myblog.arts
Piloting blogs for art and design
Mike Kelly - learning technologies developer
John Jackson - educational developer (e-learning)
University of the Arts London
Centre for Learning and Teaching
in Art and Design (CLTAD)
Blogging Platform
Wordpress + Buddypress

wordpress.org
buddypress.org
Customisations
LDAP logins and custom urls
Group blogs & individual blogs
Browse recent content
Image editing options
+ profanity filter
Report inappropriate content
How the blogs were used
Reflection
Community building
Archiving
Overseas collaborations
Assessed essays
Feedback
staff
students
+
Positive peer-to-peer pressure
Curation of work encouraged reflection
Encouraged cross-course and cross-college exchanges

-
Usability could be better in some cases
Time investment required
Flexibility led to confusion
Mike Kelly
m.f.kelly@arts.ac.uk

John Jackson
j.d.jackson@arts.ac.uk
http://myblog.arts.ac.uk
Motivation
Multimedia-friendly medium for reflection
Best-of-breed software
Capitalise on / build UAL community of users
Web facing
e.g. http://mikekelly.myblog.arts.ac.uk
+
Opportunity to communicate and collaborate
Easy to use
Majority would like to keep using service

-
Complexity
Group blogs confusing
Useability
Already have a blog
http://gidelectivegroup08colinludlow.myblog.arts.ac.uk/
http://csmbatextiledesignyear1.myblog.arts.ac.uk/
http://flobrooks.myblog.arts.ac.uk/
http://fashionandtextilesdigital.myblog.arts.ac.uk/
Example Blogs