Penn State Incorporates Blogging into the Classroom
Faculty and students at Pennsylvania State University are embracing blogs as teaching and learning tools.
The university's Teaching and Learning with Technology organization first launched its Sites at Penn State service in 2012. Since then, numerous classes have switched from notebooks to blogs for student writing reflections.
"One
of the biggest benefits to using blogging in class is that students can
interact with each others' blogs," said Priya Sharma, associate
professor of education, in Penn State News. "Plus, students don't have
to stop at just writing their posts. They can also add other media,
like photos, videos and links to other sources. The options for
creativity and expression are much greater."
Sites at Penn State is powered by the WordPress open-source web publishing platform and hosted by CampusPress.
Students, faculty, and staff can use the service to build their own
websites, blogs and e-portfolios at no charge. CampusPress and the
university's Information Technology Services department jointly manage
and support the service.
Sharma uses blogging in her Emerging Web
Technologies and Learning course, where students blog as a way of
engaging with the course material and then comment on each other's
blogs to help "build shared knowledge." Through the experience, Sharma
said she has discovered that students who tend to be quiet in class are more
willing to express themselves through blogs.
Burt Staniar,
associate professor of equine science, builds class websites on the
platform. He uses the sites "to post text and videos for each week's
lecture," and students use it "to turn in assignments and also take
turns writing posts for the site's blog," according to Penn State News.
Before adopting classroom blogs, Sharma advises faculty to have
a clear goal in mind, to provide students with well-written sample
blogs, and to be prepared for a heavier workload as they read and
comment on student blogs.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].