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Building the Learning Framework: First Thoughts on Edu-Blogging
I am beginning to construct my learning framework for tackling the tasks outlined in the 663 course. I have chosen to investigate edu-blogging. I have my own web-site, webskills.ca, and I aim to specialize in the use of blogs (using WordPress) for blended instruction.
The blog will chronicle my learning journey as I set up and build the edublog from scratch, and describe my impressions and observations when comparing this application at myhosting.ca to the free blogging hosting services at wordpress.org and edublogs.org.
WordPress has both a free public hosting service, available at wordpress.org, as well as an open source application that can supported for virtual domain hosting (the hosting of many sites on one server) with a hosting company. In my case, the company I use is myhosting.com. I also have a wordpress.org blog, so as to compare the service.
There is also a service called edublogs.org, a comparable service to wordpress.org. The significant advantage to edublogs.org is the dynamic learning community that has been built up around the service, with the discussions and articles all supporting the use of blogs for education.
Wordpress.org, on the other hand, is aimed at more technically-oriented, experienced site developers who wish to host their own blog portals, and re-sell blog hosting services to others. Not necessarily educators. But people who want to participate in a web community that supports learning about how to become expert users and administrators of wordpress.
I am currently in the process of re-setting the site, to install the wordpress application. The setup of WordPress onto the server takes a few clicks, and a moment or two, depending on your connection. It took me a moment, and the edublogging site is up and ready for development, at www.webskills.ca/edublog/.
One amazing advantage to using WordPress hosted by a commercial company is that the upgrades to the application are continually upgraded on the server. The technical support has been fabulous whenever I needed it.
Glenn Groulx
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Hi Glenn,
Thanks for this great post that clarifies differences, uses for, and the advantages of use of edublog and wordpress. The post encourages me to follow in your process and pushes postive application of these services and personal development for the sake of education.
I've recently joined ipeace and it is an amazing sight with over 13,000 people and amazing amounts of sharing and information, talent, good will, and hope.
Also I am going to participate in a WiZiQ with Nellie Deutsch about peace education on Dec. 31. There are many many causes out there now and I have joined a charity society to help education women and children in Bangladesh -- thanks to the invitation and energy of Nellie. It is an society that helps teach mothers of children -- therefore families and communities and has a great video of what they are doing to help educate not only in the native language, but in English. It is called the Amarok Society and Randy Fisher with Wikieducator began the site, I believe.
Now that I have graduated from the GDDET of AU, I hope to polish the skills I have and apply them steadily over the next 30 years (that will only make me 89) which is pretty average in my family -- and if I add a few more healthy years, who knows -- that's a lifelong learning pitch and if I develop my own www/lifelonglearning.ca/edublog -- that might be a good start. I don't know if it has been taken yet -- but I'm open to flexibility, adaptation, and learning more.
Jo Ann