WEB REALITI: MEMPROMOSI PEMBELAJARAN
DALAM KOMUNITI ONLINE GENG JURNAL
oleh
Ghazali Bunari
m-zali@utm.my
Abstrak
Geng Jurnal adalah sebuah komuniti online yang dibangunkan untuk penulis weblog Malaysia. Penulis weblog adalah penulis catatan jurnal yang menerbitkan jurnal mereka di web. Kertas ini menerangkan tentang program Juring, sebuah projek pembelajaran dengan konsep web realiti yang dianjurkan oleh komuniti online Geng Jurnal. Juring bertujuan memupuk kefahaman komuniti penulis weblog terhadap teknik penulisan weblog yang berkesan. Dalam projek ini, 10 peserta bersaing menyempurnakan tugasan-tugasan yang diberi oleh ketua juri, Wasit. Satu demi satu, peserta dijuring keluar, mengambil istilah persilatan membawa maksud tendangan sisi, oleh panel juri sehinggalah seorang penulis diisytiharkan sebagai Juara Juring. Melalui kaedah pemerhatian dalam kumpulan perbincangan elektronik, analisa arkib entri peserta dan pembaca, penulis memberi deskripsi tentang projek web realiti sebagai alat mempromosi pembelajaran dalam komuniti online.
PENGENALAN
Laman peribadi yang dikemaskini kandungannya secara berkala telah mula wujud seawal tahun terciptanya laman web itu sendiri. Namun begitu, laman yang melabel dirinya sebagai weblog muncul pada 1997 (Werbach, 2001). Perkataan weblog itu sendiri digunakan buat pertama kali oleh John Barger, pemilik kepada www.robotwisdom.com, dengan mengambungkan perkataan Web dan log pada 1997. “Web” merujuk kepada Internet dan perkataan “log” pula merujuk kepada catatan penulis yang berkala. Weblog juga dikenali dengan nama pendeknya blog, jurnal online dan diari online.
Pada peringkat awal weblog hanya dikuasai oleh mereka yang mempunyai kepakaran teknikal dalam bahasa pengaturcaraan seperti HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), ASP (Active Server Page) dan PHP (Personal Home Page Tools). Pada tahun 1999 Blogger (http://www.blogger.com) dan Livejournal (http://www.livejournal.com), memperkenalkan applikasi Web yang memudahkan penyelengaraan weblog bagi mereka yang tidak mahir dalam pengaturcaraan . Perisian weblog ini telah berjaya mengotakan janji bahawa Web membenarkan semua orang bersuara, satu usaha pendemokrasian persuratan.
The Guardian (2001) menamakan Blogger sebagai salah satu dari tujuh keajaiban Web sepentas dengan Yahoo dan Google. 2001 juga menyaksikan media cetak Malaysia mula memberi perhatian kepada weblog. Zoraini Abbas menulis dalam Computimes bahawa penulis-penulis yang menggunakan pelantar weblog ini adalah kreatif (2001). Wan Sabariah (2002) juga menulis tentang portal Geng Jurnal dalam majalah Jelita dan mencatat beberapa contoh weblog yang dikatakan sebagai penuh dengan kreativiti. Malah, salah satu penyedia khidmat Internet terbesar di Malaysia juga turut memeriahkan suasana menyediakan khidmat weblog percuma di www.jaring.my/weblog/. Pada 2004, kamus Merriam-webster memasukkan istilah weblog ke dalam kamus itu dan ianya dianggap sebagai Word of the Year, 2004.
Blog noun [short for Weblog] (1999) : a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer. (Merriam-Webster)
Kandungan weblog adalah pelbagai. Ia boleh berupa catatan harian seperti diari, laporan projek, komentar tentang isu-isu sosiopolitik, dan cadangan link untuk dilawat atau gambar-gambar yang ingin dikongsi bersama. (Werbach, 2000; Pyra Labs, 2000)
Debat mengenai definisi sebenar weblog mungkin akan berterusan selari dengan perubahan ICT yang begitu pesat. Namun begitu, definisi yang disediakan oleh Winer (2001), CEO kepada sebuah syarikat pengeluar perisian weblog, amat sesuai untuk mengambarkan apakah weblog itu sebenarnya. Beliau mencadangkankan 4 kata kunci:
1. Peribadi - Weblog adalah milik peribadi.
2. Dalam Web - Weblog disebarkan melalui Web browser .
3. Diterbitkan - Kata-kata ditulis dan diposkan ke dalam web untuk bacaan mereka yang mempunyai akses kepada Internet.
4. Komuniti Internet - Himpunan-himpunan weblog yang saling berkait antara satu sama lain melalui rantaian hyperlinks juga mewujudkan satu komuniti. Komuniti weblog yang terwujud hasil dari interaksi antara satu penulis dengan penulis yang lain ini dinamakan Blogsphere.
Di Malaysia juga terdapat ramai penulis weblog. Ada di antara mereka mempunyai pembaca yang ramai kerana mutu tulisan mereka yang baik. Ada kes-kes terpencil di mana mereka merungut bila tulisan mereka di cedok dan di siarkan kembali dalam web lain, sebagai sebaran e-mel dan ada juga yang terbit dalam media cetak. Pun begitu, majoriti adalah penulis akar umbi yang meluahkan perasaan atau baru mengasah bakat untuk jadi penulis yang baik. Mereka tercari-cari cara untuk memantapkan tulisan mereka.
GENG JURNAL
Preece (2001) menafsirkan komuniti online sebagai ruang sosial maya di mana orang berkumpul untuk mendapatkan dan memberi maklumat atau sokongan, untuk belajar atau mendapatkan kenalan. Blogsphere yang sedia ada boleh dimantapkan dengan wujudnya satu ruang untuk dituju oleh penggiat weblog. Pada Ogos 2001 Khairul Azmi Kamaludin mula membangunkan satu komuniti untuk peminat weblog yang dinamakan Geng Jurnal. Web komuniti ini boleh dicapai melalui alamatnya di http://jurnal.biz. Geng Jurnal adalah komuniti online yang dibina untuk penulis dan pembaca weblog. Menurut pengasasnya, komuniti ini ditubuhkan dengan matlamat untuk mengeratkan lagi hubungan antara penulis jurnal dan para pembaca melalui aktiviti berfaedah dan bermanfaat. Gerbang ini telah berjaya mengumpul dan menyenaraikan, setakat tarikh artikel ini ditulis (17 Ogos 2005), sebanyak 1695 ahli berdaftar untuk forumnya. Ahli-ahli Geng Jurnal tidak perlu membayar yuran untuk menyertai komuniti ini. Cukup dengan menyertai aktiviti Geng Jurnal untuk mewartakan diri sebagai Geng Jurnal.
Geng Jurnal diuruskan oleh sukarelawan di kalangan ahli disamping terdapatnya ahli jawatankuasa yang dipilih melalui undian. Kaedah pengurusan aktiviti Geng Jurnal dikenali sebagai Anarki Terpimpin oleh mereka. Dalam kaedah ini, sesiapa pun boleh memulakan dan menjalankan apa-apa aktiviti selagi ianya tidak haram mengikut syarak dan undang-undang. Ini mirip dengan apa yang dikatergorikan oleh model Penyertaan Pemimpin Vroom (Vroom’s Leader Participation Model) sebagai gaya delegasi. Dalam gaya ini pemimpin membenarkan kumpulan untuk membuat keputusan dalam had-had tertentu (Robin & Coultre, 2003). Dalam kes Geng Jurnal, ahli-ahli jawatankuasa berperanan sebagai pemantau dan pemudahcara bagi mereka yang yang ingin menjalankan aktiviti.
Kim (2000) mengariskan sembilan strategi penting dalam membangunkan sebuah komuniti online yang mampan:
1. Definisikan dan perjelaskan halatuju
2. Bina tempat perhimpunan yang luwes
3. Wujudkan sistem profail ahli yang baik
4. Reka peranan yang pelbagai untuk ahli
5. Bangunkan program kepimpinan
6. Galakkan etika yang sesuai
7. Promosikan aktiviti yang berkitaran
8. Wujudkan amalan-amalan ritual yang menjadi kebiasaan dalam komuniti
9. Bantu ahli mewujudkan kelopok kecil.
Walaupun Geng Jurnal tidak secara formal mengatakan mereka berpegang pada sembilan strategi yang digariskan, mereka telah pun melalui strategi-strategi ini secara sedar dan tidak sedar. Di forum online Geng Jurnal pula terdapat beberapa aktiviti yang mendapat sambutan ramai. Program Juring ini sendiri adalah satu usaha mempromosi aktiviti yang berkitaran. Ia mempunyai objektif yang jelas dan tempat sudah dikenali oleh ahli. Juri, peserta dan pembaca tahu akan peranan mereka dalam program ini. Etika seperti mengelakan kesalahan ejaan dan plagiat adalah disanjung.
(Rajah 1: Rajah menunjukkan beberapa kegiatan yang popular di kalangan Geng Jurnal. )
Gangguan Teksual: Projek penerbitan zine alternatif yang kandungannya adalah catatan-catatan pilihan dari dalam weblog.
Diablog: Wacana ilmiah yang membincangkan dunia penulisan weblog. Wacana ini diadakan di Rumah PENA. Seringkali, tokoh-tokoh weblog tertentu dijemput untuk mengetuai perbincangan.
Geng Mak Itam: Kumpulan ahli-ahli Geng Jurnal yang gemar berkomunikasi secara synchronous melalui Instant Messenger.
Hari Anugerah Weblog: Ini merupakan acara tahunan di mana para ahli berkumpul. Ianya bermula dari sebuah perkelahan kecil pada 2001 dan kini berupa majlis makan yang gemilang. Pada waktu inilah anugerah-anugerah weblog dalam katergori-katergori tertentu disampaikan.
Lantit: Ini merupakan panggilan untuk acara santai di mana ahli berjumpa untuk bersembang dan menikmati makan malam di restoran-restoran sekitar ibukota.
Projek Basah: Projek ini adalah projek lasak di mana ahli berkumpul di sebuah kawasan perkhemahan bina semangat di Jasin, Melaka. Aktiviti seperti berkanu, war games, berjalan malam dijalankan di sini. Program ini telah dijalankan sebanyak empat kali.
Lumba Foto: Sebulan sekali satu tema baru akan diperkenalkan di jurnal.biz. Peserta yang berminat dengan fotografi digital akan menampal foto mengikut tema tersebut. Pemenang akan dipilih dan dianugerahkan dengan puji-pujian.
Lumba Kata/Catatan: Program ini dijalankan secara online di mana para peserta berkongsi kepakaran menulis masing-masing berdasarkan tema atau tajuk yang yang diberi.
JURING
Pengenalan
Juring adalah jawapan Geng Jurnal kepada ledakan program realiti di saluran-saluran TV tempatan. Objektif Juring adalah mempertingkatkan kesedaran terhadap teknik penulisan bermutu untuk persekitaran web. Juring merujuk kepada istilah persilatan yang membawa makna tendangan sisi. 10 orang peserta mengambil bahagian dalam pertandingan ini, dan satu persatu dijuring keluar berdasarkan mata yang terkumpul setelah sesuatu tugasan penulisan yang dilaksanakan. Juring meraikan kepakaran penulisan untuk medium web. Hadiah awal yang ditawarkan adalah sehelai t-shirt. Pun begitu, semasa pertandingan berjalan beberapa individu dikalangan ahli Geng Jurnal sendiri menawarkan diri untuk menaja hadiah sampingan. Hadiah-hadiah lain yang dimenangi oleh juara adalah beg, nama domain dan buku pelbagai tajuk.
Format
Juring dimulakan dengan menjemput ahli-ahli komuniti menulis satu perenggan pendek 100 perkataan memberi rasional kenapa mereka layak untuk bertanding. Juri-juri kemudiannya membuat pangkatan kepada hasil penulisan ujibakat ini. 10 peserta lelaki yang dianggap terbaik dari kelompok mereka dipilih berdasarkan purata markah pangkatan yang diberikan oleh 3 juri. Pada setiap pusingan, peserta-peserta akan diberi tugasan penulisan (100-250 patah perkataan) untuk disiapkan.
Peserta
Terdapat 15 peserta menghantar tulisan mereka untuk sesi ujibakat. 10 lelaki dan 5 wanita. 10 dari mereka telah dipilih. Setiap dari mereka memiliki weblog masing-masing. Mereka dipilih berdasarkan jantina dan entri ujibakat. Berikut adalah peserta-peserta yang mengambil bahagian dalam Juring.
LELAKI:
01. Lapan (http://lapan.blogspot.com/) Jurureka hiasan dalaman
02. Irwandy (http://irwandy.blogdrive.com/) Staf IT
03. Engku (http://engku.blogspot.com/) Jurugambar
04. Directrixz (http://xpressikehidupan.blogspot.com/) Pelajar IT
05. Basri (http://dugongsenyum.blogdrive.com/) Pembantu Jurutera
WANITA:
01. Tipah (http://tipahvogue.blogspot.com/) Setiausaha/Pelajar Pengurusan
02. Delima (http://delima.blogdrive.com/) Pegawai Sokongan Pelanggan
03. Rosram (http://rosram.diaryland.com/) Usahawan / Guru Tuisyen
04. Vizier (http://lepatpisang.blogspot.com/) Juruanalisa Sistem
05. Liyanna (http://capriquarius.lovable-monkey.net/) Pelajar Undang-undang
Walau bagaimanapun sebelum pertandingan bermula, seorang peserta wanita telah menarik diri dengan alasan tidak dapat menumpukan perhatian. Oleh kerana cuma 5 peserta ujibakat adalah wanita dan tiada rizab peserta wanita maka Wasit tidak punya pilihan lain selain dari mengambil peserta lelaki untuk menggantikan tempat peserta yang menarik diri bagi mencukupi angka 10. Sebagai mengantikan tempat Rosram, seorang peserta lelaki telah dipilih berdasarkan markah pangkatan.
01. Yadziz (http://hangbuah.blogspot.com/) Kerani
Juri
Tugas para juri adalah memberi ulasan dan pangkatan kepada hasil tulisan para peserta. Purata pangkatan ini kemudiannya akan menentukan siapa yang bakal keluar dari pertandingan. Juri utama terdiri ahli-ahli kanan Geng Jurnal. Mereka adalah:
Tok Rimau: Tok Rimau adalah Wasit (Istilah persilatan merujuk kepada hakim) atau Ketua Juri. Tok Rimau adalah bekas presiden Geng Jurnal untuk penggal 2003. Beliau mempunyai 4 tahun pengalaman mengendalikan weblog. Beliau berkerja sebagai pensyarah bahasa di sebuah IPTA di Johor. Tugas utama Tok Rimau adalah menetapkan tugasan dan mengisytiharkan secara rasmi peserta yang dijuring.
Mat Jan: Mat Jan merupakan pemenang Anugerah Weblog Terbaik 2002 anjuran Geng Jurnal. Beliau mempunyai 5 tahun pengalaman mengendalikan Blog. Mempunyai ijazah Undang-undang dan sekarang menyambung pelajaran dalam bidang Setiausaha Berkanun di Pulau Pinang.
Pak Bear: Pak Bear adalah ahli Geng Jurnal yang aktif membuat video digital. Beliau adalah seorang pegawai IT di sebuah muzium di Melaka. Juga seorang pelajar separuh masa sebuah universiti swasta dalam bidang yang sama.
Tugasan akhir dijalankan secara bersemuka dialam nyata di Rumah Pena, Kuala Lumpur. Pada ketika itu dua peserta peringkat akhir menjadi ahli panel Program Diablog yang membincangkan isu ahli Geng Jurnal yang berpuak-puak. Tanpa mereka sedari, sumbangan mereka dalam Diablog diambil kira sebagai markah akhir. Oleh kerana juri-juri utama tidak tinggal di Kuala Lumpur, dua juri tambahan telah dilantik hanya untuk tugasan ini.
Bukunota: Bukunota adalah juri jemputan untuk cabaran terakhir yang ada kaitan dengan Projek Diablog, forum mengenai isu-isu dalam dunia weblog. Beliau adalah seorang wartawan di sebuah syarikat akhbar tempatan di Kuala Lumpur. Beliau dipilih kerana beliau adalah ketua Projek Diablog.
Cik Daun: Cik Daun adalah seorang jurutera sistem yang bertugas di sebuah syarikat ICT swasta di Cyberjaya. Beliau adalah pengerusi majlis Projek Diablog di mana tugasan akhir untuk Juring dinilai.
Pembaca/ Audien
Pembaca untuk entri dalam Juring boleh datang dari ahli Geng Jurnal atau mereka yang bukan ahli. Beberapa weblog Geng Jurnal telah meletakkan link promosi ke forum Juring bagi menggalakan kehadiran pembaca. Pembaca boleh meninggalkan reaksi dengan cara memberi komen bertulis dan mengundi peserta kegemaran mereka. Namun begitu, undian pungutan suara tidak memberi sebarang kesan langsung kepada keputusan Juring. Pungutan undi lebih kepada popularity contest dan tidak mempunyai kesan secara langsung kepada penjurian. Terdapat juga pembaca turut menjalankan tugasan dan mengeposnya di forum. Perbuatan ini adalah digalakkan, dan mereka yang berbuat demikian dilabelkan sebagai Anak Keladi sempena label yang diberi pada anak-anak kecil yang turut bermain dengan abang yang sudah dewasa tetapi prestasinya tidak diambil kira dalam menentukan keputusan permainan.
Medium
Tugasan 1-8 dalam Juring dilaksanakan dalam sebuah forum web Geng Jurnal (http://www.jurnal.biz/forum/.) Forum ini menggunakan perisian Open Source PHPBB. Entri-entri dalam forum ini disusun secara linear mengikut susunan masa. Catatan yang telah dipos boleh disunting lagi oleh pentadbir forum dan penulis sendiri. Medium ini dipilih kerana kebanyakan ahli Geng Jurnal sudah biasa dengan sistem dan antaramuka forum web ini. Forum ini boleh dibaca oleh sesiapa sahaja yang mempunyai akses ke Internet. Namun begitu, untuk menulis entri dalam forum ini, sesorang itu hendaklah mendaftarkan diri sebagai ahli forum. Pendaftaran adalah percuma.
Tugasan
Juring memberi fokus kepada tugasan-tugasan yang berkaitan dengan dunia weblog. Secara amnya, peserta ditugaskan menyiapkan beberapa genre penulisan yang popular di weblog dalam masa 1 hingga 2 minggu. Dalam banyak keadaan, peserta juga diminta menyertakan imej sampingan sebagai gambar hiasan untuk entri mereka.
Tugasan akhir adalah agak berlainan berbanding tugasan-tugasan sebelumnya. Dua peserta akhir tidak tahu bilakah mereka akan dinilai. Tanpa mereka sedari, mereka telah dinilai ketika mereka terlibat sebagai ahli panel Projek Diablog.
(Jadual 1: Jadual menunjukkan sinopsis tugasan serta had perkataan yang ditetapkan dan jangkamasa yang diperuntukkan untuk menyempurnakannya.)
Cabaran
Cabaran utama bagi menjalan program web realiti seperti Juring adalah masa untuk para peserta dan para juri menjalankan tugasan dan akses kepada Internet. Menulis weblog hanyalah satu hobi, peserta dan para juri perlu mengutamakan kerjaya utama mereka. Rosram menarik diri setelah dia dipilih selepas ujibakat dengan sebab perlu menumpukan kepada kerjaya. Tipah pula terkeluar dari pertandingan dalam tugasan 1 kerana gagal menghantar pos sebelum tarikh akhir. Directrixz pula gagal mendapatkan akses Internet untuk menyempurnakan tugasan 5 kerana pada waktu itu beliau pulang ke kampung di Trengganu. Liyanna pula menarik diri di pusingan 8 kerana beliau melanjutkan peolajaran dalam bidang undang-undang di sebuah universiti tempatan. Oleh kerana hanya tinggal dua peserta pada cabaran 8, sedangkan ada satu cabaran lagi di cabaran 9, markah untuk cabaran 8 dan 9 dijumlahkan bagi mendapat juara.
Keputusan
(Jadual 2: Jadual menunjukkan prestasi peserta dalam bentuk pangkatan dan min kedudukan mereka sepanjang penyertaan.)
Di akhiri pertandingan, Basri diumumkan sebagai juara juring. Beliau menunjukkan hasil tulisan yang konsisten dan berada pada purata pangkat kedua sepanjang pertandingan. Secara amnya, para peserta berusaha untuk mematuhi nahu, ejaan dan peraturan tanda baca. Juri banyak memberi tumpuan kepada kandungan dan gaya bahasa berbanding dengan kemahiran tatabahasa.
Dari segi pembacaan juga menggalakkan. Cabaran yang paling kerap dilihat adalah cabaran 3, Ulasan Berita. Komunikasi dan pos dalam cabaran ini dilihat sebanyak 2651. Cabaran paling kurang dilihat adalah cabaran 9. Ianya dilihat sebanyak 898 kali sahaja. Jumlah pos paling banyak pula jatuh kepada ruang cabaran 7, Sentuhan Hati, dengan 98 pos. Manakala, jumlah pos paling kurang jatuh pada ruang cabaran Ulasan Siri TV dengan 40 pos sahaja. Angka-angka ini melebihi angka purata untuk pos dan bacaan untuk topik-topik dipos dalam forum Geng Jurnal.
(Jadual 3: Jadual menunjukkan jumlah mesej dan kekerapan dilihat sesuatu topik dalam forum Geng Jurnal.)
KesimpulanSama ada Juring berjaya mencapai objektifnya untuk mempertingkatkan kesedaran terhadap teknik penulisan bermutu untuk persekitaran web amatlah susah untuk diukur keberkesanannya. Bagi peserta yang mengambil bahagian, terdapat bukti-bukti usaha telah dilakukan bagi menonjolkan hasil tulisan yang bermutu. Ini ketara jika tulisan mereka dalam Juring dibanding dengan tulisan mereka dalam weblog masing-masing. Pun begitu, tiada bukti yang menunjukkan peningkatan mutu penulisan secara langsung disebabkan oleh Juring pada weblog mereka. Sambutan dari ahli Geng Jurnal dan peserta sendiri menunjukkan reaksi positif dari sudut jumlah mesej dan kekerapan lawatan. Komen-komen pembaca juga menunjukkan kesedaran bahawa terdapatnya teknik yang berkesan dalam menulis entri untuk persekitaran web.
(Rajah 2: Anjakan dari Broadcast Learning ke Interactive Learning)
Tapscott (1998) meramalkan anjakan dari Broadcast Learning kepada Interactive Learning untuk generasi yang terdedah pada Internet. Juring, sedikit sebanyak mendakap prinsip-prinsip Interactive Learning ini. Adalah diharap, agar ahli Geng Jurnal dapat mengutip isi komentar para juri dan saingan sengit dalam Juring sebagai ilmu untuk diamalkan dalam weblog mereka masing-masing seperti mana usahawan dapat belajar dari Apprentice, penyanyi dapat belajar dari Malaysian Idol dan pemburu cinta dapat belajar dari Mencari Cinta. Semoga apabila Geng Jurnal menyumbang kepada dunia melalui tulisan mereka, tulisan mereka mereka itu menarik perhatian, mudah difahami dan memberi kesan mendalam kepada pembaca.
RUJUKAN
Guardian, The .2001, ‘The Seven wonders of the Web.’ December 27. Online: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4326023,00.html [ 20/01/ 2002]
Kim, A. J. 2000. Community Building on the Web. Berkeley: Peachpit Press.
Preece, J. 2001. Sociability and usability in online communities: Determining and measuring success. Behaviour & Information Technology. vol. 20, No. 5, 347-356.
Pyra Labs. 2000. About. Blogger. Online: http://www.blogger.com/about.pyra [19/2/2002]
Robin, S. & Coultre, M. 2003. Management. 7th Edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Tapscott, D. 1998. Growing up digital. New York. McGraww-Hill.
Wan Sabariah Shikh Ali. 2002. Jurnal online papar kreativiti muda-mudi melayu, Ruang Siber.’ Jelita. Februari. p. 128.
Werbach, K. 2001. Triumph of the Weblogs: The conversation continues. Online: http://www.edventure.com/conversation/articleprint.cfm?Caounter=7444662 [2/8/2002]Zoraini Abas (2001) ‘Web Sites Oozing With Creativity.’ Computimes. New Straits Times 11 Oktober. p. 27.
Nota:
Rajah & jadual hanya disertakan dalam kertas kerja asal.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Senarai Kertas Kerja
SEMINAR KEB. E-KOMUNITI
Tarikh:
6-7 Disember 2005
Tempat: Palm Garden, IOI Resort Putrajaya.
Tema: Ke Arah Pembangunan E-Malaysia: Merapatkan Jurang Komuniti dengan Teknologi Maklumat
Tarikh:
6-7 Disember 2005
Tempat: Palm Garden, IOI Resort Putrajaya.
Tema: Ke Arah Pembangunan E-Malaysia: Merapatkan Jurang Komuniti dengan Teknologi Maklumat
Sub Tema:
Polisi, infrastruktur dan infostruktud ICT.
Konsep, pembangunan dan perkembangan E-Komuniti.
Teori dan amalan ICT.
Isu, cabaran dan impak ICT terhadap masyarakat.
Penggunaan bahasa dan budaya dalam ICT.
Pembangunan bahan dan perlaksanaan sistem pengurusan pembelajaran (LMS).
Undang-undang dan keselamatan siber.
Jenaya Siber.
Konsep, perlaksanaan dan impak E-Dagang, E-Governan dan E-Pembelajaran.
Pembangunan sumber manusia dan latihan ICT. Format Kertas Kerja
KERTAS KERJA YANG DITUNGGU-TUNGGU
Web Realiti: Mempromosi Pembelajaran dalam Komuniti Online Geng Jurnal - Ghazali Bunari
Kertas kerja lain.
Friday, July 22, 2005
INTERACTIVE WRITING VIA WEBLOGS
INTERACTIVE WRITING VIA WEBLOGS
By
Ghazali Bunari
Journal writing activity has long been used by teachers to improve students’ writing skills. It is also a way for students to communicate with the teacher and vice-versa. This paper shares the experience of a language instructor utilizing weblogs to enrich the traditional journal writing task. A weblog is generally defined as a website containing frequently updated journal entries arranged chronologically. This task based activity can be described as an interactive writing. This paper defines the concept of weblog, explains the benefits of applying weblog in ELT, outlines the challenges of its implementation and finally, it suggests the logistic requirements for a successful implementation of the weblog project.
INTRODUCTION
A weblog or blog is a website with frequently updated entries. The latest entry is always on the top and the older ones fall into archives. Most weblogs allow visitors or readers to interact with the entries by providing a comment form. Before easy- to-use template based weblog writing services like Blogger.com and Livejournal.com were introduced in 1999, only those who were good with html code could maintain a weblog. Now, even those who do not know html can publish their entries and update their weblog everyday. They just need to fill in an online form to sign up for the free weblog service and log in every time they need to update their weblog. Some bloggers enjoyed recognitions from certain organizations as a medium to be capable of spreading messages efficiently. For example, in 2004 USA presidential elections, bloggers were invited to The Democratic and Republican Parties conventions. This paper shares the experience of an instructor utilizing weblog to improve the traditional journal writing task in a language class. A report of a small scale action research to investigate students’ perspective on the impact of weblog, as a tool for the journal writing assignment is part of this exclusive paper.
WEBLOG
In the introduction to We've Got Blog, Blood (2002) describes blogs as:
"… a training ground for writers--and there is fine writing being produced daily on hundreds of sites. They are platforms of intelligent reaction to current events and ubiquitous pundits.”
Technology has now allowed journal writing to be published on the web at a very low cost.
A weblog is defined as:
“… a web page made up of usually short, frequently updated posts that are arranged chronologically—like a what's new page or a journal. The content and purposes of blogs varies greatly—from links and commentary about other web sites, to news about a company/person/idea, to diaries, photos, poetry, mini-essays, project updates, even fiction.” (Pyra Labs, 2000)
At present, there are many free weblog services available and most of them are user-friendly. Weblog services such as Blogger.com and Livejournal.com have made it easier for non-IT individuals to publish journal entries and archive old ones on the Internet. The blogging phenomenon has become the killer app that has the capacity to engage in collaborative activity, knowledge sharing, reflection and debate (Hiller, 2003). Currently there are thousand of weblogs in the cyberspace. Most weblogs are in a form of personal journal type in which writers report their lives, thoughts and feelings (Herring, 2004).
JOURNAL WRITING
Journal writing activity has long been used by teachers to improve students’ writing skills. It is also a way for students to communicate with the teacher and vice-versa. Williams (2003) stated that journal entries help students to reflect on their experiences. Journal writing is more than just a place for learners to write freely without undue concern for grammaticality. Journals can be in form of language learning logs, grammar discussions, reading logs and reflective notes of oneself(Brown, 2001).
Journal writing lends itself well to a heuristic learning approach. Kerka (1996) presented in her literature review that journal writing has several benefits to teaching and learning:
Writing journal entries is less formal and less threatening, thus students can write without self-consciousness or inhibition
Journal entries can provide tangible evidence of mental processes. They make thoughts visible and concrete, giving a way to interact with, elaborate on, and expand ideas.
Journals are tools for growth through critical reflection, for it is not enough to observe and record experiences, but equally significant is to make meaning out of them.
Maloney and Campbell-Evans (2002) investigated how interactive journals were used. They also found that journal writing promotes reflective learning. Interactivity in their research meant an ongoing pen-and-paper written dialogue between a teacher and his or her students. They found out that students used the journals to get direction on practice and planning, as a tool for analysis, as an emotional release and as a way of ‘sorting things out.’ Through journal writing, one can revisit his or her experience and reap lessons from the experience.
Nevertheless due to time constraint in a normal educational setting, the primary audience of a student’s journal is restricted to the instructor. It would be beneficial for the learning process if journal entries can be published and received feedback from the public. Comments on ideas written by others would mature students’ critical thinking and enhance argumentative writing skills. The degree of interactivity will increase as more people participate in a communication process and this will provide opportunities for language learning.
According to Burnett and Marshall (2003), when discussing about interpersonal communication and the web, “interactivity is a process-related construct about communication that describes the extent to which messages are related to each other. (p.52)” Computer-mediated communication provides us wider opportunities for interactivity to flourish.
Longhurst and Sandage (2004) suggested that e-mail should be used by instructors for journal assignments because it meets pedagogical goals with minimum disruptions. Basically e-mail assists pedagogy in several ways:
E-mail journal assignments permit the instructor give personalized comments on students’ work.
E-mail journal assignments allow quick feedbacks from instructors.
E-mail journal assignments are easily linked to other classroom tasks.
E-mail journal assignments encourage active learning.
E-mail journal assignments require minimum technical support and technology training.
Williams (2003) suggested e-mail pen pals as a way to make writing assignments more meaningful. She discovered that real audience motivates students to write better.
The concept of weblogs is almost similar to web-based e-mail application except writings in weblogs become public because they are posted as a webpage. Users just need is a web browser (Internet Explorer or Netscape) and a computer that is linked to the Internet in order to write and read entries. In a language learning environment, weblogs might be a better choice of technology for journal writing task. It can provide the pedagogic benefits offered by e-mail journals plus promoting a high degree of interactivity by supplying writers with more readers.
METHODOLOGY
Participants were 48 (N=48) first year students at a university in Johor, Malaysia. They were students of Education Faculty who were taking UHB1412, English for Academic Communication. It is a mandatory English course for students in that university. This was the first English language course out of three compulsory English language courses that the students had to take. The students were selected on the basis they were available, convenient to access and prepared to participate. The action research project executed was to keep a weblog for 15 weeks or one semester. Data from an open ended survey questions and weblog analysis were collected to investigate students’ perspective on the impact of weblog as a tool for the journal writing assignment in a language learning environment.
One of the course works of UHB1412 required the students to complete self-access activities. There are a number of language activities that can be done ranging from pen and paper exercises, online activities and multimedia based exercises in the lab. The objectives of the Self-access Learning Activities were:
To increase students’ contact with the English language
To complement what are taught in class
To provide opportunities for students to access and monitor their own language learning progress
To provide opportunities for students to become independent learners so as to inculcate greater awareness of their own language learning strategies
The assessment procedure was very liberal. The students were given marks based on attendance at the language lab or submission of self-access learning portfolio report. The one-page report contains students’ own account of what they have learnt and the strategies employed to learn the items.
I decided in Semester 2, 2004/5 to execute the weblog project in which students were required to keep weblogs as their self-access activity. The students had to post a minimum of five one-hundred-words entries in their weblog. In the weblog, the students have to reflect on the events that had happened to them. The marks were given based on the completion of task and the amount of comments made by the readers on the weblogs. The rubrics for the task were as follows:
Write 5 entries. Each entry should be more than 100 words. (5 marks)
Collect 5 comments. Each comment should be more than 50 words. (5 marks)
Every time you post a new entry, ask me to visit your blog by writing a comment at http://gameplan.blogspot.com
Entries should be based on real events.
Figure 1.0: A weblog made by a student
Few students had read weblogs before but all of them had never experienced maintaining a weblog. The instructor trained the students to create weblogs, write entries and give feedbacks for two hours. At the end of the training session, each student had a weblog, able to publish entries and write feedbacks on weblog entries. The free weblog service chosen for this project was the one provided by Blogger.com. All weblog addresses were listed in the class weblog at http://gameplan.blogspot.com for ease of access. Students also used this weblog to promote their own weblog.
Blogging activities were done outside of the class time in a duration of 15 weeks or one semester. The participants updated their personal weblogs that acts as a reflective journal at any computer with access to the Internet in campus or off campus. In the normal class time, students were reminded of the task and were encouraged to read and give comments to the entries made by their friends. At the same time, they were also allowed to promote their weblog in order to attract public comments.
RESULTS
There were 241 entries written by 48 students/participants. Although the assignment requirement asked for only 5 entries, few students wrote more than five entries producing an average of 5.02 entries per student. All students managed to meet the posting requirements. The entries received 390 comments producing an average of 8.1 feedbacks per weblog. One particular weblog received the most number of comments, 31 comments, although one needed only 5 comments to complete the task. Nevertheless, 5 weblogs failed to get the minimum number of comments. The lowest number of comments made was 2 comments.
At the end of the task, the instructor gave the students 2 open ended survey questions on the task of keeping weblogs. Here are the answers given by the participants:
State your positive experiences when keeping a weblog.
Keeping a weblog was a valuable new experience
Keeping a weblog improved my writing skills / vocabulary/ grammar
Keeping a weblog increases writing confidence
I like to read opinions and experiences of my friends
I made new friends
I like receiving feedbacks from others
I could express views and share interesting experience
I communicated with others in English
State your negative experiences when keeping a weblog.
It was troublesome to get access to the Internet in order to complete the task
I did not receive enough comments
I suspect nobody read my weblog
Comments provided by my friends hurt my feelings
Some comments were not relevant to my entries
CONCLUSIONS
Weblogs empowered students to publish their thoughts for the whole world to read. Although students’ writings were not perfect, the participants felt that keeping a weblog was good for the development of vocabulary and writing skills. This is parallel to Blood’s claim (2002) that weblog build better writers. Readers who were willing to understand that making grammatical errors are part of language learning process, could be entertained with true anecdotes and witty commentaries of life.
Participants of the project loved the facts that others read their entries and in most cases they valued comments left by their friends. The feedbacks could help students to grow awareness of the audience (instructor and classmates) when writing. In a class where time for students-to-students interaction was limited, keeping weblogs allowed students to communicate in the target language with people they would not normally have time or courage to talk to. Communication within in the interactive environment was real as opposed to isolated conversations in language practices.
When the students exchanged comments they got new insights of the entries they had written. Those who received a lot of comments might had produced interesting topics that attract many readers. Some did write beautifully and attract others to read and share opinions. Or, they could just simply write earlier than the others thus giving them the advantage of having more time to gather comments. Those few who did not manage to acquire enough comments, most probably waited for the last minute to post their entries. I doubt that their writings were not interesting as I found that they did not write poorly compared to the others. Furthermore, most of the students were generous at giving comments regardless whether they were close to the writers or not.
Sociocognitive framework spells out that language develops through social interaction and assimilation of others’ speech (Warschauer and Kern, 2000). Teaching methodology such as journal writing via weblog fits the sociocognitive approach to network-based language teaching. It promoted negotiation of meaning through interaction and it created a discourse community with authentic communicative tasks. Perhaps by promoting a well established tool like weblog for language learning purpose, students will be motivated to continue to write beyond the requirement of the classroom assignment.
SUGGESTIONS
The pre-requisites to the adaptation of weblog into the classroom are ample ICT infrastructure on-site and sound pedagogical techniques. Students need to be trained on how to use the technology before any technology related tasks are introduced. In the case of weblog, students need to be informed of strategies to attract readers to read their entries. They need to know how to write reader friendly entries so that they will receive feedbacks from readers as this valuable writer-audience interaction lead to the joy of writing. They should also be informed about ethics in sharing opinions in a public place like the Internet, be it in weblog entries or feedbacks given to others.
In the near future all homes and schools will be equipped with Internet ready computers and teachers can start being creative and think about how computers can enrich the learning experiences of the students. People will live in an interactive environment. Tapscott (1998) predicted that the interactive environment will strengthen verbal ability and expression of ideas. Whilst I have demonstrated how I used weblog in my class, educators can use the weblog in different approaches. Ovarec (2002) proposed teachers to use weblogs as sources of information on important topics and modes of online classroom. Weblogs can be training platforms for students to show their skills in creating web contents. Another possibility is school newsletters can now be made available online via weblogs. Weblogs can also be as a venue for students to share interesting links they found on the Internet. In an interview with Online Community Report, Evan William, creator of Blogger.com predicted “… blogs are going to be morphed into all kinds of interesting configurations. They will be less easy to define and serve widely different purposes (Cashel, 2002).”
REFERENCES
Blood, R. (2002). Introduction. In J. Rodzvilla, J. (Ed.), We’ve got blog (p. xii). Cambridge: Perseus Publishing.
Blood, R. (2002). The weblog handbook. Cambridge: Perseus Publishing.
Brown, H.D. (2001). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy. New York: Addison Wesley Longman.
Burnett, R. and Marshall P.D. (2003). Web theory: An introduction. Routledge: New York
Cashel, J. (2002). Interview with Evan Williams, Blogger . http://www.onlinecommunityreport.com/features/blogs [20/06/2005]
Herring, S. C., Scheidt, L. A., Bonus, S., & Wright, E. (2004). Bridging the gap: A genre analysis of weblogs. Proceedings of the 37th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS-37). Los Alamitos: IEEE Computer Society Press.
Hiller, J. (2002). Blogs as disruptive tech: How weblogs are flying under the radar of content management giants. http://www.webcrimson.com/ourstories/blogdistruptvetech.htm [19/06/2005]
Kerka, Sandra (1996). Journal writing and adult learning. ERIC Digests No. 174. ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult Career and Vocational Education. Columbus Ohio.
Longhurst, J. and Sandage, S. A. (2004). Appropriate technology and journal writing. College Teaching. Spring2004, Vol. 52 Issue 2, p69-75.
Maloney, C. and Campbell-Evans, G. (2002) Using interactive journal writing as a strategy for professional growth. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education. Vol. 30. No. 1. 2002. p. 39-50
Ovarec, J. A. (2002). Bookmarking the World: Weblog Applications Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy in Education. v45, issue 7, April 2002.
Pyra Labs (2000). ‘About’ : http://www.blogger.com/about.pyra [19/02/2002.]
Tapscott, D. (1998). Growing up digital. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Warschauer, M. and Kern, R. (2000). Introduction: Networked-based Language Teaching: Theory and Practice in M. Warschauer and R. Kern (Eds.) Networked-based Language Teaching: Concept and Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Williams, J. (2003). Preparing to teach writing: Research, Theory and Practice. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: New Jersey
This paper is prepared for INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON E-LEARNING 2005 " E-LEARNING : TOWARDS LIFELONG LEARNING ". The seminar is organized by Universiti Malaysia Sabah on 25-26 July 2005.
By
Ghazali Bunari
Journal writing activity has long been used by teachers to improve students’ writing skills. It is also a way for students to communicate with the teacher and vice-versa. This paper shares the experience of a language instructor utilizing weblogs to enrich the traditional journal writing task. A weblog is generally defined as a website containing frequently updated journal entries arranged chronologically. This task based activity can be described as an interactive writing. This paper defines the concept of weblog, explains the benefits of applying weblog in ELT, outlines the challenges of its implementation and finally, it suggests the logistic requirements for a successful implementation of the weblog project.
INTRODUCTION
A weblog or blog is a website with frequently updated entries. The latest entry is always on the top and the older ones fall into archives. Most weblogs allow visitors or readers to interact with the entries by providing a comment form. Before easy- to-use template based weblog writing services like Blogger.com and Livejournal.com were introduced in 1999, only those who were good with html code could maintain a weblog. Now, even those who do not know html can publish their entries and update their weblog everyday. They just need to fill in an online form to sign up for the free weblog service and log in every time they need to update their weblog. Some bloggers enjoyed recognitions from certain organizations as a medium to be capable of spreading messages efficiently. For example, in 2004 USA presidential elections, bloggers were invited to The Democratic and Republican Parties conventions. This paper shares the experience of an instructor utilizing weblog to improve the traditional journal writing task in a language class. A report of a small scale action research to investigate students’ perspective on the impact of weblog, as a tool for the journal writing assignment is part of this exclusive paper.
WEBLOG
In the introduction to We've Got Blog, Blood (2002) describes blogs as:
"… a training ground for writers--and there is fine writing being produced daily on hundreds of sites. They are platforms of intelligent reaction to current events and ubiquitous pundits.”
Technology has now allowed journal writing to be published on the web at a very low cost.
A weblog is defined as:
“… a web page made up of usually short, frequently updated posts that are arranged chronologically—like a what's new page or a journal. The content and purposes of blogs varies greatly—from links and commentary about other web sites, to news about a company/person/idea, to diaries, photos, poetry, mini-essays, project updates, even fiction.” (Pyra Labs, 2000)
At present, there are many free weblog services available and most of them are user-friendly. Weblog services such as Blogger.com and Livejournal.com have made it easier for non-IT individuals to publish journal entries and archive old ones on the Internet. The blogging phenomenon has become the killer app that has the capacity to engage in collaborative activity, knowledge sharing, reflection and debate (Hiller, 2003). Currently there are thousand of weblogs in the cyberspace. Most weblogs are in a form of personal journal type in which writers report their lives, thoughts and feelings (Herring, 2004).
JOURNAL WRITING
Journal writing activity has long been used by teachers to improve students’ writing skills. It is also a way for students to communicate with the teacher and vice-versa. Williams (2003) stated that journal entries help students to reflect on their experiences. Journal writing is more than just a place for learners to write freely without undue concern for grammaticality. Journals can be in form of language learning logs, grammar discussions, reading logs and reflective notes of oneself(Brown, 2001).
Journal writing lends itself well to a heuristic learning approach. Kerka (1996) presented in her literature review that journal writing has several benefits to teaching and learning:
Writing journal entries is less formal and less threatening, thus students can write without self-consciousness or inhibition
Journal entries can provide tangible evidence of mental processes. They make thoughts visible and concrete, giving a way to interact with, elaborate on, and expand ideas.
Journals are tools for growth through critical reflection, for it is not enough to observe and record experiences, but equally significant is to make meaning out of them.
Maloney and Campbell-Evans (2002) investigated how interactive journals were used. They also found that journal writing promotes reflective learning. Interactivity in their research meant an ongoing pen-and-paper written dialogue between a teacher and his or her students. They found out that students used the journals to get direction on practice and planning, as a tool for analysis, as an emotional release and as a way of ‘sorting things out.’ Through journal writing, one can revisit his or her experience and reap lessons from the experience.
Nevertheless due to time constraint in a normal educational setting, the primary audience of a student’s journal is restricted to the instructor. It would be beneficial for the learning process if journal entries can be published and received feedback from the public. Comments on ideas written by others would mature students’ critical thinking and enhance argumentative writing skills. The degree of interactivity will increase as more people participate in a communication process and this will provide opportunities for language learning.
According to Burnett and Marshall (2003), when discussing about interpersonal communication and the web, “interactivity is a process-related construct about communication that describes the extent to which messages are related to each other. (p.52)” Computer-mediated communication provides us wider opportunities for interactivity to flourish.
Longhurst and Sandage (2004) suggested that e-mail should be used by instructors for journal assignments because it meets pedagogical goals with minimum disruptions. Basically e-mail assists pedagogy in several ways:
E-mail journal assignments permit the instructor give personalized comments on students’ work.
E-mail journal assignments allow quick feedbacks from instructors.
E-mail journal assignments are easily linked to other classroom tasks.
E-mail journal assignments encourage active learning.
E-mail journal assignments require minimum technical support and technology training.
Williams (2003) suggested e-mail pen pals as a way to make writing assignments more meaningful. She discovered that real audience motivates students to write better.
The concept of weblogs is almost similar to web-based e-mail application except writings in weblogs become public because they are posted as a webpage. Users just need is a web browser (Internet Explorer or Netscape) and a computer that is linked to the Internet in order to write and read entries. In a language learning environment, weblogs might be a better choice of technology for journal writing task. It can provide the pedagogic benefits offered by e-mail journals plus promoting a high degree of interactivity by supplying writers with more readers.
METHODOLOGY
Participants were 48 (N=48) first year students at a university in Johor, Malaysia. They were students of Education Faculty who were taking UHB1412, English for Academic Communication. It is a mandatory English course for students in that university. This was the first English language course out of three compulsory English language courses that the students had to take. The students were selected on the basis they were available, convenient to access and prepared to participate. The action research project executed was to keep a weblog for 15 weeks or one semester. Data from an open ended survey questions and weblog analysis were collected to investigate students’ perspective on the impact of weblog as a tool for the journal writing assignment in a language learning environment.
One of the course works of UHB1412 required the students to complete self-access activities. There are a number of language activities that can be done ranging from pen and paper exercises, online activities and multimedia based exercises in the lab. The objectives of the Self-access Learning Activities were:
To increase students’ contact with the English language
To complement what are taught in class
To provide opportunities for students to access and monitor their own language learning progress
To provide opportunities for students to become independent learners so as to inculcate greater awareness of their own language learning strategies
The assessment procedure was very liberal. The students were given marks based on attendance at the language lab or submission of self-access learning portfolio report. The one-page report contains students’ own account of what they have learnt and the strategies employed to learn the items.
I decided in Semester 2, 2004/5 to execute the weblog project in which students were required to keep weblogs as their self-access activity. The students had to post a minimum of five one-hundred-words entries in their weblog. In the weblog, the students have to reflect on the events that had happened to them. The marks were given based on the completion of task and the amount of comments made by the readers on the weblogs. The rubrics for the task were as follows:
Write 5 entries. Each entry should be more than 100 words. (5 marks)
Collect 5 comments. Each comment should be more than 50 words. (5 marks)
Every time you post a new entry, ask me to visit your blog by writing a comment at http://gameplan.blogspot.com
Entries should be based on real events.
Figure 1.0: A weblog made by a student
Few students had read weblogs before but all of them had never experienced maintaining a weblog. The instructor trained the students to create weblogs, write entries and give feedbacks for two hours. At the end of the training session, each student had a weblog, able to publish entries and write feedbacks on weblog entries. The free weblog service chosen for this project was the one provided by Blogger.com. All weblog addresses were listed in the class weblog at http://gameplan.blogspot.com for ease of access. Students also used this weblog to promote their own weblog.
Blogging activities were done outside of the class time in a duration of 15 weeks or one semester. The participants updated their personal weblogs that acts as a reflective journal at any computer with access to the Internet in campus or off campus. In the normal class time, students were reminded of the task and were encouraged to read and give comments to the entries made by their friends. At the same time, they were also allowed to promote their weblog in order to attract public comments.
RESULTS
There were 241 entries written by 48 students/participants. Although the assignment requirement asked for only 5 entries, few students wrote more than five entries producing an average of 5.02 entries per student. All students managed to meet the posting requirements. The entries received 390 comments producing an average of 8.1 feedbacks per weblog. One particular weblog received the most number of comments, 31 comments, although one needed only 5 comments to complete the task. Nevertheless, 5 weblogs failed to get the minimum number of comments. The lowest number of comments made was 2 comments.
At the end of the task, the instructor gave the students 2 open ended survey questions on the task of keeping weblogs. Here are the answers given by the participants:
State your positive experiences when keeping a weblog.
Keeping a weblog was a valuable new experience
Keeping a weblog improved my writing skills / vocabulary/ grammar
Keeping a weblog increases writing confidence
I like to read opinions and experiences of my friends
I made new friends
I like receiving feedbacks from others
I could express views and share interesting experience
I communicated with others in English
State your negative experiences when keeping a weblog.
It was troublesome to get access to the Internet in order to complete the task
I did not receive enough comments
I suspect nobody read my weblog
Comments provided by my friends hurt my feelings
Some comments were not relevant to my entries
CONCLUSIONS
Weblogs empowered students to publish their thoughts for the whole world to read. Although students’ writings were not perfect, the participants felt that keeping a weblog was good for the development of vocabulary and writing skills. This is parallel to Blood’s claim (2002) that weblog build better writers. Readers who were willing to understand that making grammatical errors are part of language learning process, could be entertained with true anecdotes and witty commentaries of life.
Participants of the project loved the facts that others read their entries and in most cases they valued comments left by their friends. The feedbacks could help students to grow awareness of the audience (instructor and classmates) when writing. In a class where time for students-to-students interaction was limited, keeping weblogs allowed students to communicate in the target language with people they would not normally have time or courage to talk to. Communication within in the interactive environment was real as opposed to isolated conversations in language practices.
When the students exchanged comments they got new insights of the entries they had written. Those who received a lot of comments might had produced interesting topics that attract many readers. Some did write beautifully and attract others to read and share opinions. Or, they could just simply write earlier than the others thus giving them the advantage of having more time to gather comments. Those few who did not manage to acquire enough comments, most probably waited for the last minute to post their entries. I doubt that their writings were not interesting as I found that they did not write poorly compared to the others. Furthermore, most of the students were generous at giving comments regardless whether they were close to the writers or not.
Sociocognitive framework spells out that language develops through social interaction and assimilation of others’ speech (Warschauer and Kern, 2000). Teaching methodology such as journal writing via weblog fits the sociocognitive approach to network-based language teaching. It promoted negotiation of meaning through interaction and it created a discourse community with authentic communicative tasks. Perhaps by promoting a well established tool like weblog for language learning purpose, students will be motivated to continue to write beyond the requirement of the classroom assignment.
SUGGESTIONS
The pre-requisites to the adaptation of weblog into the classroom are ample ICT infrastructure on-site and sound pedagogical techniques. Students need to be trained on how to use the technology before any technology related tasks are introduced. In the case of weblog, students need to be informed of strategies to attract readers to read their entries. They need to know how to write reader friendly entries so that they will receive feedbacks from readers as this valuable writer-audience interaction lead to the joy of writing. They should also be informed about ethics in sharing opinions in a public place like the Internet, be it in weblog entries or feedbacks given to others.
In the near future all homes and schools will be equipped with Internet ready computers and teachers can start being creative and think about how computers can enrich the learning experiences of the students. People will live in an interactive environment. Tapscott (1998) predicted that the interactive environment will strengthen verbal ability and expression of ideas. Whilst I have demonstrated how I used weblog in my class, educators can use the weblog in different approaches. Ovarec (2002) proposed teachers to use weblogs as sources of information on important topics and modes of online classroom. Weblogs can be training platforms for students to show their skills in creating web contents. Another possibility is school newsletters can now be made available online via weblogs. Weblogs can also be as a venue for students to share interesting links they found on the Internet. In an interview with Online Community Report, Evan William, creator of Blogger.com predicted “… blogs are going to be morphed into all kinds of interesting configurations. They will be less easy to define and serve widely different purposes (Cashel, 2002).”
REFERENCES
Blood, R. (2002). Introduction. In J. Rodzvilla, J. (Ed.), We’ve got blog (p. xii). Cambridge: Perseus Publishing.
Blood, R. (2002). The weblog handbook. Cambridge: Perseus Publishing.
Brown, H.D. (2001). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy. New York: Addison Wesley Longman.
Burnett, R. and Marshall P.D. (2003). Web theory: An introduction. Routledge: New York
Cashel, J. (2002). Interview with Evan Williams, Blogger . http://www.onlinecommunityreport.com/features/blogs [20/06/2005]
Herring, S. C., Scheidt, L. A., Bonus, S., & Wright, E. (2004). Bridging the gap: A genre analysis of weblogs. Proceedings of the 37th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS-37). Los Alamitos: IEEE Computer Society Press.
Hiller, J. (2002). Blogs as disruptive tech: How weblogs are flying under the radar of content management giants. http://www.webcrimson.com/ourstories/blogdistruptvetech.htm [19/06/2005]
Kerka, Sandra (1996). Journal writing and adult learning. ERIC Digests No. 174. ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult Career and Vocational Education. Columbus Ohio.
Longhurst, J. and Sandage, S. A. (2004). Appropriate technology and journal writing. College Teaching. Spring2004, Vol. 52 Issue 2, p69-75.
Maloney, C. and Campbell-Evans, G. (2002) Using interactive journal writing as a strategy for professional growth. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education. Vol. 30. No. 1. 2002. p. 39-50
Ovarec, J. A. (2002). Bookmarking the World: Weblog Applications Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy in Education. v45, issue 7, April 2002.
Pyra Labs (2000). ‘About’ : http://www.blogger.com/about.pyra [19/02/2002.]
Tapscott, D. (1998). Growing up digital. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Warschauer, M. and Kern, R. (2000). Introduction: Networked-based Language Teaching: Theory and Practice in M. Warschauer and R. Kern (Eds.) Networked-based Language Teaching: Concept and Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Williams, J. (2003). Preparing to teach writing: Research, Theory and Practice. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: New Jersey
This paper is prepared for INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON E-LEARNING 2005 " E-LEARNING : TOWARDS LIFELONG LEARNING ". The seminar is organized by Universiti Malaysia Sabah on 25-26 July 2005.
Friday, May 20, 2005
Language Camp
Language Camp
23-24 May 2005
Organized byKolej Komuniti Tangkak Kolej Komuniti Ledang Johor
Participants: Primary school pupils of Ledang district.
Bonus:
Workshop for Parents: Creating Language Acquisition Friendly Home
Workshop for Teachers: Organizing Language Camps and Creating Conducive Environment for Language Learning.
More Photos:
http://jali.fotopages.com/?entry=446865
23-24 May 2005
Organized by
Participants: Primary school pupils of Ledang district.
Bonus:
Workshop for Parents: Creating Language Acquisition Friendly Home
Workshop for Teachers: Organizing Language Camps and Creating Conducive Environment for Language Learning.
More Photos:
http://jali.fotopages.com/?entry=446865
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Coursework Marks for PKK53
Marks \ Number
52 N/403937
50 N/403915
55 N/404164
54 N/404232
52 N/404166
52 N/404170
45 N/404194
48 N/404196
47 N/404200
49 N/404202
53 N/404254
49 N/404264
49 N.404212
46 N/404190
47 N/404210
48.5 N/404256
45.5 N/404162
48.5 N/40418
44.5 N/404228
46.5 N/404248
49 N/404182
46 N/404224
46 N/404226
49 N/404240
52 N/404250
45 N/404222
47 N/404218
44 N/404260
44 N/404172
43 N/404180
43 N/404174
43.5 N/404188
42.5 N/404184
42.5 N/404168
44.5 N/403985
46.5 N/404176
43 N/404230
41 N/404216
41 N/404258
42 N/404208
40 N/404204
44 N/403991
50 N/404252
45 N/404214
45 N/404160
47 N/404220
..............
FINAL EXAM TIPS
52 N/403937
50 N/403915
55 N/404164
54 N/404232
52 N/404166
52 N/404170
45 N/404194
48 N/404196
47 N/404200
49 N/404202
53 N/404254
49 N/404264
49 N.404212
46 N/404190
47 N/404210
48.5 N/404256
45.5 N/404162
48.5 N/40418
44.5 N/404228
46.5 N/404248
49 N/404182
46 N/404224
46 N/404226
49 N/404240
52 N/404250
45 N/404222
47 N/404218
44 N/404260
44 N/404172
43 N/404180
43 N/404174
43.5 N/404188
42.5 N/404184
42.5 N/404168
44.5 N/403985
46.5 N/404176
43 N/404230
41 N/404216
41 N/404258
42 N/404208
40 N/404204
44 N/403991
50 N/404252
45 N/404214
45 N/404160
47 N/404220
..............
FINAL EXAM TIPS
- Learn how to describe and analyse data.
- Study how to write conclusions and recommendations.
- Master the skills required to produce headings and subheadings.
- Give approprite numbers to your headings and subheadings.
Thursday, March 10, 2005
CARRY MARKS
FINAL: 8.30 am 16 March 2005. DK1 (L 50)
UHB2332 SECT 6
I.C. 70%
800930035003 51
821107115018 56
820531055582 50
790428075070 58.5
801014025373 51.5
820719036068 48
800915065685 SEE ME
800531025027 50.5
790904025163 55.5
790622105667 57
820702115341 56
820122145675 54
820323105557 51.5
830220035241 SEE ME
810818025795 53.5
800827015952 49.5
810101015290 46.5
821228045116 49
820219025645 55
820605065098 54
800101026388 50.5
830420015958 53.5
820701135914 48.5
820329025478 46
820924135372 53.5
810806135671 52
801224035641 52
800430065214 54.5
820423075180 46
T3005338 SEE ME
811007146045 55
FINAL: 8.30 am 16 March 2005. Masjid Sultan Ismail.
UHB 1412 sect. 04
60% I.C.
40.5 850214025192
49.5 851002016416
46.5 850212017164
52 841017015046
51.5 841101135606
45.5 841115075413
47.5 850609015132
41.5 851206086344
44.5 820814035688
46 830427055522
47.5 830323135288
45.5 830606115340
44.5 820729085074
49 850724105870
48.5 840627135075
47 850422085667
41.5 840422135469
48.5 820926085102
41.5 850412115551
37.5 850103036024
48.5 850714016524
38 811103055338
43.5 850520015830
50 850120115314
42.5 850801015984
26 801028015192
50 851214015044
48.5 850921016738
36 821017015726
44.5 810902016066
41.5 820825015674
46.5 850803016032
54.5 850306145466
37 821024015708
25 851128035292
49.5 850808115232
45.5 851218015906
40 820323055094
39.5 830504075210
46 851217145784
48.5 850610146068
52 850910015676
42 850124146118
47 850629035384
41 850825095034
36 821105035292
45.5 730918035616
44.5 850922016422
p.s.
For more information and details, please refer to the notice board infront of A01-04 - S44.
UHB2332 SECT 6
I.C. 70%
800930035003 51
821107115018 56
820531055582 50
790428075070 58.5
801014025373 51.5
820719036068 48
800915065685 SEE ME
800531025027 50.5
790904025163 55.5
790622105667 57
820702115341 56
820122145675 54
820323105557 51.5
830220035241 SEE ME
810818025795 53.5
800827015952 49.5
810101015290 46.5
821228045116 49
820219025645 55
820605065098 54
800101026388 50.5
830420015958 53.5
820701135914 48.5
820329025478 46
820924135372 53.5
810806135671 52
801224035641 52
800430065214 54.5
820423075180 46
T3005338 SEE ME
811007146045 55
FINAL: 8.30 am 16 March 2005. Masjid Sultan Ismail.
UHB 1412 sect. 04
60% I.C.
40.5 850214025192
49.5 851002016416
46.5 850212017164
52 841017015046
51.5 841101135606
45.5 841115075413
47.5 850609015132
41.5 851206086344
44.5 820814035688
46 830427055522
47.5 830323135288
45.5 830606115340
44.5 820729085074
49 850724105870
48.5 840627135075
47 850422085667
41.5 840422135469
48.5 820926085102
41.5 850412115551
37.5 850103036024
48.5 850714016524
38 811103055338
43.5 850520015830
50 850120115314
42.5 850801015984
26 801028015192
50 851214015044
48.5 850921016738
36 821017015726
44.5 810902016066
41.5 820825015674
46.5 850803016032
54.5 850306145466
37 821024015708
25 851128035292
49.5 850808115232
45.5 851218015906
40 820323055094
39.5 830504075210
46 851217145784
48.5 850610146068
52 850910015676
42 850124146118
47 850629035384
41 850825095034
36 821105035292
45.5 730918035616
44.5 850922016422
p.s.
For more information and details, please refer to the notice board infront of A01-04 - S44.
Thursday, February 03, 2005
For UHB2332
Task for UHB2332 Students only.
To replace the class that we have to cancel, you have to respond to a group member's posting in http://fivers2k.com/fppsm/. You must respond at least six times to different postings made by your groupmembers. Each reponse should be 10 sentences or more.
There are two different topics and you will have to respond 3 times to each topic. Total responses - 6 (3 responses to each topic as listed in your group)
Have a nice holiday (again).
This is an individual task.
Any questions? Ask Pn. Adlina { adlina@cyllene.uwa.edu.au}
To replace the class that we have to cancel, you have to respond to a group member's posting in http://fivers2k.com/fppsm/. You must respond at least six times to different postings made by your groupmembers. Each reponse should be 10 sentences or more.
There are two different topics and you will have to respond 3 times to each topic. Total responses - 6 (3 responses to each topic as listed in your group)
Have a nice holiday (again).
This is an individual task.
Any questions? Ask Pn. Adlina { adlina@cyllene.uwa.edu.au}
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