ePortfolios+and+Blogs+(Kate)

Blog is a word that has been taken from the phrase ‘web log’ which is a type of electronic online chonologically dated journal (Boulos, Maramba & Wheeler, 2006:42). This makes it a perfect tool to incorporate into an eportfolio experience. As stated in the introduction eportfolios have the role of providing an assessment, teaching and learning tool. The blog allows students to reflect on their learning, share this learning with peers and teachers, accept and respond to feedback, link to important sites and evidence and include multimedia in this journal. Blogs provide for single or combined entries, comments, reflections and debate, as well as linking to other websites and documents.(Boulos, Maramba & Wheeler, 2006:43). Blogs are relatively easy to use and are becoming very popular in the education environment. Some examples of blog tools which are appropriate in the educational setting are Ning, Weblog, Blogger and Worbpress, but blogs may be set up internally using an intranet to assist with security issues for younger students. This illustration demonstrates the communication paths using these web2.0 tools in a student centred environment (Boulos, Maramba & Wheeler, 2006:46).

An example of a comprehensive blogging tool is provided in Mahara, where blogs and blog postings are considered Artefacts and may be added to a View.

The blogging tool allows users to: Create blog posts using a WYSIWYG editor
 * Attach files to posts
 * Embed images into postings
 * Configure whether or not Comments may be received on their blog
 * Create draft postings for later publishing