Weblogs in Higher Education

John NiedzielskiTeaching & Learning Multimedia Specialist

Calvin Information Technology

What is a Weblog?

• Quick & easy publishing to the Web– Journals, diaries, news– Content management– Entries vs. pages

• Syndication via RSS feeds– “fauxcasting”

Issues

• Students already have them– Xanga, Myspace, Facebook, Blogger, etc.

• But who is reading them?– Friends, parents, administrators, employers

• Campus discussions

Choosing a Weblog Tool

• Official CIT project team

• Requirements

• Trade-offs

• Expression Engine(Wordpress, Drupal, Blojsom)

3 Most Important Things…

1. Content!

2. Content!!

3. Content!!!

Course Weblogs

• Interims/off-campus programs– South Africa– Honduras– Snow Mountain Ranch– Ireland, Hawaii, and more…

• English & Journalism

• Engineering

Recruiting, PR, and Outreach

• Admissions: “Reflecting my life at Calvin”

• Minds in the Making

• Calvin Institute for Christian Worship

• Pivot

• Orientation

• Service Learning

Internal Communication

• IT Connection

• CIT Summer Workshops

• Human Resources

• Career Services

http://allrss.com/rssreaders.html

Questions?

John Niedzielski

jmn5@calvin.edu

www.calvin.edu/weblogs