Blog

Earlier in education there was a black board method very popular among teachers and learners but with the development of Computer Assisted Language Learning CALL, the Place has been taken by Computer screens. In the second Part of Integrative CALL many Web 2.0 tools and techniques came into existence. One such useful tool for language learning is Blog. 

 What is a Blog? 

Blog is a website Containing a writer or a group of writers' own experiences, observations, opinions, etc. and often having images and links to other websites. 

Dictionary.com 

The word 'Blog' is a condensed version of weblog which is a term to explore websites to maintain the information from the blogger's Point of view. It is a web site that enables organizations or us to share ideas and information quickly. 

 

Blogs usually provide Commentary or information on a particular issue, event or topic. In some cases, blogs can be about personal experiences or events or even in a form of diary too. A Blog is usually maintained by a single Person  or a small group of contributors. Visitors to the blog can comment on  the entries made or respond to comments made by other visitors.

History of Blog

The term Weblog was coined by Barger  Jorn on 17th December 1997. The short form blog was coined by Peter Merholz in 1999. Blogger.com was coined by Evan Williams at Pyra Labs. He used blog both as a noun and  verb -To blog means to edit one's weblog or to post to one's weblog. 

Evan Williams and Meg Hourihan (Pyra Labs) launched Blogger.com in August 1993  was Purchased by Google in 2003.

Uses of Blog:

There are a variety of purposes to use a Blog. We can Connect with So many People and clients at once: they can also comment on Specific Posts. Blogs can facilitate individuals who have an unusual Perception of a subject to discuss it in their own words. 

 

Features of Blog :

• Create Posts :

Since the purpose of a blog is to be able to post the new text or information to the site frequently, creating a blog and to publish it is quite easy. 

• Multimedia and Pictures: 

Pretty much all blogs allow you to upload Pictures on blog posts. Some will also enable to upload video and audio too But to upload video, a huse space and costly data are needed So, it's advisable to put a link instead of uploading video. 

• Configure the Appearance and Layout: 

Blog Provides various tools i.e. theme, plugins, design, text editors, and many more options So that the appearance of a blog can be decided by the blogger as per his/her choice or what suits the particular field. 

 

• Moderate :

Different platforms on blogs provide varying degrees of spam protection and moderation features to weed out unwanted contributions or irrelevant comments. 

• Create Link: 

While writing blogs, writers can create a  link of a specific word or Phrase. So that a reader can open it and know more about the topic. 

• Blog Comments: 

Readers can make very good and constructive comments on blog posts. Blog Provides Comment box, in which readers can comment, it can be replied and through it reader connect to author and other readers as well. 

• Social Media Sharing:

Author can share his/her Blog Posts on Various Social Networking Sites, i.e. Facebook, WhatsApp, etc. And also readers can share blog posts. 

Platforms of Blog 

• Wix 
• Joomla 
• WordPress 
• Yola 
• HubPages 
• Contentful 
• Jekyll 
• Tumblr 
• Medium 
• Blogger 

Types of Blog: 

1. Personal Blog 
2. Micro Blogging 
3. Blogging Communities 

Advantages and Disadvantages of Blog: 

Advantages:

• Blogs help to create connections between students and teachers and with Parents well.
• Blogs are helpful to improve Students' reading and writing skills. 
• Blogs also develop Іст Skills of Students. 
• Collaborative blogs Support team work and group learning.  
• The use of blogs Prepares students for the current market. It creates students identity not limited to his/her classroom but infront of global education world. 
• Blogs  are helpful to learn various languages.
• Blogs are helpful to learn about different cultures of different People from various Places.
• Discussions in weblogs Promote higher levels of thinking because People can think before answering back.

Disadvantages

• With the use of blog Students can not improve Speaking Skills. 
• Access to the internet is needed to publish blogs and because of this students who come from rural areas can't work Properly because of some network issues.