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E-Learning Through BloggingIntroductionEffective e-learning comprises of the combination of myriad web based tools that assist learners and instructors alike to render the experience more valuable. The latest entry to this list of tools is a blog. Short for weblog, it i Blogging and e-learning Though integrating blogging into e-learning initiatives is still in its infancy, it is taking on the education and training needs of learners and instructors with storm. The classroom applications of blogs enhance interaction, build strong communities, and increase student performance through better comprehension, apart from assisting in receptive learning, directive learning, and guided discovery. Blogging technology as a learning tool is coming of age and the time is ripe for educationists to exploit it in the context of pedagogy. Blogs can be successfully integrated with e-learning if the following points are taken into consideration. Simulate interest Wi Ensure participation Once the learners are faintly acquainted with blogging, encourage their participation in the process by making them develop assignments on the course, develop an individual blog pertaining to a topic on the course, or regularly post comments on blogs maintained by fellow learners. Make it obligatory for students posting comments to respond in a way that will increase the collective knowledge of the blogging community. Comments posted by instructors to entries by students can pave the way for students to post similar responses to blogs of fellow learners. Customize blogs Blogs that cater to a particular course or a particular topic can be customized by adding banners to the homepage. These banners can either be simple text images, or images of the course or department logo or simply an image created by the blog author. Promote blogging without instructor guidance Instructors cannot always actively participate in blogging. In such cases, assign the maintenance of blogs to a small number of learners in the class, while the others post comments, or simply visit them to learn. Keep a classroom account through blogging Encourage students to take up developing, maintaining and managing blogging, without letting it look like a teacher?s newsletter of classroom happenings. Encourage short blog posts that allow a plethora of comments that are more extensive then the original post itself. The instructor can be kept in charge of previewing entries before posting them on the blog and monitor it daily for any snags that might arise. Make it a daily academic journal Promote a classroom blog where the learners are assigned the responsibility of posting material on any subject of choice in rotation. The others can be motivated to post comments and responses to the original posts. Thus, each learner gets a chance to post an entry and a comment alternatively. Then again, each student can be asked to maintain an individual blog where they need to post entries on a daily basis as a journal writing activity. Recount student work through an album Once a course module gets over or a topic is completed, the entries in the blogs maintained by students can be culminated into a collection of the student work. Reports and research that are conducted by students, art work, photographs, or poems and stories can be easily published online to cheer the students up. Use the blog as a community tool Communicating with like minded students was difficult earlier, because of limited communication tools available. Communication was invariably carried out through e mails and managing and maintaining a number of e mail accounts made it all the more difficult. Blogs have made communication easy by subtracting the management of user e-mail accounts. The blog Collaborate through blogging is accessible to all the students at once, monitoring learner activity and aiding discussions is now a cakewalk. Collaboration through blogging has an added advantage over collaboration through internet. While the latter is a synchronous form of collaboration that also requires a large bandwidth, collaboration through blogging is easier because of its asynchronous communication techniques that render it useful across varied time zones. Thus, blogging is more effective than the internet in online research, experiments, projects and simulations, in spite of the internet being bestowed with features such as chat interfaces, instant messengers, discussion boards and videoconferencing. Conclusion Introducing blogging into your e-learning initiative is one of the best ways to render it more effective, but it needs to be done with care nonetheless. Get familiar with the blogging tool yourself before introducing it to learners. For this, get down to the nitty-grittis of maintaining a blogging, pertaining to any subject of liking. Get acquainted with managing users, posting comments and entries etc. Gradually start integrating it into your e-learning initiative and transform it into an effective tool for teaching and learning. Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Viswanath Shankar has been managing and maintaining online learning management system for the past decade and a half in tandem with experts in web development services. A storehouse of knowledge about LMS (Learning Management Systems), he is aware of the impact aicc LMS distance learning can have on the academic as well as corporate learning. He has been working in close co-ordination with organizations offering web design services to develop user friendly distance learning programs. Related Tips and Advices
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