Weblogs@upei ?

As many are already aware, UPEI now has its own weblogging platform available for all students and fac- ulty (so join up!). Weblogs (blogs) in the university setting, and any setting for that matter, are a valuable way to promote a community and learning atmosphere. How do blogs accomplish that? That's the question I asked when I first began blogging about ten months ago; I am sure many peo- ple just being introduced to blogging are asking the same question. Blogs give everyone an equal voice in an open environment; each person has the opportunity to participate in the discussions that are important to them and their com- munity.

Therein lies the power of using weblogs as a tool for teaching: the students are able to be actively involved in dis- cussion topics that would be impossible in a classroom set- ting due to time and personality constraints. Weblogs@UPEI offers this opportunity to professors and other groups to cre- ate a ‘virtual’ classroom, not as a substitute, but as a further way to add value to the learning experience.

Everything is changing so quickly that it is unreason- able to teach the same material to students every year.

UPEI | Student Union | The Cadre Online

Home » Cormmmunity Posted by Webings@upei on Sat, 10/02/2004 - 17:44

WeblogsGuUPEt Content by Topic _

Popular Entries Bus24la MIS far the information Age News Bus442 Networking, Knowledge, & the

Arts, Entertainment, & Digital Age Need a group created? contact ust

Find or post content by topic, group, or individual. Posts can be anything, the However, much of the same material can still have a rele- Only limitation is your imagination - societies, clubs, courses, personal, community

vance to the class. Weblogs allow the professor to collect events, social calendar, buy-sell-trade,... The list is endless. and keep information from year to year as a resource for the Soon, image upload support will be included, allowing you to share a campus

new students; thus the students of tomorrow will have the photo gallery. Additional features such as posting enhancements and custom tem-

opportunity to build on what has been learned in the past. plates will be unveiled as the system evolves.

In comparison, students can make effective use of weblogs as a way to collect their own resources over time. Resources such as online dictionaries, thesauruses, research and other helpful tools for school and career. Plus, these resources can be easily shared and accessed by other students which creates an environment for exponential growth in learning.

But those uses for weblogs only explain the useful- ness of weblogs in an academic setting. Weblogs are even more important as a tool for personal expression and a way to share content with anyone. As has been happening already, people are sharing their favourite web pages with others on weblogs@upei. Jokes, pictures and music have all been popular content so far. So post whatever you are inter- ested in, because chances are there is someone else in the community who is interested in the same thing as you are.

As I read over this article, I realize that it is only a cursory glance at the use of weblogs@upei in general. So feel free to make comments on this and any other article on your own blogs and at the Cadre online.

Speak Out. Joshua Arsenault

UPEI Cadre Octeber 12, 2004 page 16