Hi Patrick

I teach Theory and Pradtice of eLearning at UHI, which is a module as part of the Prof Cert in Teaching in HE.   And i use a number of pedagogical blogs as resources in the module.   There is a strong set of pedagogy blogs out there and even with the need to think critically about them, they provide a useful teaching resource, and indeed, a useful resource to keep up with the latest changing practice in eLearning.  In fact, this is precisely what i ask students to do -- think critically about them.  This is slightly different, perhaps, than what is being looked at in this discussion, in that these are professional blogs, and are about critical ideas of learning and teaching, but this type of blog is certainly an important and valid learning resource, and short circuits the long lag time found with journal and other print publications.  

Another interesting discussion on the topic can be found in the Open Anthropology Coop's Digital Anthropology discussion group. 

cheers
rhys



>>> Patrick Bigger  03/03/11 7:07 PM >>>
Hi all,
Great topic (and sorry if this message arrives twice!).
A few blogs to add to the list- apologies for repeats...

floatingsheep.org - Great visualizations of geography, virtual and
otherwise. Put together by Matt Zook and Taylor Shelton of University of
Kentucky Geography and Mark Graham at the Oxford Internet Institute.

triplecrisis.com - Primarily written by economists, but with strong
geographical perspective. Deals with the issues at the intersections of
development, environment, politics, and finance.

globaleconomicgovernance.org/blog-  Blog organ for the global economic
governance program at Oxford. Mostly reflections on development, aid, and
multilateral governance.

socfinance.wordpress.com- This definitely isn't a geography blog, but it is
quite useful for anyone who thinks about financial markets.  Financial
geographers are increasingly incorporating insights from social studies of
finance into their work and this blog is a nice introduction.

I'd also like to opine on the usefulness of blogs for teaching. I've
incorporated blogs into my syllabus this semester for the first time and I
find that my students are responding really well. While I do not think that
blogs should replace other course readings entirely, they are great as
supplementary material AND for teaching students about the relative quality
or utility of different sources. I think the conversational tone, brevity of
entries, and comments section are all attractive to students and specific
posts can be an entry point for discussions on controversial or difficult
topics.

Are others using blogs as pedagogical tools?

Best,
Patrick

Patrick Bigger I PhD Student I Department of Geography I UK Political
Ecology Working Group
University of Kentucky I 1457 Patterson Office Tower I Lexington, KY 40506
[log in to unmask] I 859-257-3947



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