In the meantime...

Well, I have to hold my hand up and admit that because of the holidays (and due to pressure of work before the holidays), that little has been done to the blog yet. However, we are starting a new academic term in the next few weeks and there will be lots of new students coming into the Faculty. So then it will begin... In the meantime, I will slowly continue developing this blog so that it works by the time we get to use it in anger....

In the meantime, I'm off to the ALT-C event in Nottingham next week to learn more about e-learning, blogs and how they can enhance learning for students in higher education. My Learning with 'e's blog will document the proceedings in much more detail.

Widget time

I set up a Technorati widget on Black and Blue this afternoon - it sits at the bottom of the blog and allows visitors to 'favourite' the site if they wish to bookmark it for future visits. The widget also allows Technorati to track changes as they are made and also the number of other blogs that link to it. It then provides us with a summary of how much the blog is being viewed and commented on.

Next week I'm going to add more widgets, including a hit counter, and a Del.icio.us social tagging system to allow more flexible use of the blog, particularly by those who are the more 'tech savvy' amongst us....

Starting the journey...

Even the longest journeys start with a single footstep, and here is the first.... During the lifetime of the Black & Blue project, Mark Townsend and Steve Wheeler will be developing a dialogue with as many students as possible, on 'how to write a successful essay'. We will be creating our own joint authored article during this process, created online 'before your very eyes' using a wiki. Mark will be writing in black text, and Steve will be in blue text.

You will be able to post comments and ask questions using the comments box at the bottom of each post. You will also be able to criticise our paper and tell us where you think we can improve it! Here's to successful and creative writing!