Teaching College Science: Blogs and Beyond
This session is moderated by Andrea Novicki and Brian Switek:
The web offers unprecedented opportunities to foster science education. How can we best use these opportunities for college science teaching and learning? Blogging provides opportunities for students and instructors for networking, research and collaboration. We’ll discuss how participants use blogging, and Brian will share his experiences with the benefits of blogging from a student perspective. We’ll also discuss other web opportunities for undergraduate science education, like wikis, twitter, open source materials, social networks, texting, social bookmarking, repositories, mapping tools, and other online tools. Share your experiences and learn what works from others.
Notes from session:
Ideas for using blogs in teaching and learning science:
Group 1: Post notes in blog from library orientations – library resources useful for library sites (from librarian to students)
Resource guide specifically for science students – new materials
Posting videos and multi-media on blogs as resources for students
Encourage students to post to class blog (project based?)
Student comments on class blog posts – class interaction (teacher-student Q&A;) and peer teaching
Using blogs to post info & links very successful
Group 2: Wikis/blackboard to organize class
Student-student communication
Can’t always ensure content when students are sent out to find materials – prefer using trusted resources
Use Blackboard so that limited to students
Group 3: Using blogs to connect class core material to external world
Using headlines/news stories – **impact on biology in everyday life (using BlackboardSakai)
– One instructor: Students can find headlines as an assignment, post information, derive take-home points, pull out 5 headlines, and create concept map, all within closed course wiki
Group 4:
Students blogging notes during course (may need to be filtered and organized). Posting to a blog gives an incentive to edit and review material (http://crowdedheadcozybed.wordpress.com/) – helpful to other students who miss classes
Mining term papers for blog posts – sharing material with other undergraduates that is not readily available otherwise
Personal blog posts may later become relevant to science courses. Link from Blackboard to external posts for background information
Student headlines project (see Group 3 above) not as successful if students are not motivated
Group 5; Field trip blogging – students blog during the trip – telling the story of the trip – video blogging – focus (we have to learn something – record the information on the web for later recollection) –students can see posts made the previous – lots of places are wired now
http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/insider/trips
Accretionary blogging – buildup up a resource on the web over several years – make virtual geology field trips? – helpful in directing people to particular locales on field trips – mine posts for data later? May be more useful as a wiki if it has to be built up
Online lists of material that is accessible to students
Are wikis better for projects that go on year after year? – combined wiki and blog software – Drupal
FERPA – privacy issues – may be required to remove posts/blogs – is it better to have a private blog on Blackboard or public blogs?
Access to blogs/Blackboard for disabled children?
Group 6; OpenScience software and online lab notebooks/field journals
Blogs used in homeschooling – exploring school subjects through blogs – follow the bouncing links (but not too far!) – find videos and multimedia related to topics – critical thinking can happen in the comments sections – exploring the web to find interests – kids respond more readily to online materials – projects every 15 minutes to remain on track (keeping attention while navigating the web)
Group 7; Class size can be a problem – how do you allow equal interaction on the web? – how are blogs better than Blackboard forums? – blog posts can help quiet students to come out of their shell
Group project blogs – keeping track of results (what did/did not work)
Share links among themselves. Competitive interactions – Who can find [x] on the web the fastest?
Group 8; Conversation that extends outside of physical space of the classroom
Creates a space on the web to discuss controversial course topics on the web (evolution)
Long distance learning – can teach students on the web from a variety of locations. Connect students from different universities (and places all over the world) – Blog abroad
Group 9; Summarizing papers on a blog (ResearchBlogging.org fodder)
Get students to read and summarize technical papers – professors can summarize papers for students on blogs
It is important to familiarize students with the primary literature – reach for the more complex material – reading a technical paper is a skill that is important
Labs – put the lab notebooks online (they are already doing it with the hard copies)
Ability for profs to get feedback
Students can do independent research projects – create website presenting scientific topics (science fair contest?)
Add your ideas:
Resources
FERPA