http://teachable.org/presentations/

Blogs, Wikis, and RSS for Teaching, Learning, and Professional Development

Trey: What are blogs and how do they work? (5 minutes)

• newspaper, newsletter, journal, public forum, external brain, etc.
• dated entries, archived content, and commenting, among others.
• easily publish a sophisticated site with search, archives, formatting. auto-syndication with RSS. images, audio, video.
  • http://teachable.org/blog/ - Trey Martindale
  • http://opencontent.org/blog/ - David Wiley
  • http://www.corante.com/many/ - Many to Many: group blog
  • http://weblogs.elearning.ubc.ca/brian/ - Brian Lamb: Abject Learning
  • http://blogger.com - set up a free blog

David: What is RSS and why is it important? (5 minutes)

• RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a syntax for expressing information in a machine-readable format.
• how it works
• how it is used
• why you should care
  • http://teachable.org/blog/index.php/?feed=rss2
  • http://opencontent.org/blog/feed/

Trey: What is an aggregator, and why should I use one? (5 minutes)

• netnewswire, newsgator, bloglines
• An aggregator is a piece of software (client-based or web-based), that collects, displays, and otherwise manages RSS feeds.
  • http://ranchero.com/netnewswire/ - NetNewsWire, a client aggregator (Mac)
  • http://newsgator.com - Newsgator, a client and web aggregator (Windows)
  • http://bloglines.com - Bloglines, a web-based aggregator

David: RSS in student and instructor interaction and collaboration (5 minutes)

• Blogs and RSS as course announcement / question framework
• Distributed homework platform - completely managed by students / anytime availability for instructor
  • http://chickenarmpits.blogspot.com/2004/10/trust-me.html

Trey: Social bookmarking, del.icio.us and Furl (5 minutes)

• http://del.icio.us/
• http://del.icio.us/martindale
• http://del.icio.us/tag/idt7073
• http://furl.net/
• http://de.lirio.us/rubric
• http://getluky.net/freetag/

David: RSS and research collaboration and professional development (5 minutes)

• staying up-to-date in a fast-moving field (reading journals is just TOO slow)
• scholars with blogs, Downes EduRSS
• getting beyond your institution; adding "blog" to your Google searches
  • http://bloglines.com/public/opencontent/

Trey: blogs, RSS, and AECT (5 minutes)

• divisional use, individual use, officers, board members, Ward as president. Institutional memory.
  • http://aect-members.org/
  • http://www.aect-members.org/dd/blog/
  • http://www.aect-members.org/wcates/
  • http://www.aect-members.org/blogs/blogs.php

David: Technologies related to blogs and rss (5 minutes)

• Podcasting, Screencasting, etc.
  • http://edtechposse.ca/ - Ed Tech Posse Podcasts
  • http://showme.physics.drexel.edu/bradley/DrexelCoAS030-OpenEdBradley.html - Example Screencast

Trey: What are wikis and how do they work? Ex. Wikipedia, wikiquote, my class (5 minutes)

• A wiki is a piece of server-based software that enables the user to edit a web page via the web browser. There are many variations in terms of types of wikis. A common feature is the easy creation of new wiki “pages” by combining words to form a web link to a new document. Most wikis include a basic shorthand so that users can create web documents without needing to know HTML.
• The most well-known and largest example of a wiki is probably Wikipedia—a vast web-based encyclopedia. Wikipedia is being developed and managed by a large group of vigilant contributors from around the globe. There are many other types of wikis.
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
  • http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page
  • http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Main_Page
  • http://teachable.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/IDT7073Fall2005/HomePage

David: Wikis as tools for teaching, collaboration, and project management, your book project (5 minutes)

• wiki as the public-facing email alternative (students put links to their blogs on a wiki rather than email them all to you)
• shared todo lists, built-in date or completion sorting over tables
• writing an academic book using a wiki - distributed spell checking, spam roaches, and new characters
  • http://opencontent.org/wiki/index.php?title=INST_7150_Syllabus_Fall_2005
  • http://opencontent.org/wiki/index.php?title=Conversations_About_Learning_Objects
  • http://oslo.usu.edu/twiki/bin/view/Main/WebHome

Trey: Problems: Security, vandalism, and version control

• Correcting the vandalism is easier than creating it.
• Many wikis can manage logins, LDAP, multi-level permissions and passwords

David: How wikis integrate with RSS and blogs (5 minutes)

• Some wikis are RSS-enabled, so users can receive notifications of page or section modifications.

Trey: Choosing and installing a wiki (5 minutes)

• http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki
• http://pmwiki.org/
• Wiki Products: a comparison
  • http://www.irrodl.org/content/v6.2/technote47.html

Extra Resources

• Seven things you should know about blogs, wikis, social bookmarking, etc.
  • http://www.educause.edu/content.asp?page_id=7495&bhcp=1
• Wiley's open access online course with two weeks of material on blogs
  • http://ocw.usu.edu/Courses/department.2005-01-03.9290525154/course.2005-01-04.2998066821/Course_listing
• Martindale collection of articles on, and examples of blogging
  • http://del.icio.us/martindale/blogging
• Martindale collection of articles on, and examples of wikis
  • http://del.icio.us/martindale/wiki
• Wide Open Spaces: Wikis, Ready or Not
  • http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/erm04/erm0452.asp
• TiddlyWiki
  • http://www.tiddlywiki.com/