B.L.O.G. - B for breaking news, L for latest updates, O for only what you want, and G for global. My Blog Post.

1.)  Okay well its time to blog about blogging. I'll have to admit that blogs were a web 2.0 tool that I had heard of prior to this course, so I had that going for me. Unfortunately I never read any blogs nor had I attempted to post any blogs prior to this course, but at least I knew what they were.
Getting all set up in the blogging world was very simple, I went with Blogger as my personal blog site on recommendation from Will Richardson (2006). I was surprised at how smooth and easy it was, I was up and running in no time. Next step was to instantly begin worrying about what to say, how to say it, who to say it to, and so on. I don't normally struggle with things to say, however the thought of sending something into cyberspace scared me! Luckily Joanne eased us into it which was nice. I also started a Ning account at the same time and used that as somewhat of a practice field so to speak...err I mean blog.
Next we had to set up an RSS feed or blog aggregator. This area was completely new to me. I had never heard of an RSS feed before this course.
So with Joanne's suggestion I went in and set up an account in Google Reader, again very easy. As part of our course outline we were asked to follow/subscribe to at least 10 blogs of our choice and 8 blogs that were given to us in our outline. With my google reader all ready to go I went and searched for the 8 required blogs and then 10 of my own. There was absolutely no hassle in locating blogs to follow, the best part about it is that one of the blogs we were asked to follow, Copyblogger, had great tips on how to write blogs! I'm sure this was no accident. So with the knowledge I had gained from the copyblogger site and having the chance to see some of my classmates blogs, I  began blogging. It became easier and easier with each post. Another part that helped tremendously with the whole finding my 'voice' dilemna was the discussion that our cohort had on eclass, knowing that several of us were having similar struggles and concerns really helped me relax. Support breeds confidence.

Finding the perfect blog, was like finding a needle in a haystack at times!

One thing that I've noticed that has gradually improved is that I've been able to find blog sites that interest me much easier now as opposed to 2 months ago. Perhaps it is due to my knowledge level of web 2.0 growing by astronomical amounts, I'm guessing not. When we first started I had found 3 sites that were profession related, and one of those was poor at best. Currently I have 30 blogs that I am following and of those 30 there are 5 quality ultrasound sites, this excites me for reasons I'll explain in part 3. I think what happens is that there are just millions and millions of sites out there and once you stumble on one good one you will always be linked or referred to others like it. That was one of the only frustrations that I encountered with blogs, was the difficulty in finding exactly what I was looking for, and the seemingly never ending searches that led to no where. Perhaps one reason for my struggles may be that there is not the same quantity and quality of sonographer blogs out there as there is in education.
As the semester progressed I began learn a bit more about our friend the RSS feed and what it was and how to use it. I never noticed that little orange square on all these web sites before, or the share option that you see. The name that most people give RSS, real simple syndication, makes complete sense. It truly is simple, with one little click you are instantly connected, and updates will now come to you!
David Rothman wrote something that really cleared up the RSS feed for me, in the Journal of Hospital Librarianship he said," when you check your email, you don't go to each of your friends' mailboxes to see if they sent you anything-you just check your inbox. Google Reader does the same thing for the Internet, by putting all the sites that interest you in one convenient location and indicating when something has been updated." Surprisingly simple and yet to be honest it took me a while to grasp the concept. Common Craft's video on RSS in Plain English also did a great job in explaining it as usual. One comparison that Lee Lefever made was how RSS is like Netflix as opposed to going to a video store. "RSS allows you to create your own newspaper of sorts, from a conglomeration of whatever sources you like..."(Ward, 2007) Bloglines does this very thing for you. You can go in, set up an account, and have all your favorite websites sitting there right in front of you. Your own personal front page every morning during coffee! An interesting side note about RSS feeds is that with some aggregators you can set up a Vanity feed. Richardson (2006) discusses this in 'Blogs, Wikis, Pocasts..' You can be alerted anytime somebody links something to you. During one of our earlier blog posts this happened to me when I linked something back to Will Richardson's blog site and was shocked to have him comment on my blog, kind of scary in a Big Brother type of way. This is a good lesson on making sure you are comfortable with what you saying.

2.) Discussing blogs in terms of personal use after this course required some thought. I have ten followers to my blog right now, and of those ten, roughly ten are from my cohort. I realize that I have not asked anyone to follow, I just wondered what would I have to say and who would want to listen? I have my Ning account which is basically the place I can go and type out my rants, I have no followers there last time I checked but funny enough I enjoy posting on there as my outlet from society. So as I pondered my blogging future I remembered that my Mum checks this site to see how my homework went for the week, yes she does, and yes I am a bit of a Mama's boy! So I thought I could turn my blog into a personal family blog. I could call it 'Ball Time', or 'Here are the Balls'....wait sorry that will not work for the internet. My point is I think there could be a blogging future for me, whether it is a personal blog about our family or professional blog related to ultrasound and education. As far as following blogs with Google Reader I will definitely be continuing with that, especially now since I have started to find some decent ultrasound sites. There are many special interests blogs that I will be following and now that I am in the know I will be constantly looking for things to add to lists. Also as my kids get older and start developing some special interests of their own or doing school projects we could use Google Reader as a source for them as well.

Just to break up the monotony of my 'voice', here is a little YouTube clip basically showing the immense world of blogging!



3.)  Discussion of blogs from a professional standpoint did not require much thought at all. I will continue to use blogs as part of my own professional development and also as a tool for my students. As I mentioned above I've started to discover some quality blogs that are linked to ultrasound, I used Blogsearch and Technorati to locate these sites. In the Technorati site they actually had an area that had the top 50 blogs for sonographers! Now if I may go back in time to my Twitter blog, I mentioned there the value of twitter from an educational/professional view was the ability to send out useful links to co-workers and students. So if I may be so bold as to combine the two topics, now that I actually have some good blogs to look through in my blog aggregator, I can now use Twitter to 'tweet' any interesting blogs I come across to all my students. Just like Joanne has done with us. I can give them a hashtag and send it out to the whole class. If the students want to view them or not is up to them, it will be supplementary information that they won't be tested on but will enhance the learning process. This excites me and I look forward to setting something up for next semester. As far as blogging I'm not too sure if I will set a blog account that is geared towards our sonography students or not. I'm not sure if I'm ready for that yet. I will think about it, again it all comes down to my initial fears with blogging. If I do, I want to make sure that it is beneficial to the students and not just an experiment.
In the educational/librarian realm I can see the benefit of blogging in schools without question. This is a new era and this is how kids communicate, giving them the option to blog in class is beneficial for the material and the student. In an article by Lisa Zawilinski she speaks of all the blogging options for elementary schools; Classroom News Blogs- sharing news and info with parents and students, Mirror Blogs- allows students to reflect on their thinking, Showcase Blogs- blogs for student projects, podcasts, writing, and Literature Response Blogs- where students can discuss different literature from class. ( I've included links to examples of each one of these blogs) Another concept from the Zawilinski article that caught my eye was HOT Blogging. HOT blogging is said to develop Higher Order Thinking (H.O.T.) through four steps: 1. Bolster background (teachers post a blog to build background knowledge), 2. Prime the pump (blogging to help the students think deeply), 3. Continue the conversation (summary and synthesization of what has been read, chapters and blogs), 4. Make multiplicity explicit (inviting students to read, think, and comment on the classroom blog). This last point struck a chord with me, it mentions that students will encounter how differently they all we think and approach a subject. Student's encounter multiple perspectives and also develop the ability to defend or support their own perspective. I've found this from our cohort as well, after I've posted my blog I'll go and read my classmates and from every single one that I read I learn something that I didn't know before. Also just the different paths that we all take on the same subject is quite amazing and very helpful. One thing that needs to be in place in a school setting are some blogging guidelines for the students, in Joanne's trailfire there was a great article on this, aptly titled Student Blogging Guidelines. One important thing the article mentions is to only post things that you would want everybody to know, very important concept to grasp because as we know once its out there it is out there!

Blogs and blogging have a place in education there is no question and RSS feeds are just something that is needed in all professional walks of life. Seriously if there were 20 excellent sites out there on how to keep your daughters home on the weekend, don't you think there would be a swarm of fathers signing up for Google Reader! It just makes sense, like Will Richardson mentions in 'Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts..' (2006), "its the one technology that you should start using today, right now, this minute." Why wouldn't you? I know I will! And personally I will continue to use Google Reader, and perhaps continue to blog personally and professionally. The jury is still out on that, however I have enjoyed posting these blogs regardless of the incredible amount of time it takes. When I saw the syllabus for this course I thought, excellent no papers that will be nice! Whoa, I really have to stop thinking. Putting your personal thoughts out to the public is a lot more excruciating then doing a literature review on research, which I had to do this weekend also so I can make that comparison quite easily at this point. All in all it has been very educational and rewarding to put myself out there for the world (aka our class) to see.

This video shows the power and versatility of the digital 'word'!



Kirk out! (get it, Captain's Blog. Lame and unoriginal I know!)

Non-cited sources:

Richardson, W. (2006). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms.

Rothman, D.L. (2007). Getting Started with RSS Feeds. Journal of Hospital Librarianship, 7(3), 75-83.

Ward, J.A. (2007). RSS Feeds: Sweating the Really Simple Stuff. Toxicology Pathology, 35, 846-847.

Zawilinski, L. (2009). HOT Blogging: A Framework for Blogging to Promoted Higher Order Thinking. The Reading Teacher, 62(8), 650-661.