Learning Technology
Blogs | Wikis
What is a blog?
A blog (abridged from the term web log) is a tool for two-way dialogue. Blogs are websites, usually maintained by an individual and updated regularly. In many cases they allow visitors to submit comments in response to the content posted by the blog author. The term blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.
What is a wiki?
A wiki is a collaborative website that can be updated by multiple authors. It is often used as a space for storing and sharing ideas related to a particular project or topic. SFU provides wikis to instructors and research groups on request.
Blogs
SFU’s IT Services provides the blogs.sfu.ca blogging service to the SFU community. The Teaching and Learning Centre's TLC News blog is one of many SFU blogs hosted on this platform.
You can also set up a blog within WebCT by choosing the blog option when you set up up a discussion.
SFU blogging support
SFU blogging FAQ – IT Services provides answers to common questions about blogging at SFU.
For more information about SFU's blogging services, contact blogs@sfu.ca.
If you need assistance with the use of blogs in your teaching, please contact tlcentre-learningtech@sfu.ca.
Other blogging resources
Information about instructional blogging – This "collection of best practices and case studies on instructional blogging" is maintained by the University of Arizona.
Seven Things You Should Know About Blogs – This document provided by Educause describes "what a blog is, how it works, where it is going, and why it matters to teaching and learning."
Blogs in education – This post from the Half an Hour blog discusses what a blog is, why blogs can be useful in education, and how to use blogging in learning.
Uses of blogs in education – This post from the Edtechpost blog provides a matrix of potential uses of blogs in education.
Wikis
Wikis can be integrated within a WebCT course.
To add a wiki within WebCT, click on "Add course content" in the "Build" tab and choose "Wiki" from the drop-down menu. To access and use your wiki, move to the "Teach" tab and open the "Wiki" link.
SFU wiki support
If you would like to use SFU's wiki service in your class, send a request to wiki@sfu.ca. Please indicate the class section(s) of students and the names of instructors, teaching assistants, and other individuals who should have access to the wiki.
If you need assistance with the use of a wiki in your teaching, please contact tlcentre-learningtech@sfu.ca.
Other wiki resources
Wikis in Plain English – This short video on wiki basics is available from Commoncraft.
Seven Things You Should Know About Wikis – This document provided by Educause describes “what a wiki is, how it works, where it is going, and why it matters to teaching and learning.”
Collaboration and Learning with Wikis in Post-Secondary Classrooms – This article from the Journal of Interactive Online Learning "examines the use of wikis in support of collaboration and learning in a large university [University of Texas at Austin] that adopted wikis in pedagogically different ways."
MHIS 429 class wiki – Take a look at this example of a wiki being used to supplement a face-to-face class.
SFU public wiki – Explore and contribute to SFU’s public wiki.
