The document discusses the advantages of using blogs and wikis in communication skills classes for engineering students. It outlines how blogs and wikis can promote student engagement, ownership over learning, and collaboration. They allow students to publish work, receive peer feedback, and develop critical thinking and writing skills. The teacher's role is to help students communicate, collaborate, and gain experience addressing practical, legal and ethical issues when creating online content.

1. Gurleen Ahluwalia Lecturer in Communication Skills BBSBEC, Fatehgarh Sahib Punjab

4. Blogger http:// www.blogger.com Edublogs http:// www.edublogs.org Live Journal http:// www.livejournal.com

7. Popularity of Blogs

9. Teacher’s Role in a Classroom Blog

11. Links to FREE WIKI Services www.wikispaces.com http://pbwiki.com

12. Example of WIKI Wikipedia: http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

15. WIKIS CONVENTIONAL WEB PAGES Open-editing Limited editing Simple text formatting language Conventional HTML Earlier versions stored in online data-base Earlier versions not automatically stored Easy to create new pages Harder to create new pages Low security Higher security Equal User Roles Hierarchical user Roles Multiple Anonymous Authorship Limited know Authorship Communal, Collaborative Individual Pages considered always in process Pages considered finished Informal, human Voice Formal

17. BLOGS WIKIS Usually single author Usually many authors Reverse Chronologically Structure determined by content and users Usually Personal Usually Objective External Links Internal and External links Used in brainstorming or generating discussion Used in group projects Comments on the existing information Easily modifiable