blogging in library and information science teaching and learning

Copyright: Sheila Webber, May 2007

Blogging in LIS teaching and learning

Sheila WebberUniversity of Sheffield Department of Information [email protected] 2007


Photo of Sheila taken by Peter Stordy at 11.30, 29 May

Hello!

Me

Me in Second Life


Outline• Blogs in education & for

LIS• Individual blogging• Organisational blogging• Resources

Comment: This the outline of my talk.

I talk about what blogs are good for in education, and specifically for library/information students

I talk about 2 types of blogging

I give examples from my own experience, and give examples from libraries in the UK and North America

“Resources” is simply a list of articles, websites etc. you may find useful.

This PowerPoint can be found athttp://dis.shef.ac.uk/sheila/blogging2007.ppt


Blogs… in general• Good for

– news – things with timelines – that have a beginning and end

(e.g. projects)– developing and presenting ideas

• Not so good – as a reference source (though can still be useful) – as a tutorial– for fostering ongoing discussion on a range of topics

Comment: These are general points that I will be illustrating in the next slides and will return to later


In education, blogs useful forReflecting on

Communicating

Recording

Publishing

Developing

Progress

Projects

Ideas

Assignments

LearningComment: You can combine any of the words on the leftwith any of the wordson the right!


For information & library students

• Librarians and information managers using weblogs as part of job

• Therefore useful for LIS students and practitioners to learn more about– How they work– What they are good for

Comment: I expect Richard Wallis has already talked about the importance of Web 2.0 for librarians


Points made by my students• Blog useful for reflection & recording progress• Blogging dissertation: helps progress and also

could avoid some of loneliness of dissertation process

• Could provide place to interact and share experience about a module e.g. a systems module

Comment: My studentsmade these points onthis blog which I will mention later


Points made by my students: 2• May want to keep blog private• Students don’t want to have to use too many

different tools (blogs, discussion boards etc. etc.) for their studies

• Some people like blogs more than others: can’t assume that students will automatically like them


Note that:

• Students (even 18 year olds) not necessarily familiar with blogs

• Our 1st year undergraduate students: doing more texting, phoning, Instant messaging, using Facebook: see paper cited in next slide

Comment: Sometimes it is assumed that all young people are automatically good at using all Web 2.0 tools and that they will want to use them in study. This is not true.


The next slides give examples from my own teaching experience


My experience: Teaching• Inquiry in Information

Management (1st year Undergraduate module)

Inquiry in Information Management: Staff Team http://inquiry-in-im.group.shef.ac.uk/team/

Staff team blog: teaching team reflected on use of blogs in this module & discussed use of blogs in teaching generally.

Paper at conference in March: Cox, A. et al. (2007) “Blogging to support Inquiry Based Learning.” Paper presented at Shock of the Social conference, Oxford University, March 2007.http://inquiry-in-im.group.shef.ac.uk/team/files/2007/03/shock-paper.pdf

Comment: A blog used by teaching staff

http://inquiry-in-im.group.shef.ac.uk/team/

http://inquiry-in-im.group.shef.ac.uk/team/files/2007/03/shock-paper.pdf





My experience: Teaching• Inquiry in Information

Management (1st year Undergraduate module)

Student blogs: One per student group.

Students had to post about project meetings, project progress and project results

Blog is worth 25% of module mark

Not sure we will use them again next year: group discussion board in Virtual Learning Environment (WebCT) could serve much of this function

Comment: Blogs usedby 1st year students


My experience: Teaching• In 2003 used a blog as a “class website” for 2 classes• I posted lecture notes etc. and used it for announcements

and class exercises• I used tags (e.g. “lecture notes”) so that students could

search and find e.g. all lecture notes• Was useful for alerting students to what is new• Not so useful for

– giving access to course material – having online discussions

• Virtual Learning Environment (e.g. WebCT, Blackboard) better

Sorry! New slideComment: Blogs used by teaching staff and students


My experience: Teaching• Educational Informatics

(Postgraduate module)

Educational Informatics session:http://edu-informatics.livejournal.com/

Used for 4 years (4 sets of students)

I ask students to identify where blogs could be useful in their course

Their views given in previous slide – also can be read on the blog!

Useful to get practice is blogging & to record and exchange ideas

Comment: A blog used by students and teaching staff


The next slides are examples from inside and outside Sheffield University


PhD student at Sheffieldhttp://jin-thoughts.blogspot.com/

Former PhD student of mine – blogged during and after dissertationhttp://invisibleweblog.blogspot.com/

Blogging the PhD

Comment: Some PhD students find this very useful


Educational – reflective journals for a class“Human information behavior” (Rutgers University, USA)http://jennykthelibrarian.blogspot.com/http://dfahl.livejournal.com/

“This will be a record of my thoughts and questions during my journey through the readings for class.”

“Forgive my glee but I am glad to be done all of this work and reading these academic treatises. .”

Note: Screenshots removed before publishing to slideshare


Centre for Inquiry Based Learning in the Arts and Social Sciences: Student bloghttp://jin-thoughts.blogspot.com/

Blogging around an education theme and activity

Comment: A student blog. This blogwon a blogging prize!


To repeat an earlier slide!Blogs… in general

• Good for– news – things with timelines (e.g. projects, particular class activities)– developing and presenting ideas

• Not so good – as a reference source e.g. lecture notes on a class website

(though can still be useful) – as a tutorial– for fostering ongoing discussion on a range of topics


Types of blogging

• Independent blogging (blogging for yourself)• Organisational blogging (blogging as part of the job,

or for an organisation)

• Will describe these 2 types, then return to some of the previous examples

Comment: There aredifferent motives and characteristics for the two types of blog


Independent bloggingBlogging for yourself e.g.

– Record & reflection on what you’ve done

– Enjoyment of writing down thoughts, feelings

– To get practice in content creation & design

– e.g. Blogging the dissertation – e.g. For Continuing

Professional Development Blogging professional (CILIP) Chartershiphttp://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/kwiddows/

Comment: Here I give some benefits and motivations for bloggingindependently


Independent blogging, variant 2Blogging independently, but with an audience at the front

of your mind. Issues are as in the previous slide, plus– Sharing knowledge and news (personal/professional)– May be blogging to help others as much as to amuse yourself– May want to improve professional profile & extend contacts– Some people happy to drift into this kind of blog, if their blog

becomes popular, others want to keep a personal blog private or anonymous


Issues for individual blogging• Would I want my students/ loved one/ future

employer to stumble across this?• Is it part of of work?• Will it take over my life?

Comment: Just some background thoughts!Blogging has taken over my life a bit. I am careful in what I blog, though.


My experience: Information Literacy

• Independent variant 2: Information with personal slant (photos) and an audience in mind

• Aware that people use it as information source, so not too personal

• Blog needs constant feeding• Given me visibility, contacts

Version 1: 2003-2005Technical problems

Version 2: 2005 onwards500+ postings


My experience: Virtual • Blogging as my Second Life avatar

• An amusement for me…. but also

• …turning into a learning diary about using Second Life

http://adventuresofyoshikawa.blogspot.com/

“Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents”


As seen on previous slide - Educational – reflective journals for a class“Human information behavior” (Rutgers University, USA)

Students being forced to do Independent blogging – don’t always come up with results that teachers would want (though this student does, I think!)

Students may not want to be forced to be “creative” or “reflective” or “playful” for the teacher



Organisational blogging

• Part of organisational strategy– To support & create community– To support & manage activities and tasks– To communicate & create relationships with customers– To support educational goals

• Definitely part of someone’s job – though may be carried out by individual bloggers who like blogging

• This is where librarian may be required or encouraged to blog


Our Departmental bloghttp://information-studies.blogspot.com/


Inquiry in Information Management: Staff Team http://inquiry-in-im.group.shef.ac.uk/team/

This blog, shown previously, is also “organisational blogging” (blogging the class): some colleagues enjoyed it more than others!

Comment: In other words, some did not enjoy it much! We also find there are some students who are not keen on blogging.

http://inquiry-in-im.group.shef.ac.uk/team/


Part of a search/teach task in one of my classes (creating a search guide to a database + a blog or Squidoo lens)

Comment: Requiring students to produce an “organisational” type blog


Examples of library blogs


Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) “communities”http://communities.cilip.org.uk/



Knowledge & information sharing – reference desk blogReference at Newman Libraryhttp://referencenewman.blogspot.com/



Community building & exchangehttp://elgg.leeds.ac.uk/



Project bloghttp://epublications.wordpress.com/

Project blog

Project blog has become service blog (at same address)



Project blogBirmingham Reusable Materials Projecthttp://brumproject.blogspot.com/



News for users and opportunity for feedback from usersCharles Sturt Universityhttp://yourlibrarycsu.blogspot.com/



News for users and opportunity for feedback from usersSouthampton Solent Universityhttp://solentlibrarynews.blogspot.com/



News for usershttp://www2.worc.ac.uk/wordpress/

“This blog is one of the places where you can keep up to date with any improvements and notices which will allow you to make better use of us!”



News for users – specific subjecthttp://www.library.ohiou.edu/subjects/businessblog/



Issues for organisations which blog

• Acceptable use & level of monitoring• Balance between personal voice/ corporate

guidelines• Who allowed to see, to post, to comment• Staff: education & buy-in (see MULTA project)• If part of strategy: needs documenting, resourcing &

disaster planning• If educational: is it dealing with students ethically?

Comment: These areissues to be considered by library and information managers


“Staff are now blogging regularly to communicate internally and with the public, and we consider our experiment a success. … Following the change in

software we will need to customize it, create training guides, and begin training the staff on the new

software. It may seem like starting over, but we're past the hurdle of demonstrating the value of internal

blogging.” (Barton & Weismantel, 2006)

Comment: This is a quotation from a librarian


The MULTA staff development project “It has changed the way we do things in our library. We have formed a team to

implement recommendations made as part of the project. We are creating blogs to communicate internally and with our users. We are using wikis for our everyday work. Now the project has finished, participants are voluntarily running

education sessions for their work areas, often on demand from the people who didn't participate. We are looking at XML, APIs and mashups as part of what we do, not strange foreign

acronyms.”Greenhill, K. (2006) What Kathryn said she'd do... 25 October. Murdoch University.

http://multa.murdoch.edu.au/tiki-view_blog_post.php?blogId=3665&postId=3811

Comment: An Australian librarian comments on how following a Web 2.0 project has led to changes in thinking and practice.


Summary• Weblogs are useful in education for certain things• Skill in knowing how and when to use blogs is useful part of

curriculum; students can use them in context of– Marketing– Teaching (information literacy)– Knowledge Management– Reference work

• LIS students can learn by doing (blogging)• Some people just like blogging: exploit their enthusiasm!


Some resources


Articles• Barton, E. and Weismantel, A. (2006) “Ref logs now.”

Library journal, 1 October. http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6373314.html (Discusses blog to support librarians in reference desk enquiry work at Michigan State University)

• Educause. (2007) Blog. Educause. http://www.educause.edu/Blog/645?Parent_ID=645 (list of resources and links)

• Educause. (2005) 7 things you should know about blogs.Educause. http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7006.pdf


Articles 2• HigherEdBlogCon. (2006) April 10: Blogging in libraries.

http://www.higheredblogcon.com/index.php/april-10-blogging-in-libraries/ (Introduction + 3 screencasts or presentations on blogging in libraries)

• Wiebrands, C. (2006) “Creating community: The blog as a networking device.” In: Click06: ALIA 2006 Biennial Conference. http://conferences.alia.org.au/alia2006/Papers/Constance_Wiebrands.pdf


Librarian blogger discussion & posts

• Anjos, J. Biblio-blogosphere: the last 25 hourshttp://last25.janjos.com (Last 25 hours of posts, reverse chronological order)

• British Librarian Bloggers. http://groups.google.com/group/britlibblogs (discussion board)

• Librariesinteract. http://librariesinteract.info/ (blog for Australian librarians, includes blog list)


Library blog wikis• Etches-Johnson, A. (Ed) Blogging libraries wiki.

http://www.blogwithoutalibrary.net/links/index.php?title=Welcome_to_the_Blogging_Libraries_Wiki (wiki with links to lots of library blogs, listed by sector )

• Harper, C. and Watson, K. Libraryblogswikis. http://www.seedwiki.com/wiki/libraryblogswikis (wiki about use of blogs and wikis in Australian libraries, part of a project)

• Hubbard, J. (ed) Liswiki: Weblogs.http://liswiki.org/wiki/Weblogs (wiki with links to librarian and library weblogs, divided into “individual” and “organisational”)


Learning about Library 2.0• Bradley, P. (2007) How to Use Web 2.0 in Your Library.

London: Facet Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85604-607-7• Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County . 23

Things. http://plcmcl2-things.blogspot.com/ (Exercises you can carry out, to discover different tools)

• Five weeks to a social library.http://www.sociallibraries.com/course/ (Online course that happened earlier this year)

• MULTA: Murdoch University Library Thinking Aloudhttp://multa.murdoch.edu.au/tiki-index.php (Australian staff development project)


Photo of Sheila taken by Peter Stordy at 11.30, 29 May

Goodbye!


Sheila Webber [email protected] http://information-literacy.blogspot.com/

http://adventuresofyoshikawa.blogspot.com/

Sheila Yoshikawa

blogging in library and information science teaching and learning

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