August 4, 2005
Presented by Dan McDowell, West Hills High School

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Blogging Mini-WebQuest

Introduction
This technology is one of the fast growing in the world. Just last month it was determined that 80,000 blogs are being created a day. That's right a day. You kids already write blogs, generally that discuss their personal lives. More and more educators are beginning to use this technology within a classroom setting.

Task
This WebQuest has two major tasks.

  1. Determine the characteristics of a blog and how they differ from traditional web pages.
  2. Identify how teachers are utilizing blogging technology within the classroom and develop a lesson idea that uses a blog.

Process - Part A: An Overview

  1. Explore the Blogging Diagram and complete the two columns of the provided handout.
  2. Next examine the following non-blog sites
    1. Apple
    2. Union-Tribune
    3. Time Magazine
    4. San Diego Zoo
    5. Grossmont Union High School District
  3. In your small groups, answer the following questions:
    1. What common features do you notice among the blogs?
    2. Are there some features common to some, but not all, of the blogs?
    3. What primary differences you notice between the blog sites and the non-blog sites?

Process - Part B: Educational Use

  1. Review the following educational blogs and using the provided handout, develop a system of categorization based upon how they are used.
    1. Period 5 English
    2. Pre-College
    3. Speaking Underground
    4. Mr. McDowell's World History
    5. M & M Online Magazine
    6. EdTech 670
    7. Journalism 1
    8. Super Students Blog
  2. Share your categorization with your group. As a group, create a single system of categorization.
  3. Come up with a lesson idea that utilizes blogging technology. Describe where it fits in the classifications or if a new category needs to be added.

Additional Resources

  • Setting up Blogger Job Aid
  • Weblogs in Education
  • Blogs as Data Sources

Credits

The blogging map and image come from Bernie Dodge and his Cool Tools: Blogging Activity. Inspiration for this WebQuest and some of the content comes from A WebQuest - Blogs and RSS