This semester I’ll be running a blog for two of my classes as a trial to see what the interest/value is like. It’s not research-driven but i probably will do some sort of evaluation and write-up of my thoughts on it.
I’m not too sure if anyone else has done one at Auckland University yet, but of course there are a tonne of educational blogs all over the globe. I’ve found it really tough to find good actual examples of lecturers blogging to/with their classes, so if you know of any, especially if it were for a statistics class, I would appreciate any links.
The blog is currently using a pretty quick and basic adaption of the Drunkey Love theme, along with a custom plugin to create an RSS feed from Invision Power Board v2.0.4 then display it with RSS Fetched Link List plugin. There’s also a simple events plugin which I hacked a bit since to display it how I wanted, plus some bug fixes. It’s also using the latest comments and Gravatar plugins.
your thoughts
Ole Olson
You might want to check out http://rhetorica.net/ – he’s a journalism professor and he has set up a couple blogs for his students in addition to his efforts. Apparently he was hired because of his blogging, a nice change in the academic space
Andy
Awesome idea Rachel! This is an initiative I’ve been hoping my University (University of Newcastle, Australia) would take on. As a student I can see how beneficial it would be. Thanks for driving change and leading the charge, I’m sure it will go very well!
Very stylish too, as always.
Rachel
Thanks Ole and Andy. Ole, do you know if he encourages his classes to read his blog? I’m still struggling to find a blog which is interacting with the lecture material.
Andy – I was thinking that I was slow in starting a blog at the University… but maybe it’s not as widespread as I initially imagined.
Richard.H
This is a fantastic idea! I would love to read my lecture’s blog especially after one hour intensive class and most students couldn’t get all the stuff that noted in the class. It’s also a good platform to improve teacher-student communication.
Kyla
Kia Ora
I recently took up a short term relieving position at an awesome high school in Christchurch – Unlimited Paenga Tawhiti. The teacher I was relieving for set up a blog in remain in touch with the kids. She knew what was being covered in class and would ask questions around that. Once a week the class would blog Kat in Canada. This was cool for many reasons. It’s not flash and it only ran for a very short time but I guess I thought it could be encouraging for you to see the potential. http://www.kats-kids.blogspot.com
Antonius Santoso
AWESOME. I hope my lecturer imitate what You had did. What a dedicated Guru
. Salute for U 
Antonius Santoso
AWESOME. As a student of Bandung Institute of Technology, I hope my lecturer imitate what You had did. What a dedicated Guru
. Salute for U 