Blogging as a Classroom Tool

I think blogging would be a great enhancement to a classroom. When integrating technology into a classroom, blogging can be used to get students familiar with using the internet. Blogging can be a good way to improve communication between students. Many students do not like to speak and share their ideas. Blogging allows student to type what they are thinking and can get everyone involved in a discussion. I would use blogging as a tool to assist in group assignments. Students could work together to create a blog and pick a topic of interest to learn more about. I would allow students classroom time to research and post to their blogs. I then would encourage the class to read and learn from each others blog topics. Students would post questions and it would be up to the group to find answers and post responses to their classmates.

M Savage

Experience with setting up a blog

Initially I was a little concerned about setting up this blog account. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be difficult to set up and navigate around the site. Surprisingly it was very self explanatory. The blog site provided step by step instructions. When I went to post my first blog message (this one), I had click on a couple of different titles until I found where to post a new entry. I think blogging would be a good tool to keep classmates constantly communicating with one another. The web site appears to be very organized. There are many features that allow you to monitor a particular discussion, provide profiles and pictures.

M Savage

Blogging to date

I do not have much experience blogging myself, but I have read numerous blogs. Most of the blogs that I follow--not that many to count--are educationally based and provide more information on changes and developments within the education setting. At this point, I do not feel that I have any new information or insight to contribute to the discussion. When I feel strongly about something I read or have an experience to add, I will comment.

One of my favorites is weblogged-ed: learning with the read/write web (http://weblogg-ed.com/category/on-my-mind/). It is maintained by Will Richardson, the author of "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms." Richardson often posts in response to something he has read or experienced His insights help me to understand the power of the web in relation to education at all levels. He always offers links to materials he is commenting on, such as The Participation Divide: Content Creation and Sharing in the Digital Age. Sometimes he just comments on things he has been reflecting on or questions he has been asked. His blog posts are archived in a menu and is a rich resource for any research.

I am looking forward to sharing more about blogs, education, and learning in the next couple of weeks.

palmangel...