BLOGGING

                         😍 Assalamualaikum And Hello Beautiful Girls And Lovely Boys 😍

            Do you have a blog? Have you ever experienced writing a blog? Writing a blog can be in the form of leisure activity or can be served as an academic tool not only for learners but for instructors and educators too. Before I learned the topic about blogging and how blog writing can be used for ELT, I always thought blogging is just writing anything that you like anytime and anywhere. By now, I realized blogging is more than just writing using technologies.

Here, I am going to share to you my thoughts and what I have learned from this topic.

A. What is blog?

                    Before I go deeper to this, let's take a look at the meaning of a blog. Basically, a blog is a website containing a writer's or group of writers' own experience, observations, opinions and and sometimes it have images and links to other websites. A blog is when you updated an online personal journal or some sort like a diary where you read about yourself, your experienced, your thoughts about something or any relevant information. It is a place where you can write anything that you wanted to share with people across different age, religion and region. There is no boundaries when it comes to write a blog. So, let's share your valuable knowledge and thoughts with people across the world.

B. Types of blog.

                 

        I.        Weblog

                     Literally, a weblog is a “log” of the web. It is in the form of a diary style site in which the blogger (the author) links to other web pages. This helps the person finds an interesting things using entries posted in reverse chronological order. Hence, a weblog is a frequently updated website like an online language. It contains pictures, audio, video and text. 

     The targeted people are wide because weblog is open for public. A weblog is easy to set up and maintain. It is all in your fingertips if you have the knowledge and commitment to utilized it well. Example for a weblog is Wordpress and Blogspot. If you want to see a blogspot, feel free to click here.

      II.        Tutor blog

                 Tutor blog is when educators create and run a blog to share information and relevant sources their students. It is run by the teacher of a class. In education, tutors used a blog to share their syllabus materials, course information, guideline of doing assignment, homework and others. Some tutor blogs share about reflections, culture and experiences that are related to the teaching material.

         Educators or teachers should encourage the students to give their comments because it can provide a feedback from the students. If you want to see an example of tutor blog by my madam, feel free to click here.

    III.        Class blog

                 As a teacher who have several classes that need to monitor and teach, the teacher should create a few of class blog. A class blog is a site shared by class members. It can be used as a collaborative discussion space. Thus, class blog is an active learning because teachers are more involved with the learning content whereas teachers act as moderators during this process. Feel free to click here.

    IV.        Learner blog

                 Learner blog is a student who own a blog. As you can see, I am a learner blog who use it to share my thoughts, reflects of what I have learned and also write things that catch my interest. In learner’s blog, it encourage the learners to write frequently. The disadvantage of learner blog is it takes more time and effort of the teachers to implement successfully to their students. Feel free to click here.

C.      Why we use blog for ELT?

                By using blog, it can provide extra reading source to the students. Blog can be seen as an online learner journal because students can easily access to these blogs when they need a guideline or different learning sources. Sometimes, students are shy to ask in the class. Thus, blog helps shy students to come out from their comfort zone and actively participates in the ELT discussion.  

         Another reasons of using blog:

       1. Stimulate out of class discussion: In the blog, we are free to write and stimulate our thinking regarding what we have learnt. We can discuss and share the knowledge and opinions not just in class but outside the classroom.

       2. Process of writing approach: By using learner blog, the learners are being encourage to apply the process of writing approach. With this practice, they can improve their writing skills.

      3. A portfolio of students work: A blog describe about the writer's personality, knowledge and experienced.

       4. Create a sense of community in class: A class blog is an example of how the people can share their comments in a sense of community within their friends in the class.

   5. Building closer relationship: Blog can foster relation between students. It encourage communication not only between students but also between students and teachers. 

     

D.      How teachers can maintain students’ interest in blogging?

                    As a student, sometimes we feel boring and too dry to write a blog. When students did not maintained in writing their blog, the teacher as the facilitator should engage the students’ interest again. Here are the tips for teacher:

                    Teachers should actively actively update their blogs with materials and references that are unavailable in class. I have a few lecturers who always update their lectures notes in their blogs. It is very useful and easy for me to do revision by reading their blogs.

                    Teachers should also encourage students to write their blogs, read and comment on others. Every time I have class for this course, I always appreciate the time given by my lecturer to let us update our blog. I believed that this is one way that can hold not only my interest but also for my friends too. 

E.      Advantages and disadvantages of blogging.

           Advantages of blogging are:

1.     Provide collaborative learning environment and communication skills and other aspects. Blogs create a common goal for participation and help learners like me to develop social skill. I feel like being encouraged to be an author and developed my communication skills in writing and reading while the class activities take place in virtual setting rather than traditional classroom.

2.      Free or inexpensive. Blogging does not required us to buy books to write. The information from the blogs are usually free.

3.      An easy publishing tool for posting information. You can share lots of information and get feedback from the public.

           Disadvantages or the pitfalls of blogging are:

1.       Correction

          It is very difficult for lecturers to use blog for correcting their students.

2.       Unwanted comments

          I have seen that my madam had restricted some comments to certain students in  the  comment section. I have learned that this is to avoid inappropriate comments that may contain some sensitive issues not only to the readers but also to the author too.

3.       Privacy

          Most blogs are public. Anyone can access to the Web which allows them to find,  read and write comments. If privacy is an issue, then I would suggest that you use a  blogging tool that allows different levels of access right. 

That is all for this chapter😎 Do not hesitate to ask me if you have any questions. 

Feel free to give a comment, okay 😉

Wait for my next entry. Until then, be safe and take care people.