Isn't Reading Blogs as Relevant as Writing them?

It strikes me that the reason for writing a blog which is summed up by the blog category (column b) is not the same as why students or learners read the blog.  Paraphrased from Guthrie, Bennett and McGough  2004, ‘Motivations for reading are internalized, enabling the individual to perform acts such as acquiring knowledge, enjoying aesthetic experiences, performing tasks, and participating in social contexts’. They go onto outline the reasons for reading. 

• Curiosity, as in the desire to learn about a topic
• Aesthetic involvement, as in the enjoyment of experiencing a literary text
• Challenge, as in the orientation to learning complex ideas from text
• Recognition, as in the gratification in receiving a tangible form of reward for success in reading
• Grades, as in favorable evaluations from a teacher

They further propose that ‘motivations for reading also include: social, processes of constructing and sharing meanings in groups; and compliance, adaptation to an external goal or requirement’.  These in particular would appear to hold true within the blogging world. 

 http://www.readingrockets.org/article/260

Core Activity 9.1: Desktop research – Blogs and Blogging

Serial (a)	Blog Category  (b)	Example Site (c)	Notes (d)
1	Reflective Personal	http://grantkellyou.blogspot.com/ http://collinsmh808.blogspot.com/	Reflection often instigated by the need for assessment therefore often institute or assessment driven.  Continued as ‘Habit’ forming.  But many personal Blogs lie dormant.  As intuitional or course derived, continuation after the course is sometimes problematic.
2	Reflection Professional	http://quantumlearningblog.wordpress.com/ http://wedderburn-college.blogspot.com/	Reflection of professional learning.  Possibly assessment driven but often done for Professional level learning. More likely where reflection is seen as a core professional trait and a stepping stone to professional recognition. Evidence to suggest that these reflective blogs (1&2) are less likely to have feedback or response as opposed to below (3).  Can be either personal professional or corporate professional.
3	Intellectual Exchange, Data Mining / Research	http://edtechdev.wordpress.com/2010/03/19/the-digital-natives-digital-immigrants-distinction-is-dead-or-at-least-dying/	Research orientation. Academic musing over concept, thought or approach.  May be used as two way communication tool (debate in public) and often become more forum orientated.  Expert opinion aired for feedback. (Williams and Jacobs, 2004)
4	Signposting / pathway	http://www.downes.ca/ http://sperry20.edublogs.org/ http://www.academicevolution.com/	Assistance to fellow educators, students etc undertaking the same learning journey. (Oravec, 2002????) Range from ‘Evangelical’ to ‘informative’ in perspective. Danger of being viewed as authority on subject where bias is clear. (Corbyn, 2008, Kirkup, 2010)
5	Community Creation & Communication	http://technorati.com/blogging/article/state-of-the-blogosphere-2010-introduction/ http://blog.techsmith.com/edublog/
6	Political persuasion	http://www.educationstate.org/

 I seem to have put the references some where safe!!  Here's some.....     

Brown, S. (2006) ‘The Blogging Spectrum - An alternative classification system for the blogosphere’, blog entry posted 8 August, 2006. Available online:http://modernl.com/article/the-blogging-spectrum

Corbyn, Z. (2008) ‘By the blog: academics tread carefully’, Times Higher Education, 9 October 2008. Available from:http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=403827 (accessed 5 Jan 2011).

Core Activity 8.3: Communicating to an audience (2)

http://support.hopkins.k12.mn.us/podcasts/STP-MartinDougiamas.mp3

·                Sound quality – Professional, Music intro behind, conversational interview between interviewee and presenter.  Good constant sound levels.  Good voice. Presenter voice occasionally sounds computer based.

·                Broadcast quality – Very well constructed, though conversational.  Clearly spoken. Little background noise.

·                Suitability –Conversational approach, provides background to where Moodle came from and why Open Source should be used.  

·                Length – Appropriate, remained interested throughout and I didn’t get bored I did however find myself doing Ironing while listening.  The conversational style made it eay listening.  

·                Interest – Yes.  The podcast covered a variety of issues which were interlinked. It became clear that it was quite dated.

·                Academic quality – Opinion based, however as the interviewee is central to Moodle development it is authoritative.

·                Suggestions for improvement – A guard on the microphone would remove the occasional distraction.  

·                Suggestions for use – This is a ‘why and wherefore’ podcast.  It provides a useful history of Moodle, and the thinking behind it, it isn’t necessarily for enhancing skills.  It is an infomercial for want of a better term. 

Core Activity 8.3: Communicating to an audience

http://sclater.com/pod/podcasting-and-blogging.mp3

·                Sound quality –Adequate, breathy on occasions, good constant sound levels.  Good voice.

·                Broadcast quality –Very well constructed, clearly spoken. Little background noise.

·                Suitability – Very much so, possibly a little low but moves from simple to complex as required. Occasionally goes ‘off piste’ with personal experience. This however adds an additional dimension to the podcast.

·                Length – Appropriate, remained interested throughout and I didn’t get bored.

·                Interest – Yes.  The podcast covered a variety of issues which were interlinked.  Additionally the personal touch was good.

·                Academic quality – A little opinion, supported by academic research. Outlines the pedagogical thinking behind Podcasts and Blogging.

·                Suggestions for improvement – A guard on the microphone would remove the occasional distraction.  

·                Suggestions for use – This is an introduction for Podcasting and Blogging.  It outlines why these have grown in popularity and goes on to explain how to deliver podcasts and blogs to students. It also outlines the issues exposed by podcasting such as quality control of content.  Additionally, it outlines what type of information and learning is most suited to podcasting.  It also points to the possible future uses.  The speaker also discusses Blogging and RSS feeds and the cross over between Blogs and podcasts.  

Inquizitior for Learning

Inquizitior for Learning

Core Activity 7.2 - Professional Learning Situation v's familarity

A bit late as ever, thanks to John Sumpter for the Frame work questions.

A: Situation / Familiar | Learning Task / Familiar

As a teaching assistant with a degree in International Relations and Security my transition to Instructor for the Navy was relatively simple. In comparison, some of my colleagues had no significant teaching experience and didn't know their subjects either. This task/situation was simple, non threatening and achieved with little angst or issue.

B: Situation / Unfamiliar | Learning Task / Familiar

Learning the fundamentals of Action Based Leadership was simple enough.  Until placed under considerable stress achieved through mental and physical exhaustion and placed on Sheep's Tor on Dartmoor at 3am in freezing conditions with team members coming down with Hypothermia. All of a sudden the fundamentals seemed some what abstract.  This was an unusual learning environment but has since served me well.  I failed the task set.  I learned more through non achievement than I ever would have thought possible.  I was left to 'reflect' on that failure for some time to come and eventually completed the same exercise (though not the same task).  This was a  profound event in my Naval career, learning how to bounce back from failure is a Key part of my job when training the future Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of our armed forces.

C: Situation / Familiar | Learning Task / Unfamiliar

Learning the basics of the Moodle VLE was a significant unfamiliar learning task in an envirnment I understood or knew well.  I am competent with a PC and Office tools, but Moodle was a new task entirely.  I neither understood the capabilities of the tool, its inherent issues or what I was attempting to achieve with it.  In this instance I learnt through exploration and inquiry. Significantly I had no real time pressure, I was undertaking R & D to inform the Navy of possible delivery options for the future.  Had I been aiming to achieve a particular Learning objective I believe that this would not have been so comfortable.

D: Situation / Unfamiliar | Learning Task / Unfamiliar

Some tasks in H808 has been similar to instance D.  Learning to use or create Podcasts to achieve particular learning outcomes has been difficult.  Here the unfamiliar is more about the circumstances and criteria than a physical location, place etc. Instance D isn't comfortable for me, though it has been challenging and hopefully I have learnt the correct learning outcome.

“Where / How would you classify the learning you are doing here and now? What is the nature of the risk involved?”

Where H808 has pushed the boundaries thus far is in that instance D has occurred a number of times.  I have found myself reticent to engage and have found reason to wait and let others take the lead. I often read and then re-read the requirement and see what others have done and think that wasn't my understanding of the task.  But as many are 'old hands' at this I have followed their lead.  

“Now consider Clegg's table”

Reflection and the value of, is changed through time.  For initial reflection I would go with Instance A and B.  But the value of being pushed way outside ones comfort zone may make immediate reflection more difficult, but its use over the longer term has considerable value.  This is particularly if the Unfamiliar, though prolonged exposure becomes familiar and the nuance of that environment can be understood.  Here it can have Reflection and benefit value over the longer term.