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Blogs and Wikis 101 a presentation by Patrick Douglas Crispen California State University, Fullerton

Part One: Blogs What they are, how they work, and how you can use them in your classroom.

What is a blog? A weblog, or simply a blog, is a web application which contains periodic, reverse chronologically ordered posts on a common webpage. Source: Wikipedia Blogs can be used as a –Personal journal or diary. –Class project page. –Bookmarks or links page. –Etc.

Why blogs are cool They’re web-based. –There’s no client software to download and learn. –You can update your blog from any Internet- connected computer. They’re absurdly easy to use. –You DON’T have to know or use HTML. –You DON’T have to know or use FTP. They’re not solitary. –The community of blogs and bloggers make up a vast social network.

Example: Blogger

Definitions Blog : A web log. Blogger: Someone who creates and maintains a blog. Blogging: The process of creating and maintaining a web log. Blogsphere: The totality of blogs; a community or social network of blogs. Blogroll: A list of a blogger’s favorite blogs, usually placed on the side of that blogger’s blog.

Common blog features Headlines Time stamps Permanent links [or “permalinks”] Categories Searches RSS feeds COMMENTS

Some popular blog hosts I recommend Blogger [ as good starting point. Other popular blog hosts include: –TypePad [ –LiveJournal [ –AOL Hometown [ For a canonical list of blog hosts, check out

Blogging server software The 800 pound gorilla in the server-side blog software market is MovableType [ –Teacher/Single classroom: $39.95 –300 enrolled students: $ –1,000 enrolled students: $ –>1,000 enrolled students: $ –Multi-school and district licenses are available.

For more information Check out Darlene Fichter’s “Blogging Basics” PowerPoint presentation at For even more information, check out Molly Holzschlag’s three-and-a-half hour “Learning Blogger” video tutorial at –$29.95 on CD –$25 a month to access all of Lynda.com’s 100+ tutorials, including mine. Also visit and for what’s currently popular in the blog world.

Part Two: Wikis What they are, how they work, and how you can use them in your classroom.

The problem in a nutshell The web was supposed to liberate the content creation process. But, the barriers to entry are still way too high for most educators: –You need special training. –You need special software. –You need special permission.

The problem in a nutshell The current editing process is: –Download a page. –Edit large chunks of the page in your WYSIWYG web editor like Dreamweaver or FrontPage [ICK!] –Put the page back up on the server.

The editing process And that’s only if your district trusts you with making changes to their website. –Usually, you’re so well insulated from the webmaster that it takes weeks to make minor changes to a single page. That’s where wikis come in.

What is a wiki A wiki is website (or other hypertext document collection) that allows a user to add content, as on an Internet forum, but also allows that content to be edited by any other user. Source: Wikipedia –You can create a web page without knowing how to create a web page. –Other people can edit or add to your pages’ contents. Wiki—short for wiki wiki—comes from the Hawaiian term for “quickly” or “super fast.” Source: Wikipedia

The benefits Web-based: No client software to purchase and install. –Requires either a wiki host service or server-side software. Easy-to-learn: The learning curve is relatively flat. EASY-TO-USE: Anyone can create or edit a page in a few minutes. Community-based: Contributors and editors feel a sense of ownership.

Example: Wikipedia

Blogs v. wikis Objective –Blogs are a way to share personal information, a way for the owner(s) to express themselves to their target audience. –Wikis are a means of sharing and editing data [ideas, text, photographs] for the creation of collaborative knowledge. Content creation and control –Blog content creation and control falls to the owner. –Wiki content creation and control falls to the audience [although there is an administrator.]

Wikis in education “Wiki collaboration systems encourage student-centered learning environments because they encourage students to be co- creators of course content.” (Wang and Turner, 2004) BUT –All content is modifiable by any user. –All content is public. –Simultaneous edits are allowed but not successful. –The Wiki is forever evolving.

The good news You can overcome all of these obstacles with some simple settings changes. –See: C. Wang and D. Turner. Extending the Wiki Paradigm for use in Classroom. In proceedings of the International Conference on Information Technology (ITCC 2004), 2004.

Wiki hosts Riters [Free] SeedWiki [Free/Pay] Swiki [Free] MyOO.de [Pay] EditMe[Pay]

To learn more To learn more about wikis in general, check out To learn how to start your own wiki, check out For a list of wiki engines, check out

That’s all, folks!

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Blogs and Wikis 101 a presentation by Patrick Douglas Crispen California State University, Fullerton