This document discusses using blogs as living portfolios for students in a classroom. The blogs streamline submission and evaluation of assignments while also developing basic web skills. All coursework, including written assignments, technical work, images, and videos, are presented on student blogs. This allows work to be easily submitted, evaluated, and revised. It also encourages students to write for an audience and take ownership of their work. While the blogs connect classroom work, students rarely engage with each other's blogs. Overall, blogs provide an effective way to curate digital work and integrate multimedia assignments into a course.

1. The Blog as Living Portfolio
Thomas J. Castillo
Department of Theatre and Film
tjcasti@bgsu.edu
Overview
Less a specific activity than an organizing principle, this approach to the blog-assisted classroom uses blogs as living
portfolio spaces. Here, blogs are used as the student's “homebase” for the majority of their coursework, providing a
space where material can be posted, presented, evaluated, and revised where needed. In addition to streamlining
certain aspects of course administration for both teacher and student, the use of blogs also integrates the development
of basic Web 2.0 skills in an organic fashion rather than as a distinct module or assignment.
Teaching and Learning Objectives
-Streamline submission and evaluation of classroom activities and creative work.
-Extend the learning environment beyond the four walls of the classroom.
-Promote basic Web 2.0 literacy.
-Enhance student ownership of and engagement in course assignments and activities.
-Encourage written reflection and articulation in a production environment.
Higher-Order Thinking Skills Addressed
-Analysis
-Evaluation
-Creation
Description
This method of course organization has been implemented in THFM 1710: Applied Aesthetics, a foundational
cinema/media production course. The course primarily utilizes BGSU Blogs, a free Wordpress-powered blogging
system for the BGSU community. Anyone with a valid school username and password can log into this system and
activate a blog. Many institutions include some sort of school-administered blogging platform, though any number
of free commercial tools can also be utilized or adapted to course needs.
The course has a number of components, all of which are integrated into a blog structure for presentation, evaluation,
and revision. Some of the course components are written assignments. Some are technical in nature. Some are based
on imagery, either found or created, and some are creative works in video format. All of the course components
leverage the multimedia capabilities of blogs. Blogging platforms are very supportive of multimedia and can easily
leverage free media hosting services such as Flickr (images), Vimeo (video), Slideshare (Powerpoint-style
presentations) or Soundcloud (audio). In all of these ways, the blogging platform is very consistent with and
supportive of broader course goals, such as building competency with technical aspects of digital filmmaking and
developing an awareness of design and presentation.

2. While the blogging platform is
very supportive of multimedia, it
also presents a space where
writing is valued and can be easily
integrated into production
assignments. The multimedia
capabilities offer a way to either
integrate students' original works,
or provide clear visual examples,
such as in the film analysis
assignment show here.
Here, a student
provides valuable
context for each image
in an easily formatted
manner. From a
classroom
administration
standpoint, this is is a
very easy way of
submitting
multimedia-intensive
activities. In addition,
these activities can be
easily presented in class
by simply calling up a
webpage.

3. Spelling issues aside, the blogging
platform here allows a student to
both present a found image and
describe why it fulfills certain
visual parameters. Here, a blog is
used for evaluation and analysis in
addition to providing a basic
presentation format.
Here, the blog is
used to
demonstrate the
student's work
with Photoshop
image editing
software, as well as
provide a reflective
narrative that
provides context
for the meaning of
the image and how
the student
approached the
project from a
creative and
technical
standpoint.

4. In this examples, the blog is used as
portfolio space where work can be
collected and presented.
Here, a student creates a written reflection
that accompanies the presentation of his
work.
In this example, a student
embeds a Vimeo video player
to present a music video
project.

5. One of the downsides of the blogging platform. After a period of roughly a year, video embeds disappear. This
appears to be unique to BGSU's blogging system, and should not be a problem with outside services. In the cases of
creative projects, students submit a “digital hard copy” to the instructor for archiving.
Reflection and Challenges
Overall, this approach has been very successful in addressing some key challenges of the 21st
-Century learning
environment. For one, the proliferation of digital tools means more ways to approach the learning environment and
expanding out-of-classroom learning possibilities, but it often also more things to forget. Here, those digital tools are
presented in a more curated fashion via the blogging platform. All assignments are funneled toward the blog, which
makes course administration very simple for both student and teacher.
The blogging platform encourages students to write for an audience, even if it is just the teacher. Assignments and
activities, both big and small, start to exist within a design and presentation paradigm that is the responsibility of the
student rather than a checksheet or gradebook paradigm that reduces smaller activities and orientations to busywork
that never sees the light of day. In addition, it is a “living” space where student creative or applied work can easily be
revised and reposted. That said, the audience for these blogs is very limited. Students rarely engage with each other's
blogs, and the classroom environment remains crucial to building community and providing students the venue to
share their work with one another.
Finally, blogs provide an environment where words, images and video can live together fairly seamlessly and literacy
can be approached from numerous angles, from the authoring and design of the blog itself, to the use of images and
video to embody ideas and concepts, and from the written word to provide context and reflection.
Technology and security are always significant issues, and the BGSU blogs system specifically limits the design
options available to students. Still, it provides an easily integrated blogging platform with security options that can
limit the audience to those in the BGSU community.
Additional Reading
Hsien Tang Lin, Tsai-Hsing Kuo ., and Shyan-Ming Yuan . "A Web-Based Learning Portfolio Framework Built on
Blog Services." Information Technology Journal 6.6 (2007): 858-64.
Sascha Zuger. "How it's done: Yes, Blogs Allowed." Tech & Learning 30.9 (2010): 18.