8/8/2019 ITSRG Presentation: Assessment of Student Use of Blogs in the BITS Program

1/30

The Blog: A Tool in Youth

Technology Instruction and GISDevelopment.

Fatima Abbas

Temple University

November 1, 2006

Presented at the Race, Ethnicity and Place

Conference of the Association of American

Geographers held at Texas State University

in San Marcos, TX

8/8/2019 ITSRG Presentation: Assessment of Student Use of Blogs in the BITS Program

2/30

Purpose

The following presentation addresses the

question of whether the blog can serve

as a tool in the development of basicgeographical skills among high school

students as well as an apparatus that

enhances the development of a community

Geographic Information System (GIS).

8/8/2019 ITSRG Presentation: Assessment of Student Use of Blogs in the BITS Program

3/30

Outline

Introduction to Blogs and GIS in education

Organizations Background

Methods

Analysis

Conclusion

8/8/2019 ITSRG Presentation: Assessment of Student Use of Blogs in the BITS Program

4/30

Blogs

Websites featuring shortand dated entries inreverse chronologicalorder.

Enables commentary,Trackback andPermalinks

Free hosting Software-Typepad, Xanga andBlogspot.

8/8/2019 ITSRG Presentation: Assessment of Student Use of Blogs in the BITS Program

5/30

Blogs In Education

Publishing knowledge construction.

Improves verbal and digital literacy.

Enhance collaborative learning

Contextualization of Knowledge.

Knowledge Management.

8/8/2019 ITSRG Presentation: Assessment of Student Use of Blogs in the BITS Program

6/30

GIS

System that enablesand performsmanipulation andanalysis of spatial

data.

Warehouses spatialand attribute data .

Displaysgeographicallyreferenced data inmapped form.

8/8/2019 ITSRG Presentation: Assessment of Student Use of Blogs in the BITS Program

7/30

Community GIS

Community of non-professionals collectsdata and constructs aGIS, or professionals aid

a community inconstructing a GIS.

Uses mainstream andopen-source software toconstruct a GIS.Ex.Google Earth, NasasWorld Wind.

Doesnt perform analysis.

8/8/2019 ITSRG Presentation: Assessment of Student Use of Blogs in the BITS Program

8/30

GIS in K-12 Education

Tool to introduce students to spatial

analysis using project based learning.

Enhances student collaboration and

spatial reasoning.

Improves students attitudes toward

technology.

8/8/2019 ITSRG Presentation: Assessment of Student Use of Blogs in the BITS Program

9/30

Problems

Software is expensive.

Teachers lack training.

Schools lack proper equipment.

In 2001 only 2% of schools used GIS intheir education programs.

8/8/2019 ITSRG Presentation: Assessment of Student Use of Blogs in the BITS Program

10/30

Building Information Technology

Skills(bITS) ITEST Program

Three Goals

Provide inner-city public school students withbasic geography skills and knowledge

Create a community GIS

Expose students to career exploration inscience, technology, engineering and math

(STEM) fields

8/8/2019 ITSRG Presentation: Assessment of Student Use of Blogs in the BITS Program

11/30

bITS Continuation

Three year research project funded by aNSF ITEST Grant

Participants are largely African Americanand Hispanic students from NorthPhiladelphia high schools

Comprised of three semesters. 90students/semester.120/summer semester

8/8/2019 ITSRG Presentation: Assessment of Student Use of Blogs in the BITS Program

12/30

Semester Work

Field Trips

Lectures

Neighborhood and

Community Maps

Blog/weekly report

Discussions

8/8/2019 ITSRG Presentation: Assessment of Student Use of Blogs in the BITS Program

13/30

8/8/2019 ITSRG Presentation: Assessment of Student Use of Blogs in the BITS Program

14/30

8/8/2019 ITSRG Presentation: Assessment of Student Use of Blogs in the BITS Program

15/30

Methods

Summer 2006

Cluster Sampling

N= 16. 50% Female. 50% Male. Ages- 14-17

81.25% were African American, 12.5% Asian,

and 6.25% Puerto Rican

8/8/2019 ITSRG Presentation: Assessment of Student Use of Blogs in the BITS Program

16/30

Research Design

Semi-structured individual interviews

Analysis of blog design

Qualitative review of GIS and Blogs

8/8/2019 ITSRG Presentation: Assessment of Student Use of Blogs in the BITS Program

17/30

Interview Questions

1. A. What was your previous experience with geography and map-making?

2. A. Describe your level of comfort in building a blog.

B. Were you previously exposed to or aware of this technology?

C. Do you believe the blog enhanced your understanding of

geographical skills via your journal entries and map-buildingexercises?

D. Did the blog structure your learned lessons i.e. making thepurpose of the lectures, field trips, map exercise, and otheractivities seem more cohesive?

3. A. Did the program enhance or expand your understanding of

geography?B. Did it enhance your understanding of community and/or the

facets that compose it?

C. Do you believe the development of a blog played a role in thisexpansion?

8/8/2019 ITSRG Presentation: Assessment of Student Use of Blogs in the BITS Program

18/30

Blog Analysis

Three Criteria

1. Post of Google Earth Map

2. Post of Pictures

3. Post Descriptions

8/8/2019 ITSRG Presentation: Assessment of Student Use of Blogs in the BITS Program

19/30

Interview Results

69% of students were

aware of the Blog

technology.

87.5% felt the Blogenhanced their

understanding of

geography.

93.75% felt the Blog

structured lessons.0.00%

20.00%

40.00%

60.00%

80.00%

100.00%

Easy Medium Hard

Blog Ease of Use

Geography in High

School

44%56%

Some

Geography in

High School

No Geography

in High School

8/8/2019 ITSRG Presentation: Assessment of Student Use of Blogs in the BITS Program

20/30

Question 3 Results

81.25% felt the program

enhanced their

understanding of

geography.

93.75% felt it improved

their understanding of

community.

62.5% felt the blog was

centralto their increase ingeographical knowledge. 0.00

10.0020.00

30.0040.000.00

60.0070.00

Yes o

log i eased

u de sta di g of

eog a y

tude ts

8/8/2019 ITSRG Presentation: Assessment of Student Use of Blogs in the BITS Program

21/30

Blog Benefits

Structured lessons adding acohesive theme to thematerial.

Ability to combine written,

digital, and spatial learning onone page.

Allows students insights intothe thought processes of otherstudents.

Caters to different learningstyles.

8/8/2019 ITSRG Presentation: Assessment of Student Use of Blogs in the BITS Program

22/30

Student Comments

The Blog was useful for entries describing picturesbecause it (the picture) was directly in front (of the entry)and it was our original commentary on the blog with thecommunity map rather then having questions asked as

we did this semester. The Blog made the lesson morecohesive; maps, commentary, and pictures were all onthe same page. When you read through you can see thetheme. It would be cohesive for this semester (because)it would bring the theme together.

Yes it made it seem more cohesive because I'm visualminded so by taking pictures and seeing work it made iteasier.

8/8/2019 ITSRG Presentation: Assessment of Student Use of Blogs in the BITS Program

23/30

Blog Analysis Results

The tables correlates with

students responses

regarding writing and

pictures.

Only about half of the

students uploaded their

maps to their blogs.

Students responses

suggest some of theundeveloped blogs

belonged to lurkers.0

20

40

60

80

100

Yes o

log Develo e t

oogle a t

Pi tu es

Post

Des i tio s

8/8/2019 ITSRG Presentation: Assessment of Student Use of Blogs in the BITS Program

24/30

Blogs and GIS

Community GIS has roots in Critical

Cartography

Google Earth and Nasas World Wind are

un-disciplining cartography

8/8/2019 ITSRG Presentation: Assessment of Student Use of Blogs in the BITS Program

25/30

Limited amount of academic literature on

blogs and mapping

Services and applications combining

mapping and blogs have been growing

Ex: Feedmap, Flickr

8/8/2019 ITSRG Presentation: Assessment of Student Use of Blogs in the BITS Program

26/30

Literature

Tezuka, Kurashima, and Tanaka (2006)

used blogs to mine attribute data

regarding real-time tourism in Japan and

mapped these experiences in a GIS

Efimova (2005) calls blogs a personal

knowledge repository

8/8/2019 ITSRG Presentation: Assessment of Student Use of Blogs in the BITS Program

27/30

Blogs and GIS in the Program

Program usedBlogs asaggregators of

attribute data for theGIS in process.

Enables a greaterexplanation ofattribute data,similar to a PDF fora census tractshapefile in ArcGIS.

8/8/2019 ITSRG Presentation: Assessment of Student Use of Blogs in the BITS Program

28/30

Conclusions

Blog is a excellent medium for teaching geography by itsability to combine spatial, visual, and written information

Themes and structures information

Accommodates different learning styles

Acts as a knowledge/information warehouse

Can be used to accompany a Community GIS

8/8/2019 ITSRG Presentation: Assessment of Student Use of Blogs in the BITS Program

29/30

Credits

Sample Blog Photo

http://searchniche.blogs.com/steven/

GIS Photo

https://reader010.{domain}/reader010/html5/0529/5b0d7dfaaf897/5b0d7e099

Nasa World Wind Photo http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/features.html Google Earth Flu Map

http://www.declanbutler.info/Flumaps1/9_Images/GEMAP.jpg

bITS Blogs and Maps

http://bits-blogger.blogspot.com/

I would like to extend thanks to Dr. Michele Masucci, Dr.ZebulonKendrick, Michael Rovito and Catherine Bartoli for their advice andassistance. This presentation was made possible by funding fromthe Temple University AGEP and BITS Programs funded by theNSF.

8/8/2019 ITSRG Presentation: Assessment of Student Use of Blogs in the BITS Program

30/30

Contacts

Fatima AbbasTemple University

Email: Fabbas@temple.edu