翻译《如何在教室中（不）使用网志》

How (Not) To Use Blogs in the Classroom

如何在教室中（不）使用网志

Ruth Reynard's Avoiding the 5 Most Common Mistakes in Using Blogs with Students (via Stephen Downes) has some good guidelines for using blogs in the classroom. Reynard teaches graduate students, but her five mistakes to avoid are sound for all levels:

雷鲁思的《避免学生在使用网志时的五种常见错误》对于在教室中使用网志具有一些很好的指导作用。雷鲁思老师教授研究生，但是他要求避免的五个错误可用于各级学生：

• 
  Ineffective contextualization
  


• 
  Unclear learning outcomes
  


• 
  Misuse of the environment
  


• 
  Elusive grading practices
  


• 
  Inadequate time allocation
  


• 
  任务脱离实际
  


• 
  学习目标模糊
  


• 
  滥用工具环境
  


• 
  评价操作晦涩
  


• 
  时间分配不当
  
  

These principles actually work for any course assignment or technology. For instance, it helps students if they understand the purpose of a particular assignment. If they consider something to be busy work, motivation will be lower and their work can reflect their perception of the assignment. And so on.

这些标准适用于所有课程任务或技术。例如，如果学生们理解特定任务的目的的话，这些标准就能帮助学生。如果他们认为某件事情任务很重，就会降低动机，他们的工作能反映他们对任务的认识。等等。

Reynard's article is similar to two older, brief posts by James Farmer. Misuse of the environment refers to what Farmer wrote about not using blogs for purposes they're not intended, in which he includes discussion boards, listservs, learning management systems, and group blogs. Ineffective contextualization is similar to his assertion that blogs "should be key, task driven, elements of your course".

雷鲁思的文章有些类似于农展早先两篇简短帖子。滥用工具环境指向农展所写《不要无目的写网志》，在文中提及公告板、列表服务器、学习管理系统，以及小组网志。任务脱离实际类似于他在网志《成为引导、任务驱动，涉及课程内容》中的主张。

Reynard goes into more depth than Farmer's brief posts (but see his article Blogs @ Anywhere: High-Fidelity Online Communication. Even so they take similar perspectives.

雷鲁思比农展的简短帖子谈得更深入（参看他的帖子《网志无处不在：高保真的在线通讯》），即便如此，他们有着类似的看法。

Reynard writes,

雷鲁思写到：

In the case of blogging, the most effective use of this tool is in the area of self reflection or thought processing. As such, there must be concepts for students to think through, various resources and content segments to process, or ideas to construct. To simply ask students to blog without this level of planning will lead to frustration for the students. In other words, there must be a certain amount of content preparation already covered or made accessible for students before blogging will really support the learning process.

就写日志而言，其最大的作用在于自省或思维处理过程。因此，必须有各种概念让学生深入思考，有多种资源和内容可供处理，有各种观点可供创建。简单的要求学生写网志，而没有相应层次的规划，会挫伤学生积极性。换而言之，在学生开始写日志之前，必须涉足一定数量的内容，或者这些内容要易于获取，以支持学习过程。

Self-reflection is certainly one reason why I have a blog. But is it "the most effective use of this tool"? It's not clear to me, but she seems to be equating self-reflection with thinking through ideas. Self-reflection for me is learning about myself, who I am, and where I'm going. It might also be about examining how I learn. But thinking through ideas is more about problem-solving and learning about the ideas, which may or may not include reflecting about myself and my learning.

自省肯定是我为什么写日志的原因之一，但它是“使用此工具的最主要因素”？我不清楚，但他似乎将自省与深入思考观点等同起来。对我而言，自省是关于我自己的学习，我是谁，以及我要去哪里，可能还包括我如何学习。但是深入思考一种观点更多涉及学习和解决这种观点，其中可能或可能不包含对自己和自我学习的反思。

I definitely disagree with the following excerpt:

我绝不同意以下摘录：

While a blog can also provide social placement of students or academic placement of students within a group, blogs are fundamentally individual in their purpose and essence. That is, while comments can be added or ideas posted following a blog entry, these sit outside the initial posting--blogs are not wikis or online discussion forums, therefore, if individual self-reflection is the central benefit to the learning process, instructors must plan carefully as to when in the course self-reflection will enhance the learning process for each student.

虽然日志也能为学生在一个团队内提供社会位置或学术位置，但是从用途和本质上讲，日志根本就是个人的。也就是说，虽然在帖子底下添加评论或观点，但它们依然在原帖之外——网志不是维基或者在线论坛，因此，如果个人的自省是学习过程的最大益处，教师必须仔细规划课程的时间安排，使得自省能够增强每个学生的学习过程。

Yes, my blog, for instance, has my purpose and my essence. But its purpose and essence are not independent of the purposes and essences of other blogs. Rather, it's influenced, even shaped, by its interactions with those other blogs. That is, I read what others are posting and respond to them, and they may do likewise, in an iterative fashion. Thus, others' posts do not "sit outside the initial posting" nor does the "initial posting" sit outside of them, but they are interconnected in an ongoing conversational web consisting of parallel posts in my blog's case and, in the case of others, via posts and comments. Thus, blogs are fundamentally social.

使得，事实上，我写网志，有我的目的和原因。但是这目的和原因并不独立于其他网志的目的和原因。相反，通过与其他网志的相互作用，它也受到影响，甚至直接作用。也就是说，我阅读别人的帖子，回复他们，他们也这样做，如此反复。因此，别人的帖子并不“在原帖之外”，也不是说“原帖”在评论和回复之外。在我的网志里，他们在一种与帖子同时存在的不断前进的网页会话中相互关联，在其他情况下，是通过帖子和评论发生关联。因此，网志从根本上是社会性的。

Paradoxically, what can facilitate social learning is the individualization of blogs, as Farmer notes in his article:

奇怪的是，个性化的网志能够促进社会化学习，正如农展在其文章中注意到的那样：

Indeed, for MacColl et al. the individualisation of the blogging experience was significant in that it allowed for the students to express themselves through “heavily customising their blogs and requesting more advanced functionality”. This control over information is, they surmise, critical to “fostering appropriation of the technology for unintended uses” and plays heavily in their future plans to “explore extensions that approximate the fluency of a shared paper-based journal, as a basis for the serendipitous backtalk that reveals unanticipated problems or surprise opportunities”. Invariably, it would seem, aggregation and individualisation would play a key role in this.

实际上，对于麦克科尔等人而言，网志的个性化体验意义重大，他们允许学生通过“高度重定制他们自己的日志，并使用更多高级功能”来表达自己。他们猜测，这种对信息的控制，关键在于“促进在无意识使用中的技术获得”，并大力执行他们对于“探索接近共享传统杂志那样流畅的扩展，作为偶然回话，即显露意外问题或惊喜的机会的基础”的未来计划。一般而言，这将意味着，聚合和个性化在这中间将扮演关键角色。

Although Farmer doesn't use the term "autonomy," it can be understood through the terms "customising," student "control over information," "unintended uses," "serendipitous backtalk," and, of course, "individualisation." Note that it is self-determination within a context of social interaction via aggregation that fosters autonomy and also learning.

虽然农展并没有使用词语“自主”，但通过词语“定制”，学生“对信息的控制”，“无意识使用”，“偶然回话”，当然还有“个性化”，依然可以理解。注意，这是通过聚合在社会交互环境中的自决，能培养自主以及学习。

Related post:

相关文章：

How to Use Blogs in the Classroom

如何在教室中使用网志

http://secondlanguagewriting.com/explorations/Archives/2008/October/HowNotToUseBlogsintheCla.html