Medium and Maptia: Blogging Tools for the 21st Century CATESOL Annual Conference 2016 Suzanne Bardasz, MAT, UC Davis Extension, International English and Professionals Program

Outline Introduction and background of blogging Medium and examples Maptia and examples Summary Q&A

Introduction: The use of blogging in the ESL classroom Blogging has been used in ESL writing classrooms as a way for students to practice their writing skills and publish what they wrote to an audience.

Benefits of blogging in the ESL classroom Izquierdo and Reyes (2009) found that blogs have these appealing characteristics: Accessible; easy to use Relevant and interesting Interactive with use of images, video, and content

Connecting with Audience Lee (2010) found that blogging helped students in promoting writing fluency and writing blogs for an audience helped in motivating students to write. Peer feedback on the content cited as an important contributing factor.

Blogging as we know it

Blogging as part of a community Alternative websites have emerged that allow writers to be part of a larger writing community. Allow participants to not only write and share their work, but also to interact with the written text itself, allowing more opportunities for interaction, collaboration, and creativity.

Introduction to “Medium” A platform (https://medium.com) that allows you to read articles and publish stories. Allows you to interact with the stories by highlighting and leaving comments throughout the text. Newspapers, media personalities, and individuals can use this platform; joining a community of writers.

Ways to Use Medium Examine a text and have students think/learn how to provide feedback Follow people, topics, and organizations relevant to one’s writing topic; can help in keeping track of ideas and content Be creative in terms of presenting content and materials; what is the best way to gain the audience’s attention?

Things to Consider When Using Medium Positives Challenges Highly interactive; students like to engage with the text Students found it easy to use; excited to follow others and to be followed by others outside the class Logging in through a link Cannot see all of the annotations and highlights; only “top highlight” shown.

Introduction to “Maptia” Similar to Medium, Maptia (http://maptia.com) is a platform that allows you to read articles and publish stories, but their focus is on photography, especially photographs from around the world.

Ways to use Maptia Learning and exploring a different region of the world; connect it to a reading done in class Picture prompts: describe what they see; use as a starting point for writing Narrative writing (an interesting/favorite trip) Descriptive writing (describe their neighborhood, city/town to others)

Things to consider when using Maptia Positives Challenges Easy to add and adjust photos, as well as to write text Students like the creativity and being able to express themselves. Sometimes challenging and “clunky” to change font size (maneuver the mouse) One design Photo size (minimum 750 pixels) Copyright with photos

Summary The use of various blogging tools can help make composition more exciting and meaningful to students in the classroom. Try to explore different possibilities within your classroom by using unique blogging tools to connect with an outside audience.

References Izquierdo, B. L., & Reyes, L. E. (2009). Effectiveness of blogging to practice reading at a freshman EFL program. Reading Matrix: An International Online Journal, 9(2), Retrieved from http://www.readingmatrix.com/articles/sept_2009/izquierdo_reyes .pdf. Lee, L. (2010). Fostering reflective writing and interactive exchange through blogging in an advanced language course. ReCALL, 22(02), 212-227.  

Contact Information Suzanne Bardasz, MAT UC Davis Extension IEPP 1333 Research Park Drive Davis, CA 95616 E-mail: sbardasz@ucdavis.edu Facebook/LinkedIn: Suzanne Bardasz Twitter: @citoyennemondia