I found Johnson's article very enlightening as it gives simple, step-by-step instructions for setting up a course using blogs. Using blogs for writing is really a very good idea for the following reasons: a) Both student and teacher can monitor progress easily (how an assignment develops chronologically based on t's feedback and S's revisions) b) only the teacher has administrative privileges to modify class blogs. c) student cannot edit teacher's feedback on the assignment but can edit the assignment itself d) confidentiality-only the individual student and teacher can view student's individual blog e) the idea of dealing with common mistakes and individual mistakes separately in different blogs f) being able to edit class material when necessary g) as the students will be at the computer, they will be able to use the internet and also word facilities to improve their writing h) messages to and from the teacher will also contribute to the improvement of writing skills, and language proficiency in general i) increased contact will contribute to the relationship btw. T and students

The final frontier--to boldly go where no SFL teacher has gone before.....

[we hope that there are some Star Trek fans out there who appreciate our attempt at a little humour... :)]

Right...this is it. Enough reading, discussing, posting and postulating. It's time to turn words into action.

In fact, we can see that some of you have already dabbled in creating your own blogs (just click on any of the contributors on the left and you'll see the list of blogs that they have created and allowed you to see.)

• As Seval already pointed out (thanks Seval!) the basic nuts and bolts of using Blogger to create blogs for EFL purposes has been given by Johnson.
• Erkan has raised some philosophical issues about the integration of technology into teaching at the IED.
• Nevin, Fatma and Zehra have provided some useful insights into what they think might work and might not work with our students.
• Nilgun has pointed out some positive aspects of using blogs from an MLD perspective.
• Dindy has identified the pitfalls of 'blogvanity' from a quick look at a few of the blogs on the blogroll.
• And Tuncer gets special mention for the first blogger to make a posting in our brainstorming event.

Thanks for these comments and those of everybody we haven't mentioned--Cigdem and I have really enjoyed this first foray into 'blogosphere' with you, and we've learned a lot from you. We hope you have found it useful as well. Pity blogs don't include a polling option, or we would have canvassed your opinion about what you've liked, haven't liked, your suggestions and comments, and whether you think that we should consider running more 'blogshops' for the future. But, if the spirit moves you, we'd be more than happy to receive some constructive criticism, so exercise your rights as contributors and post away!!

The final frontier...

Okay...here goes. Mission Impossible...

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to implement the use of a blog with your class this semester.

• Pedagogically, you can choose any one of the models suggested by Campbell - a tutor, class or learner blog, or a combination of any of the aforementioned.
• Technically, you should:
  • have a complete and updated profile, including a photo.
  • publish at least one image of your own choosing in your blog.
  • share your blog with us by using the "Blog this!" facility.

If at any point in your mission you should be tempted to give up--don't despair...we won't disavow any knowledge of your mission. Together we should be able to overcome any obstacle. And this posting won't self-destruct in five seconds. :)

Coming up in the next few weeks...

We hope we've given you enough of an idea about what blogs are, how you can create them, what you can do with them within our context here at EMU, and why we should even bother using them.

We are really looking forward to sharing our exploits into blogosphere over the next few weeks. We're hopeful that there will be more success stories than otherwise, but we recognize that we're all in uncharted territory. Sharing our successes and our failures will help everyone in the long run, as we can benefit from what works with our students and avoid the things that don't! We've got a really strong group of contributors, and we're really lucky to work in an institution that encourages innovation and has provided a very good infrastructure to facilitate experimentation and development. Blog away!!!

At the end of this final phase of the workshop, we'll issue some certificates of attendance and successful completion. More on that to follow later...

Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants

Another challenge task confronts you -- I was curious about the annoying link in the Blogger bar titled "Blog This" so I used the handy dandy help feature to discover what a wonderful tool this can be...if you add it to you links bar in your browser (of if you have the GOOGLE tool bar installed, you can adjust the options to show the 'Blog this' link in its visible icons) then when you visit a page that you would like to post on your blog, you just click ' Blog this' and the URL is automatically prepared to post in your blog--you have the opportunity to add a comment if you wish. This is a bit like sharing your favourites with the world..or in this case, I'm sharing my fascination with philosophy and technology. Here is the article by Marc Prensky that I refered to earlier. Apparently, you can just highlight the bits of the page you want, and that is what will appear in your posting...for me, I've just given you this description and the link to the HTML version of the paper. It's a bit dated, but still quite original in concept.

A challenge task for you bloggers...send a picture to this blog with a suitable caption. Looking forward to some interesting photos!! This is our trusty Suzuki, daring to go where few others have -- the coast due west of Korucam (Kormakiti) -- I bet you thought the only beaches like this were in the Karpaz!! 

I'm really not very good with mobile technology. I reluctantly bought a mobile phone last year, a cheap second hand Siemens model, and rarely turn it on except when I'm driving home to Karsiyaka from Magosa on a Friday night and Audrey might want me to stop on the way to do some last minute shopping. And I can see it's use for emergencies, but as far as mobile phones go I am definitely a 'digital immigrant' as Marc Prensky put it in his analysis of the divide between 'digital natives' (i.e. our students) and 'digital immigrants' (i.e me!!) Anyway, I'd love to get some help from one of you 'digital natives' -- can you find out if it is possible to post to a blog from a mobile phone? I'd be most interested in posting photos, of course, but I'd also be interested to know if SMS can be posted. And...can you be notified on your mobile that there is a new comment or posting to your blog?

Apologies for broken link

My apologies to anyone who suffered frustration at trying to download the final reading for this week by Johnson on using blogs in a writing class. I wish I could say that it was the fault of the Internet, but no...the fault rests fully on my shoulders. (A tip from me...always check your links after your publish!!!)

Thanks to Nilgun for letting me know about the problem...I've corrected the link in the posting and in the Links section in the sidebar. And, if you don't want to go any further you can download Johnson's Creating a Writing Course Utilizing Class and Student Blogs article here.

And just to make it up, I've added a link to the online Cambridge Dictionary to the sidebar for your online convenience...and it might be something you want to add to your blog sometime. :)

Here is the second step of the SFL blogspace event #2.

It's great to see the comments and feedback about the Campbell reading. Looks like those of us in IED might like to try the Tutor Blog idea, whereas MLD students might be ready for their own learner blogs. Actually, for MLD teachers, the blog has even more advantages as Nilgun points out, in that teachers often only see the students 3 or 4 hours a week, so blogging could be a much better medium to develop a rapport with individual students and classes. The point about saving on spam is a good one--and one wouldn't have to repeat the same message over and over again for students that missed a class.

Perhaps the SFL could consider blogging as part of the IED-MLD continuum...introduce blogs to students in IED so that MLD teachers can build on this experience in their courses???

In fact, if students started to build their own individual blog in IED, it would serve as a permanent 'e-folio' (thanks to Elmaziye for the term and the concept) so that their subsequent teachers in IED and MLD could actually have a convenient history of their development in English--true...we can see their grades in the portal...but test results don't really give the true and personal perspective of a student. The head of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at an MLD meeting once suggested having some kind of portfolio of each student's development in English throughout their academic career. Perhaps a blog could function as this....something to think about...in fact, it might be most gratifying for parents to have the opportunity to see how their children are doing as well. It might be a huge motivational factor to students if they knew that their parents would be popping in to see how they were doing (and what their teacher was saying about them???) And students might actually benefit by seeing how much they themselves have progressed through a reflection on their blog archive.

Blogs and writing....a new twist on an old idea??

Anyway, Steve was offline all day today due to a 10 hour power cut in Karsiyaka, and asked me to get you to move from the general to the specific...in particular, a very practical account of how one teacher used blogs in a writing class. Now it's time to have a look at a specific example of Creating a Writing Course Utilizing Class and Student Blogs by Andrew Johnson.

Again, as we've done with the general blogging concepts of Campbell, keep in mind our own EMU context when you read this. Do you think this approach would work with our students, either in IED or MLD? Could it be adapted, or is there a variant that might work better here. Also, and Seval will be glad to hear this, Johnson actually gives a very detailed step-by-step description of setting up blogs in, you guessed it, http://blogger.com. He gives some pretty useful tips.

Blogvanity in blogosphere

If you have some time after reading Johnson's article, pop along to a TESL 'Bloglog' of EFL teachers, visit a few and see if there are any that you would recommend to us as good example of what to do (or what NOT to do!!!). Post your comments in this blog and check out what others have had to say. Remember, you can add comments to individual postings if you want to.

Coming up next week...

Next week will be our last 'input' session and we'll delve into the features of weblogs, and how we can tailor them to our needs, and the needs of our students. There are almost twenty of us in the workshop, so we'll probably end up with twenty different approaches, but that is really what blogs are all about--individuality and creatively. We could end up starting a blogplode (blog and explode) here.

Hi,

I quite like the idea of learner blogs and tutor blogs. Learner blogs would be useful in especially MLD classes when students do collaborative projects and would promote a sense of ownership and achievement. Learner blogs would also give an idea to the tutor about the needs, interests, and the personality of the students. What's more, great writing practice for the students!! and authentic too! I visited Aaron's tutor blog. Even students he doesn't know write to him. Again, great writing and communication practice.... Helps students to see the teacher as an individual with individual concerns, interests, expectations, etc. Providing class and syllabus information is another great advantage (especially for students who lose their course description handouts in week 2). The tutor can also inform the students about any changes in the syllabus immediately. No need to send 25 e-mails to your students to announce changes or remind them of assignments. Very useful!!

I quite like the word 'blogstorm', which refers to an eruption around a subject or controversy caused by a large amount of activity, information and opinion. Will there also be a 'bloghurricane' or a 'blogtsunami', I wonder.

This "breaking news" item doesn't really belong in this workshop, but thanks to Dindy for sending it to me. It does really show how blogs are becoming commonplace (there is a blog created every 5.8 seconds--although we don't know how many are deleted or inactive.... ;) The politics of blogging is perhaps something the SFL should consider. An institutional policy on blogging might be in order...if anyone from SFL Admin is in the workshop, you might ruminate on this point and perhaps put a proposal together. I do, however, like the 'transparency' of blogosphere, but as professionals we do have to respect certain morals and ethics. Perhaps one of you would like to pursue this in your own blog???

Anyway--fascinating article...if you're having lunch in your office, well worth a read. Thanks Dindy!! Nice to still have you around, if only as a 'virtual' Dindy!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/technology/4278241.stm

Moving on...the second of three blogspace events for this workshop.

A warm welcome to all those that joined us late last week--you can catch up by looking at the postings. As promised, this week we'll start to examine how blogs can be exploited in English language teaching.

Objectives

As indicated in the workshop description, this week you will:

Examine various types of blogs currently being used in an ESL/EFL context to:

• see how colleagues in the field of education are using them, and
• get some ideas for starting our own.

Blogs in EFL classes - some general concepts

Seval already mentioned in one of her postings that she "would really like to know how we can intergrate this into our teaching and use this with our students." So, first let's begin by looking at how Aaron Campbell suggests weblogs can be used in ESL classes.

• Point your browser at: http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Campbell-Weblogs.html.
• When you read Campbell's suggestions, think about our specific context at EMU--which ideas do you think would work well with our students; which do you think wouldn't work. Why?
• Post your reaction to any of Campbell's ideas in this blog. Check the blog to see what other people thought, and if there are any that you strongly agree or disagree with, add a comment.

Coming up later this week in this event...

We'll look in more detail how one teacher, Andrew Johnson, uses class and learner blogs in designing and running a writing course. Then we'll visit a TESL bloglog and visit some real live blogs and report back with any ideas that inspired us.

Here we go...the first of three blogspace events for this workshop.

Objectives

As indicated in the workshop description, this week you will:

• join the group blog as members (and therefore become fully-fledged contributors),
• contribute postings and make comments in our group blog.
• get started with some introductory readings about weblogs,

Okay...let's get started with some basics

1. In fact, through the very process of registering, you have already opened up an account and created your own blog. You then accepted the invitation to be a member and are now fully-fledged contributors to our group blog. Congratulations! You're one-third finished the first blogspace event already!
2. We've already asked you to brainstorm in the blog and share with everyone what you know about blogs and blogging in general, and questions in your mind that you'd like to find answers for. Tuncer, Seval and Nevin have demonstrated how easy it is to accomplish the second objective.
3. Now comes a reading task. You'll read a short article about Weblogs. This should take ten or twenty minutes (depending on how well you skim read from the screen).
4. Skim through this article about weblogs from Wikipedia.com...there is a lot of jargon, so don't get bogged down.
   • Choose one of the postings made by one of your peers giving the questions they have about blogs.
   • Skim through the article and try to find answers for these questions.
   • Post your answers as a comment to your peer's original posting.
5. Languages are dynamic, and English is particularly flexible in its ability to absorb new words and terms.
   • Were there any new terms that you came across in the reading that you haven't seen before?
   • Were there any that you liked or found particularly interesting or amusing?
   • Was there anything you read that you really found surprising or especially interesting?
6. Create a posting listing any of the new words that you think you'd like to remember or use again, and briefly explain why.
   • Mention anything that you read that really surprised or interested you.
     
   • Compare your ideas with those of the other contributors.
     

Coming up next blogspace event.

Next week we'll start to focus on blogs in English language teaching. We'll look at how Aaron Campbell uses weblogs in ESL classes, and his classification of tutor, learner and class weblogs. We'll also see how Andrew Johnson uses class and learner blogs in designing and running a writing course.

Although we're still waiting for a six more members to accept invitations, we thought we would get the ball rolling for the first blogspace event--a brainstorming activity:

Remember, you can only do the following activity if you have accepted the invitation to become a contributor to this blog.

• What do you already know in general about blogs and blogging?
• What questions in general do you have in your mind that you'd like answers for?
  Note: We'll get to more specifics about EFL and blogs in our second event, for now, we'd like you just to share what you know about blogs and blogging in general, and questions in your mind that you'd like to find answers for.
  

Now that you are contributors to this blog, you can sign in at Blogger (click the Blogger logo at the top left of the window) with the username and password your created for your account.

1. When you sign in, you will see your 'dashboard' (AmE for 'control panel') and blogs that you can contribute to. (You'll see that you can create as many blogs as you want...but we'll get to that in our third blog event...but if you're curious like Ozan and Erkan, no harm in trying it out now. :))
2. So, open up the SFLBloggers blog in your dashboard, and under the POSTING tab you'll see three options: "Create, Edit, and Status". Choose "Create" and then put in the title: BE1a: Brainstorming about Blogs.
3. In the text box, write what you already know, and follow this with questions you have about blogs and blogging in general.
4. When you're happy with what you've written, click PUBLISH. (If you've written something and want a bit more time to think, you can click DRAFT. This saves it for you to edit and publish later. However, you can edit a post that you published at any time in the future, or even delete it if you want.)
5. Remember, don't get specific about EFL right now, just think about blogs and blogging in general terms.
   Tip: Sometimes the Internet crashes in the publishing stage. You can lose everything you have written (as Steve's students discovered much to their--and his--chagrin.) So, we recommend that you place your cursor in the text area of what you've written, copy (Use CTRL+A to select everthing, then CTRL+C to copy it to the clipboard) before you press the publish button. If there is a crash, you still have your work in clipboard which you can paste and save, or return to the comment window, paste, and try again.
   

When you're done, have a look at what your colleagues have posted.

DEADLINE:

Friday, 18th Februrary, 08.00. We'll announce the follow-up activity for the brainstorming at that time.

Next week we'll start our second blog event, where we will look at how two teachers use blogs with their EFL classes.

Thanks!

Hi!

Looks like we've got about eleven people registered for the workshop so far. When you register, Cigdem or I will add your e-mail details so that you can become a member of this group blog (we'll be looking at this and other types of blogs in the upcoming blogspace event.) When we do this, you will get an invitation (in blogspace it is not possible to force someone to join--you can only extend an invitation) and it is up to you to decide whether to accept or not. So, if you're getting cold feet now is your chance to escape!! :)

When you accept, your name will be added to the blog page as a Contributor (see the top of the panel to the left.) Your name will be automatically linked to your profile, in which you can include a photo, some personal details, etc. You can also elect to be anonymous, but for the purpose of our blog this isn't an issue.

Anyway, add a comment to this posting if:

a) you have registered and haven't received an invitation, or
b) you have accepted an invitation but your name doesn't appear as a contributor on the blog's home page.

Thanks!

According to my watch, you must be just returning from lunch to attend the afternoon presentations and workshops. I wish I could be there. I particularly wanted to see the "Colour of Words" presentation. Really ground breaking stuff. :) Thanks Edward for putting this together...we'll have to do it again next year!?!?

Anyway, Cigdem and I presume you're reading this because you saw the notice about the 'Blogging' workshop, thanks to Ali and Ed for making this possible. You can see the detailed outline of the workshop in the 1 February posting below.

The cost??? $$$$$

• Well, it's free if you don't value your actual time to take part! ;)
  
• The workshop will span three weeks of input, and then an optional 4 weeks of experimentation for those who want to get their feet wet.
• In terms of input, we don't expect you need to commit much more than about two hours over the course of the three week period. We're teachers like you, with a full load, so we know how precious each minute can be.

So, if you're still reading, we presume that you're still thinking about it. Why not give it a try?

Before you register, you need to get an account at this blog server. Please follow these steps:

Click the "Get your own Blog" at the top right of the window.

1. Follow the three 'easy' steps - start by clicking the CONTINUE arrow.
2. The first step is to create an account. You'll need a user name--this is up to you, but it has to be unique so if you choose a name that already is in use, you'll have to keep trying. Remember to tick the "I agree to the terms" box.
3. Continuing to the second step, you need to give your blog a display name. You can use spaces, upper and lower case, whatever--it doesn't matter. However, when you create the URL for your blog, you need to make this unique and you can't use spaces or certain characters. If you make a mistake, it will ask you to keep trying.
4. Continuing to the third step, you can choose a colour and layout scheme for your blog. Don't worry if you can't make up your mind. Choose one...you can always change it later.
5. That's it for now. You'll be given the opportunity to create your first posting. Go ahead if you want (you can always delete or edit it later). But for now, you need to go back to SFL Bloggers and finish your registration.

In fact, the above task was a bit of test...if you manage to do this with no trouble, this workshop is for you. If not, don't despair. Try it again!

The reason why you need to have an account, is that we can't accept any postings from anyone that doesn't have one. If you want to join the workshop, we need to give you membership rights so you can be a member in this blog, and be able to create your own postings. In order to do this:

1. We need to know your e-mail address, so click on the comment button below.
2. The screen will refresh and you'll end up at the beginning of this posting, so you'll have to scroll to the bottom again (sorry for the verbosity!)
   
3. Now, click "Post a Comment" and you'll see the comment window.
4. Enter your e-mail address here and then click Publish (or "login and publish" if you have logged out of your account).
5. If you follow the instructions you should get a 'Success" message. Don't despair if your comment doesn't appear immediately...it can take some time (remember, we're in Cyprus and time is relative!!) In fact, it can take hours or up to a day sometimes. As long as you get a success message after posting, you can be sure that your comment will appear sooner or later.

When we add you as a member, you will receive an e-mail message giving you instructions to follow to activate your membership. It's really quite easy. We're doing this in part to let you experience the blog from many different angles. You might want to set up a group blog of your own, so it is important for you to see both sides.

Well, enough for now. We're really looking forward to this, with a bit of trepidation we must admit, as running a workshop entirely at a distance in blogosphere is a first for the SFL (and EMU-I believe) and certainly for us. We hope we don't let you down. In fact, we think we will probably learn a lot more from you than you will from us!

Registration will continue for next week, but we will post the first blogspace event to begin sometime during the week beginning Monday, 14th of February. Looking forward to blogging with you then!!

Foreword from the moderators: "Thanks for coming!! Hope you find it useful. We're looking forward to our time together in 'blogspace'. Next time, we hope to be a participant in your own blogspace event!!" Steve Neufeld and Cigdem Tuncergil

Brief Description of this Blogspace Event Steve wanted to run a face-to-face workshop on using blogs, something he experimented with in the fall semester 2004-2005 with his students at the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management. However, since 10 January he's been on doctor's orders to work at home with his leg elevated--no walking, standing or sitting, so he asked Edward if we could offer the workshop as an online event instead, and Ed gave the nod, so here we are. This is the first time we've tried something quite like this, so we're looking forward to your feedback! Now, to be specific, we've put together this blogspace event for us to discuss the issues involved in using blogs in the EMU context. We have two main objectives: You will be expected to take part in the main blogspace as a fully-fledged member, and also create your own. As this medium is new to most of us, we'll be sharing our experiences via the media itself, and learn from each other as we go along. So, in the end, we're hoping all of us will have our personal blogs, perhaps a tutor blog or even a class blog as well. Those of us who become enamoured with blogs might attempt to get our students to create their own learner blogs. Then, at the end of it all, we can compare notes and see where we've succeeded, where we haven't perhaps been so successful, and toss some ideas around for the future.

Target Audience The audience we have in mind is initially forSFL instructors with little or no experience in creating blogs who would like to use this technology for educational purposes, but don't know how to get started. However, oursubject-matter colleagues in the faculties and schools can easily use blogs with their courses. In fact, nowadays in America many professors have their own tutor blogs as a matter of course.

Outline of Activities This blogspace event actually began with the idea to run a face-to-face workshop for the 2005 SFL one-day conference on 11 Feburary. However, due to circumstances beyond anyone's control, Steve was confined to working at home. So, we've put together the following outline of activities that we'll follow for the duration of this event. Each week's plan will be introduced as we progress through the sessions. This shouldn't take more than 1 hour for the first three weeks, and then after that we'll be exploring our own blogs and reporting back whenever we have time.

Week 1 (starting February 14th) Getting Started This week we will: get started with some introductory readings about weblogs, join the group event blog as members, contribute postings and make comments in our group blog.

Week 2 (starting February 21st) Examining some educational weblogs and thinking about the type(s) of weblogs you want to create. We will be examining various types of weblogs currently being used in ESL/EFL and other environments to: see how collegues in the field of education are using them, and get some ideas for starting our own.

Week 3 (starting February 28th)Starting our own individual weblogs by learning about the free tools available to create them. This will be a time to start our own weblogs using a popular and free blog server. We will now begin in earnest to explore how we can exploit weblogs in our EMU context. We'll delve into the features of weblogs, and how we can tailor them to our needs, and the needs of our students.

Week 4-8 (starting March 7th) Creating our own SFL community of bloggers During this time, we will be sharing our weblogs and responding to each others' efforts. We will: reflect on our experience with blogging. consider ways to involve students in our blogging activities. share final comments on the blogspace event..

How we'll communicate during the blogspace event: The entire workshop will be run in blogspace, so we'll be sharing our ideas via discussion postings in our group event blog (http://sflbloggers.blogspot.com) and via shared links to our personal blogs. If needed, we can also arrange to get together via a chat room for a live discussion of any of the topics that come to light.