself someday soon.  I think the potential of blogs to provide quick, cheap, asynchronoous conversations remains one of their most attractive features!  Link: Screeching Beagles' Tech Challenge '06 team blog!!.

TechNation Falling Behind Fast?

Are we falling behind other countries in high-tech.  Seems impossible given the Silicon Valley centered lead we've enjoyed all along.  And yet....in many important areas a new kind of digital divide seems to be growing (with all of America on the wrong side of it).  http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showstoryts.cfm?Articleid=6442

Green Online Degrees?

With all the emphasis on hi-tech it sometimes seems ecology and the environment get lost in the shuffle -- as if such a "loss" were actually even possible on our interdependent, hyper-connected planet.  So it should come as no surprise -- yet does! -- that online degrees now include environmental studies and environmental management topics.  As for the environmental benefits thereof, we can start with no/low commuting.

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/departments/elearning/?article=greendegree&GT1=8235