The challenge.
January 13, 2006
I recently have been challenged by a couple of my colleagues to identify several “where’s-the-beef” blogs and to identify one non-technical faculty member on campus who is an example of how blogging can impact instruction, research or some other aspect of the community in a positive way. This is not unique and many campuses have already passed through this phase of cautious skepticism when adopting this technology and as will all higher education institutions eventually. I have enough experience to recall that the same types of discussions occurred surrounding word processing at this institution. I personally believe that while blogging is not the be-all-end-all, it is certainly an example of the evolving nature of Internet technology and social interaction and will be around for the foreseeable future. Therefore, challenge accepted.
Suggestions welcomed for examplar academic blogs.
January 13, 2006 at 12:16 pm
Dennis M. might be an interesting case study as he always has good stuff to say.
Away from the academic, but I would think a blog would be a no-brainer for many of the student organizations on campus.
January 13, 2006 at 12:56 pm
Yeah, I’d put my money on Dennis M. having an interesting blog…assuming he’d start one. However, are you looking for a non-technical faculty member that already has a blog or simply one that would be a great candidate?
January 13, 2006 at 1:47 pm
I found this older yet interesting article in the Chronicle of Higher Ed. with links to many faculty blogs
http://chronicle.com/free/v49/i39/39a01401.htm
Also this site will be giving awards to the best education blogs, although they are in the nomination phase, you may want to check back in March 2006.
http://www.eschoolnews.com/blogawards/
January 13, 2006 at 5:29 pm
I’d would of course be curious to know of any PSU faculty member who is blogging. But for the spirit of this challenge, I am looking for someone who would not necessarily be perceived as having significant tech skills, but would benefit greatly from having a blog. Dennis may be perceived as having too strong a tech background.
January 13, 2006 at 7:03 pm
I’d like to see Heiner have a blog. His political and social commentary is something I missfrom when I was a student.
Another potential would be Kate Donahue. She has historically been intrigued with tech in the classroom. Additionally she is doing a major international course/trip this spring. That screams blog to me.
As for existing ones, I’d have to troll a bit for some.
January 13, 2006 at 7:18 pm
Actually, I realized there are already two that I’m aware of.
The Shifted Librarian (casey follows this)
Stephen’s Web about online media in education (jon martin follows this)
Both of those are great.
January 19, 2006 at 10:52 pm
Ok, here are some active faculty out there in the blogosphere…
Barbara Ganley, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT - http://mt.middlebury.edu/middblogs/ganley/bgblogging/
George Siemens - Red River College, Winnipeg, Manitoba -
http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/
http://www.connectivism.ca/blog/
Lanny Arvan - Economist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne
http://guava.cites.uiuc.edu/l-arvan/blog/lannyexport.html
Barbara Sawhill, Languages at Oberlin College
http://languagelabunleashed.edublogs.org/
These are mostly faculty, I’ve got a list of edtech geeks in higher ed as well if you would like them. The OPML file for my blogroll is available at:
http://oz.plymouth.edu/~jemartin/projects/
Right-click and save the link to blogroll.opml, then import into your preferred RSS aggregator.
January 21, 2006 at 8:29 am
Thanks. Those are indeed good sites.