Guest post by Nicholas Aieta (History):
October is apparently “Connected Educator Month” so it seems appropriate to add to our
Westfield State blog on technology by briefly discussing the use of
blogs in academia. Inspired by Worcester State history professor Tona
Hangen, I returned to
using blogs as a writing platform to discuss my thoughts on books, teaching history, my role as a union representative, and the odd “popular culture” thought or two. I had experimented with blog use in my high school classrooms while teaching in Los Angeles,
and then used a similar setup when I first arrived at Westfield State for my US History survey courses and my American Colonial history class.
I found the tools worked to mixed degree of success
due to an existing online platform used at Westfield State. I migrated
most of the assignments to that location, providing a digital home for
my classes and the basic platform of what
became some online course. At any rate, Pr. Hangen’s blog (see links
below) is an exemplar of academic blogging. The site expertly combines
her teaching, research, and public outreach interests. I have used her
academic blogging as a framework for my own. Below the links to Pr. Hangen’s material, you’ll see a few other links
to materials from other sources on the nature of blogging in the
classroom and academia in general. Happy experimenting!
Tona Hangen @Worchester State introduces readers to her work and here is a specific example of how Pr. Hangen uses the blog to map out how assignments function in her class. Digital Worcester is a favorite of mine as I went to undergraduate school in Worcester; here Pr. Hangen has helped her students create a digital history project that gets them thinking about the history of the personal and preserves the heritage of an urban, industrial New England region.
More ideas and links:
Tona Hangen @Worchester State introduces readers to her work and here is a specific example of how Pr. Hangen uses the blog to map out how assignments function in her class. Digital Worcester is a favorite of mine as I went to undergraduate school in Worcester; here Pr. Hangen has helped her students create a digital history project that gets them thinking about the history of the personal and preserves the heritage of an urban, industrial New England region.
More ideas and links:
- Using Blogs in the Classroom (U. Michigan).
- Guide for writing Science Blog Posts (U. Michigan, Mind the Science Gap)
- Integrating, Evaluating, and Managing Blogging in the Classroom (ProfHacker)
- Lessons from a First-Time Course Blogger
- Using blogging in academic research
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