Struggling to blog...or not?

Why is it that it has taken me 5 weeks to post... surely if I want to blog then I should not have to force myself! Am I not motivated due to the fact that this blog is for my dissertation? Had I focussed on something I really want to talk about and am passionate about, would I have contributed more by now? However, I find this topic interesting which is why I want to focus on this area for my dissertation- I wouldn't choose a subject I'm not interested in anyway.

Or maybe simply, I am a new blogger and this is one of the stages that a new blogger has to overcome in order to become a fully active blogger. Mmmm.. food for thought. Or even a better explanation for my absence might be that you do not need to blog every day or week, every two months is okay, isn't it?

WEB 2.0 - The Machine is Us/ing Us

I think this is genius!

Read, read and read

Yesterday's meeting with my tutor-Niall, didn't go to plan. Why? Well, my list of things to do got longer and longer and the realisation of what needs to be done before I can decide on my research question hit me like a brick.
Despite this realisation, I am feeling more motivated and have a better idea of what to do now. Niall was very friendly and helpful. At the same time he set clear tasks with clear deadlines- read and write 6-8 pages of your Literature in 4 weeks time. (whilst working full-time and doing a module on Research which requires lots of work!) The thing is this is exactly what I needed- someone to tell me what to do by a certain time. This will make me work - I hope.

Friday thoughts...

After a very busy week at work teaching Swiss teachers, a lecture on Research (first week back at uni) and my first contact with my dissertation tutor, the pressure is on. After much pondering and sharing of ideas with my colleagues, I have come to the decision of focussing on blogs in my dissertation despite any doubts I have had until now. The fact that there has not been much research on blogs should make this research more challenging and exciting. So the plan is to meet my tutor on Monday and my new class who will be hopefully helping me out for this project. Firstly, will read about Anne-BarlettBragg's blogging process this weekend and aim to write up a page outlining my ideas for my tutor. Secondly, I need to think about how I will get students to set up their own blogs in their first week and develop a rough plan/guide of integrating it in to our lessons and setting students tasks for their own blogs. The aim is to encourage use and more use with clear learning outcomes that are obvious to both learners and educators. Hopefully, my next post will be less of stream of consciousness and will consist of more of sensible and organised ideas.

Should I write about 'blogs in education' for my dissertation?

As I'm pondering on the idea of writing my dissertation on 'blogging in education', I thought I might as well stop uhmming and arghing and set up my own individual blog. Hopefully, this will help me organise my ideas and encourage me to make a decision on what to write my dissertation on. The clock is ticking and getting louder and louder, therefore I must make a decision on what topic to write about.

With this blog, I also hope to improve my class edublog. I started my first blog- Shanel's Cafe in April for my module and use it for my classes as a group blog. I would say that the blog has so far enhanced my students' learning and made their learning experience more fun. However, as I'm still a beginner in the blogosphere, I am not sure I have been able to fully exploit it yet as a classroom aid. I am working on it though!