Monday, June 7, 2010

SELF-EVALUATION FOR BLOG OWNERS

SELF–EVALUATION FOR BLOG OWNERS

1.Explain the steps you went through during the preparation stage of your own blog (i.e., how you set up the blog, how you chose the layout and the group name, how you collaborated within the group, how you decided on the job division, your selection criteria for the relevant materials that you put in your blog, the sources of the blog materials, any difficulties (i.e., technical difficulties, etc) that you experienced while preparing your blog, the length of blog preparation)
2.Reflect on the blog preparation experience as a group ( mention your feelings about the group work experience, the effectiveness of the group work, how effective you think the blog preparation experience is for you, the benefits that you think you have made by preparing the blog, the things that you have learned through the blog preparation experience, the aspects that you like about your own blog, the aspects that you would like to change about your blog) .
3.Choose the interesting comments that you have obtained in relation to the the entries in your blog (including the comments on the video extract and the discussion questions) and explain why you find them interesting.

15 comments:

  1. 1)As our topic is given by the instructor, we started to our work with searching the given topic.We determined main points and important aspects our topic.We categorized the topic.Through the internet, we found useful information and revised it so that we could present the most striking points to our friends. We also prepared a powerpoint instead of video. However we couldn't be able to share it with our friends in our blog because uploading ppts is not possible. So we uploaded it another site and gave its link.


    2)For benefits of the group work, since the workload was divided, we did not feel overloaded or experince any problem while studying. It was good to hear somebody else's ideas about the same work and to create different activities. Moreover since our topic is related to our major, it was really useful to learn more in detail. On the other hand, we had some problems while getting together because of the different exam dates. All in all we enjoyed doing it together.
    3)Since there is no comment made by our friends, we cannot reflect our ideas.
    Canan Kılıç& Gülşen Özsan

    ReplyDelete
  2. 1)First of all we created a blog on a specific topic which was given by the instructer so there was no necessity for deciding on the topic. It was one benefit because if the topic was not clear, we could have had some problems to decide on the topic since we were a group. Before starting arrange our blog first thing was the division of the job. We all shared what to do and started our searching. We found related document and materials which we would use for our blog. After we collected all we found, we uploaded them on our blog. Deciding blog's name was not difficult because we all decided that the name shuld reflect the topic so it named as Affective(Personlity) Factors. As for the technical problems, we actually did not have much because we are used to blogger.
    2) We always wrote only comments on blogs before but this time we created our own blog. This was really a good experiance. As for the group working, I think it always work. It was useful because when you could not decide on what to do you can consult other members and you gave a rational decision together. It was also useful in terms of job division. Sharing duties made our work easier.
    3) There is no comment yet so I could not mention about my thoughts.

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  3. 1. First of all we wanted our blog to be different an extraordinary. So we searched for some creative themes, from the internet. We found a werbsite which designs different themes. We chose one of them. It made our blog more colorful. Then, we decided our group's name. Since our topic is sociocultural factors, we wanted to name it like that, but the system did not accept it. So, we add e m and a letters to the end of it. Because they were the capital letters of our names, Elif,Mert and Alp. When it comes to Şerafettin, the other member of our group, we thought the capital letter of his name is already there. so we only added e m and a. While preparing the content, Alp did the most difficult work. He foundd the articles from the internet. Mert and Şerafettin found some media, i mean videos and pictures. What i did was to design the data we found and prepare a questionarrie. The Hardest part of the blog process was finding what we were searching for. We were suprisingly unable to find data easily. We kept meeting difficulties but eventualy we reached what we wanted. We prepared a good looking blog.
    2. Working as a group while preparing a blog has both advantages and disadvantages. First of all, it makes everything faster. But deciding who is supposed to do what takes a long time. There are also other issues such as decidig to the content; whether the articles or pictures are appropriate, if the design is nice etc. One of the disadvantages is that everybody has different interests and enjoyment. While one of us likes something, others don't. It can lead some arguements sometimes but apart from that, i can say that it is fine and enjoyable.
    3. Unfortunately, nobody has visited our blog yet:( So there is nothing for us to say for now...

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  4. 1-Our process started with creating a blog as to upload what we were going to write about our topic which was determined by the instructor. After doing that, we started to research on the internet about the topic, we evaluated what we found and selected the articles, videos, pictures, documents or any other things related to our topic. Actually, we couldn’t any big problems while preparing useful and related documents; however, problems started to meet us when we came to upload all things we prepared to the blog. We first decided to upload them one by one according to their titles as they were too long, we uploaded the first one of them but we realized that they were uploaded on different pages on the blog so we got together them again and we saw that all editions we had done on the document did not appear when we upload it to the blog so we rearranged all things on the blog edition page again and again and this took most of our time as it processed too slowly. Moreover, although we found several videos related to our topic, we couldn’t upload them to the blog and so we uploaded only links of them under the suggested videos part on our blog. And also, as some articles were too long to upload, we gave their links under the suggested reading part.

    2- It is nice to have other people apart from you to consult or take advice or share the workload; however, group work has some disadvantages. For instance, as we all had different exams or plans, we had difficulty in arranging our meeting time, but we solved in a short time and found a suitable time for all of us. Moreover, preparing something enjoying (making jokes, laughing, drinking and eating something together) is nicer than preparing alone in a silent and boring atmosphere. And also, sometimes somebody else can think what you cannot and this is a plus for the thing which is prepared.

    3- As there haven’t been any comments by our friends so far, we cannot reflect our thoughts.

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  5. Actually we have answered to these questions in our blog. However, we have betetr to upload it here, too.
    1. Since it is a group work, we first gathered and discussed what we could do for our blog and we divided the subjects according to number of group members. When we gathered for the second time, we got an account for our blog. Then, we discussed about our blog title and we decided to choose “Learning Styles and Strategies” which is also the topic for our blog. After that, we chose our blog name according to the first letters of the names of our group members. For the layout, we wanted to have a different one other than the classical ones. When we found it, we said that “It is the blog layout, that is the blog layout.” We found it coincidently. Except Deniz, we all stay in dormitory, so it was easy for us to come together and prepare our blog. As we divided the subjects before, we gathered again and started to form our blog. We searched for videos, articles and questionnaires to upload our blog. When we came together, we discussed about them and selected among them the most appropriate ones. Choosing them was difficult for us because everyone had a different opinion about them. Therefore, it was a bit hard to decide on which article and questionnaire we would upload to our blog. However, we agreed on the videos easily. Our main source was our course pack and for the articles, questionnaires and videos we used and searched a lot on the internet. While uploading the materials to our blog, we had difficulties. As we wrote our materials by using Microsoft word, the place of materials changed when we uploaded them to our blog. It took a lot of time to arrange them again. Another difficulty that we had was that we couldn’t upload any picture to our blog as we wanted. Because whenever we tried to do it, the pictures went at the beginning of the subjects but we didn’t want them to be placed there. We started to upload our materials to our blog and we thought that the order of the materials would be from the oldest to the latest ones. However, that wasn’t the case. So we had to upload all the materials again. It was also a tiring problem for us while preparing our blog. We gathered from time to time to finish preparing our blog. As we had final exams and other projects, we had difficulty in arranging time to meet for preparing our blog.

    2. we must confess that the blog system was not so new for us because we used blog for some courses before. Therefore, being accustomed to a system and working with it was enjoyable for us. We had fun while preparing our blog. Actually, we found working as a group so effective and useful because we had a chance to share our opinions and we did brainstorming. As a result of this group work, we both learned effectively and our work became much easier. While preparing our blog and searching for our subject, we got so much information about the subject. Now, we know a lot about learning styles and strategies. We think that the information we got while preparing our blog will be very useful for us when we become foreign language teachers. Another point which we will mention is using some sites like blogger in which people can share their materials with other people for educational purposes is very modern and useful. We all know that technology and internet are two of the most important and indispensable elements of today’s world. We think that blogger is so useful and this site will be helpful for our following projects in other courses. Although the blog caused a lot of work, we liked it very much especially the organization. First of all, we found our layout so bright and there is nothing that we want to change. It is just marvelousJ Now it is time for you to have a look at our blog JJJ

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  6. 1) During the preparation process, we had some difficulties because of our busy schedule. We had some other final projects for other courses so we were under pressure and full of stress. Except this, we came together on a suitable day and brainstormed for the name of our group. We decided on "Quattro Stelle" that means "four stars" in English =)After that, we looked at the alternative layouts and chose the pink one which seems more lovely. First of all, we prepared an outline and according to it, we searched articles, reading materials, pictures and videos individually so as to decide the most suitable ones for our blog. We arranged other general researches all together and we gave agreed decisions related to our publications. We chose the materials which are brief, neat, more attractive and understandable. We tried to draw the readers’ attention with the help of these various materials. In order to prevent any confusion, we preferred to give the sources of our materials immediately after each publication. When it comes to the difficulties we experienced, it was a bit hard for us to add a poll to our blog. Despite the fact that we used eblogger before, we did never use this feature but it was nice to discover something new. In addition, we couldn’t organize one of our article’s page layout on our blog. Finally, finding original and effective materials is another difficult process during our preparation part.

    2) As a group including well-matched members, we had no difficulty in our job. Thanks to this group work, our effectiveness and creativity were affected in a positive way. Because we are intimate in our friendship, we didn’t hesitate to share our different opinions and brainstorm about the ideas freely. It was quite a cooperative work which we enjoyed while working. Every member conrtibuted to the organization and publication process. Actually, we did like our blog and embrace it. Therefore, there isn’t any complaint or displeasure according to our point of view. Furthermore, this work was so beneficial for us because we did practice and discover eblogger for our further studies.

    3) Unfortunately, nobody has commented on our blog yet  Therefore, we couldn’t express any opinion about this question.

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  7. We did not have problem on deciding what to do because the inmstructer gave it to us.. therefore we could easily make our minds and started to search. But firstly, we made our work load equal. We shared what toı do among us. Everybody found his or her related topic and work and then we uploaded them onm our blog. Deciding blog's name was not difficult because it should be an academic one and then we decided to name it as ‘’personal factors’’. Using blogger is not so easy but we were used to do it therefore it was not so challenging for us.
    2) it was a different experince for us to create a new blog instead of commenting on others blog. It is easy to change what your friend has done so far. It is nice to follow one another.
    3) There is no comment yet so I could not mention about my opinion.

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  8. We used the blogger before but we just wrote comments and news. This time we would create our own group blog.I am not good at using computer. Fortunately two of my group memebers use blogger this year in one of their lesson so they created it easily. We chose the layout together everybody suggested one layout but I like the green so much they didn't upset me and our blog's color became green.We didn't think so much on group name. As our subject is personality factors, we used the same name for our blog. Firstly, we gather
    information about our subject individually. We found a lot of interesting pictures and suggested readings. We kept them as a word document. Then we collected them together
    and made arrangement on word document. We decided how many pictures and articles we use in our blog and select most appropriate ones.However, while uploading
    them, we had a lot of difficulty.The colors we chose for our writings weren't seen, they were all black and also when we uploaded our pictures, every writing we uploaded before became disordered. We made arrangements again and again. After hours we finished the uploading now video time.Before starting to record we shared and thought what we talk about.
    We tried to be natural and if one of our friends had difficulty while speaking we would have started to speak but fortunately everyone talked perfectly. We assumed that we finished everything
    unfortunately while uploading our video to our blog we had an important problem. The capacity of the blogger is much more smaller than our video. Our video lasted 8 minutes, it is long and as we use camera in a high quality, we couldn't upload it. Furthermore, we couldn't send it via gmail to our teacher:(
    2.Despite these obstacles, I had great fun while preparing our blog. When we were tired, we gave break for tea or eating something. We talked, laughed and enjoyed.Group work is both enjoyable and much more easier than the individual work. You know that you are not alone. If you make a mistake, your friend will correct it.
    Also there are a lot of interesting ideas proposed what we do for our blog.Group work is useful for us to see the things from different angle.
    3.Since there is no comment made by our friends, we cannot reflect our ideas.

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  9. 1-since our topic was given by our instructor,we did not waste time thinking of our topic. firstly, we decided what to do an then we divided the work. because we have 5 people in our group, the workload was not much. and the most important thing was my group members know their responsibilities. when everybody works properly, all homeworks can be done easiliy. so i am glad to study with my group friends.and as our topic is affective factors, we decided that using a proper name is better than the others in terms of clearity.

    2-As I said above, working with as group especially with my group friends is very enjoyable since all of us know our reponsabilities. This was the first time W prepared a blog and I think it is very effective and useful.because the internet is very common, when we become a teacher, we can use this method for our students. with this way, students can learn the subject without getting bored.

    3) There is no comment yet so I could not mention about my thoughts.

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  10. 1) As our topic was one the topics we like to read or work on, we enjoyed preparing our blog. Fisrt we made the job division. We chose two people for the MI theory and two for NLP. Then we set up our blog, we had some different ideas about its layout, then chose a nice template and I must say that Şakir really made effort to make it look nice. After our blog page is ready, each individual of our group started to search for their parts and we one by one posted our topics and the pictures we chose. When all the topics were posted and we went over them to see if there is anything unsuitable or missing, we searched for videos to add to our posts. After finally posting our discussion questions and link for an MI test, our blog was ready, and I think we did a good job.
    2) Since we goup work many times before, we did not have much difficulty though it was sometimes took time to decide on things because each of us had different opinions and preferences. I sometimes find group work useless because it prolonges the time spent on the work, but this time it was ok to work within a group. For the benefits of the blog preparation, I must admit that it gave me a chance to make a further reading on our topic and it was also enjoying at the same time. The aspects of our blog I like most are its nice look, tidiness of the topics and sufficeint but not too long summaries.
    3) I would like to talk about my friends comments on our blog but there has not been any comment posted yet.

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  11. 1-)Blogger is very easy to use and arrange according to needs of our topic. We can add many gadgets and pictures according to our topic. It is very entertaining to prepare a blog for a lesson or subject. However, we have a problem about some specialty of the blogger. The order of the blogger is arranged according to publishing time. It created an important problem for the blog. We couldn’t arrange the order and I deleted all of the content and write them again in order to have a suitable topic order for our blog. This is the most annoying stage for me while creating the blog. One of the difficulties we encountered is the videos. We uploaded a video of our own but I waited for hours to finish the loading. After hours of waiting we cannot watch our video. 2-) Preparing a blog with group members is very easy and funny. All members prepare a subject about our topic and we brought them together and create our blog very fast. But we have some problems about the. The only difficulty in preparing the blog is coming together. Each friend has something to do and we cannot arrange a suitable time for creating the blog together.

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  12. 1)First of all the most difficult part is deciding the topic but our teacher gave the topic to us. We only divide the responsibilities. Each member of the group do her own work and we brought it together. When all of the members give importance to the responsibility that they have, there is no difficulty in organizing and gather the information. We have many difficulties in videos. We couldn't upload them and we have another difficulty in gadgets. They change the content of the videos. It is very annoying.
    2) Group work is very useful in preparing these kind of projects but we have many difficulty in finding suitable time for meeting. As we divided the work, each works alone and we brought them together in one day and we prepare the blog easily. However, group work sometimes becomes obstacle for each person.

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  13. 1) We came together and talk about design and content of our blog.The topic was already given by our instructor.So it was not necessary to make brainstorming about it.We decide on what every groupmember has to search for and prepare until the next meeting.So everybody had a certain work.The next time we came together we collected all the work of the groupmembers and put it in a logical order.We decided what was of great importance and what we could abolish.
    With great ideas of all groupmembers we create our blog.Naming our blog was also no matter for us, since we all agree on that,that the name should reflect the topic.So we decide on the name Affective Factors.

    2)It was really nice to work in a group.Especially working with my groupmembers.We have a lot of fun while we were preparing this blog.First of all, it is psychologically more easy to work in a group, since you share your work and your mistakes.It is easier to overcome a negative comment on your work when you work in a group than working alone.
    Secondly, It is so enjoyable to work with friends, because the athmosphere is always relaxed and when we have a little break we have a lot of to talk about.Especially Sevda:) has always flash news:))))
    So to sum up we have great pleasure of working together.The only handycap of groupwork is to arrange a common suitable time to meet.Since we don't live in the same dormitary or even on the campus,we had sometimes a little bit problems to come together.However,this was not a main problem for us.

    3)There were no comments:(

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  14. 1-Firstly, it is very enjoyable and advantegous to work as a group.You can easily see what others think and in the end you come up with different ideas like a rainbow. Although it was a torture for us to upload the videos and the gadgets made us really furious, it was nice to divide the work.Everybody searched for their own subject and send all the gatherings to our friend who was responsible for uploading the materials.
    2-It is really relieving to work together because you share the responsibilities.You come together,you laugh together,you get tired together. The only difficulty is timing. Eveybody has his/her programm and it is difficult to come together.

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  15. 1) I did not get involved in a group for the blog preparation. It first seemed difficult to be on your own, but i could easily deal with it. I chose my topic and started to do research on it. Firstly, i found some materials to introduce the topic. I myself added my own thoughts in some parts. I supported the articles with pictures in some parts. I put a table of affective factors. Lastly, i added some articles that i found on the internet in order my friends visiting my blog to be able to do further reading on the topic.

    2) The question is not available for me since i did not work in a group.

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