EduBlogs+--+Comparisons+and+Reflection

**EduBlogs**  **Part I - Comparisons**


 * __Asks Challenging Questions And Provides Ideas And Resources About How To Teach And Learn __**


 * Tom March - [] **

This blog provided links to presentation of the speakers at the “It’s Broke –So Let’s fix It” Conference in Sydney. One of the speakers, Charlie Leadbeater, presented challenging questions about how to teach and learn based on his studies from the best and the worst environments around the world. The video contained information from student perspectives. The author interviewed students from around the world and used it in his ideas for creating learning environments. He proposed that small inexpensive distributed technologies may be more effective cost wise and in learning payoff than large expensive ones. He believes that improving learning is essential but not enough for a 21st century educational system.

March provides ideas and examples for using technology to create 1:1 digital learning opportunities. There are many sample web quests and class portals provided on the site.


 * Alan November - [] **

This blog includes links to videos, articles, podcasts, and other blogs related to teaching, learning and technology. I liked the technique of inviting readers to view videos and podcasts and respond to questions. One example is a video from a conference on the topic of moving from a traditional learning environment to an “engaged” learning environment.


 * Kathy Schrock - [] **

Kathy Schrock is an educational technologist. She uses her blog as a forum for sharing her experience with different technologies used as educational tools. She encourages others to post comments about their experiences. She is particularly interested in iPad use and effectiveness in the learning environment.


 * __Student Oriented __**


 * Tom March - [] **

The author’s goal is to help educators help students. I view this as student oriented.


 * Alan November - [] **

The author’s goal is to help educators, technology coordinators and administrators. In the end the goal is to help provide better learning experiences for students.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Kathy Schrock - [] **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">This blog is not student oriented in my opinion.


 * __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Student work posted __**


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Tom March - [] **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Although there are many examples for teachers to use, I did not see any student work.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Alan November - [] **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">There are examples of student work. The Home Reading Clips project has students record themselves reading out loud at home with an iPad. Some of these clips are shown.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Kathy Schrock - [] **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">No student work is posted.


 * __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Provides opportunity for feedback __**


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Tom March - [] **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Readers may reply by email or post responses to ideas presented.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Alan November - [] **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Readers may reply by email or post responses to ideas presented.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Kathy Schrock - [] **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Readers may post comments and email feed back.


 * __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Purpose for blog __**


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Tom March - [] **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Based on the content I reviewed, the author’s purpose is to promote a focus on student learning rather than teaching. In one of the posts he says, “When students pursue questions, search for truth, disagree with common knowledge, or take action that makes the world a better place, they are experiencing the joy of learning.”


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Alan November - [] **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">This blog does not have a clear statement of its objective listed. The content is centered on sharing ideas for teaching and learning success.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Kathy Schrock - [] **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The goal of this blogs seems to be professional development for educators through networking and sharing experiences.


 * __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Are There Different Design Concepts And Ideas That Are Applied To Enhance The Aesthetic Appeal And/Or Readability; Easy Navigation, Categories, Etc; Layout Conducive To More Learning __**


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Tom March - [] **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The author kept the design of this clean and simple. The navigation bar at the top of the page, bread crumbs, and sidebar make it easy to see what is available and how to access it. The use of whitespace and selection of font and font size makes reading easy. When graphics are used, they add to rather that distract from the info presented.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Alan November - [] **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Everything on this page seems to be too small. The font size is too small and the italics style is not conducive to extensive reading. The navigation bar at the top of the page, bread crumbs, and sidebar provide access to the content available. Most of the images are small, but allow the reader to view a larger version by clicking on it.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Kathy Schrock - [] **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">There was not much creativity of design in this blog. It appears to have been created with Google’s blogger tool. The font size and style was suitable for reading. The images used were appropriate and contributed to rather than distract from the content. There was no navigation bar at the top. It was not hard to navigate from the main page to older posts.


 * __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Knowledge level of desired target audience; Knowledge levels have an impact on the content contained the educational blog __**


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Tom March - [] **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The target audience is K-12 educators. I was not familiar with many of the acronyms used in the blog, but this did not have much of an impact on my ability to gain valuable insight and ideas from the content.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Alan November - [] **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">This blog is targeted at for K-12 professionals. Although I am not a K-12 teacher I still find value in some of the content.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Kathy Schrock - [] **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Readers need to have some understanding of the use for some of the tools she discusses or reviews. There are posts targeted at educational technologists, teachers, and parents of students.


 * __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Evidence Of What The Blog Is Going To Accomplish __**


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Tom March - [] **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">A detail history of the accomplishments of the authors and goals of the blog are provided. A decade of history showing the progression of the development of the content is provided.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> **Alan November - [] **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> Responses of readers of the blog demonstrate the impact of the content of the blog on its targeted population.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Kathy Schrock - [] **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The blog is clearly designed to educate and promote sharing of information among users of classroom technologies. She requests user responses in the content of the posts.


 * __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Where Can Digital Information Make An Impact? __**


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Tom March - [] **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The information provided here can make a difference to policymakers, administrators, and classroom teachers.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Alan November - [] **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The information provided here can make a difference to policymakers, administrators, and classroom teachers


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Kathy Schrock - [] **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The blog can have an impact on users of classroom technologies.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%;">**Part II - Reflections** <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Dr. Tony Karrer is CEO/CTO of [|TechEmpower], a [|Los Angeles Web Development] firm, and is considered one of the top technologists in e-Learning. He authors the E-learning Technology blogspot. The layout of the blog is simple. Web page usability guidelines recommend that web pages designed for reading long passages of text be implemented with black text on a white background. This page meets that standard. The font is a bit small but did not hinder my reading. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%;"> === <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The target audience for this blog is Instructional Technology Professionals. The content includes topics such as [|Emerging Asynchronous Conversation Models] and <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> [|Continuing Education and Learning Management Systems]. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">There are no images of student work or activities. The images included are applicable to the content and do not distract from it. Although the content is not geared a specific class subject, topics such as using Forums vs Social Networks might be of interest to any online instructor. === <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">I did not find videos or podcasts, but the content and resource links provided were sufficient. Navigation was not the best I have used, but it was adequate to allow me to find the content I was interested in. The amount of information provided was, in my opinion, just right. The pages did not seem cluttered with unnecessary information. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">II. **A Blog That Needs Work, And Why** <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">I can tell the author’s of this blog is Trey Martindale, but I can’t find any other information about him. Since I have no idea what his background and credentials are, I am not inclined to want to read his opinions. The layout is not bad and the site is searchable. The font and background conform to web design usability standards. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Most of the posts are links to other blogs or websites. There are no videos or podcasts. I am not sure who the target audience is. No student work or activities are included in the content. The resources linked to are very useful, but very diverse in topic. Although the title of the blog is “// Trey Martindale's thoughts on online learning environment,” // <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">I saw topics for e-learning, Writing, and Socializing Doctoral Students. I expected a more clear direction of the content. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%;"> <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">In addition to having scattered topics, the posts to this blog were minimal. There was not enough in them. If the blog is supposed to include the author’s thoughts, there should be more in the posts than links to other authors’ opinions and content. This blog may be useful to someone who is in regular contact with the author and understands its purpose, but it is not a good choice for someone who uses a search engine to find a blog on e-learning. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%;"> __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">References __ <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%;"> Karer, T. (n.d.). //elearning technology//. Retrieved from http://elearningtech.blogspot.com/ <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%;"> Martindale, T. (n.d.). //Tre'ys e-learning//. Retrieved from http://www.teachable.org/blog/ <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), HHS Web Communications and New Media Division. (n.d.). //Usability.gov//. Washington, DC: Retrieved from http://w <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%;">
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">I. A Blog That Works, And Why **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> [] **