I knew blogs were available, I also knew that they can be effective when it comes to students and their active engagement in learning. However I did not realise how much they can learn and do by using a blog. I think of a blog as a diary, or a journal, something that is constantly and frequently added to and adapted as time goes on. I think of a blog like a flower, starting off as a small seed and slowly with time and effort grows into a wonderful flower. While thinking about blogs and there purpose in learning, I came across a reading about educational blogging and a child's thoughts about using blogs.
Dominic Ouellet-Tremblay, a fifth-grade student at St-Joseph, writes: "The blogs give us a chance to communicate between us and motivate us to write more. When we publish on our blog, people from the entire world can respond by using the comments link. This way, they can ask questions or simply tell us what they like. We can then know if people like what we write and this indicates to us what to do better. By reading these comments, we can know our weaknesses and our talents. Blogging is an opportunity to exchange our point of view with the rest of the world not just people in our immediate environment." (Downes, 2004)
After reading this view from a child it got me thinking about how I could use them in my classroom. I began thinking about the subjects that I could possibly cover through using a blog, subjects such as: science- experimenting, recording of results and reflection of what is happening to the life and growth of a plant, english- story writing, diary entires, recounts based on a single topic of choice, sose- using a blog to interact with other people all over the world, learning about different cultures, life styles and heritage. The opportunities are endless!!!!
As I read further on in the educational blogging reading I discovered some information about how teachers use blogs in the classroom that i found interesting.
"In the hands of teachers and students, blogs become something more again. The Web is by now a familiar piece of the educational landscape, and for those sites where personal publishing or chronologically ordered content would be useful, blogs have stepped to the fore. Crooked Timber’s Henry Farrell identifies five major uses for blogs in education.
First, teachers use blogs to replace the standard class Web page. Instructors post class times and rules, assignment notifications, suggested readings, and exercises. Aside from the ordering of material by date, students would find nothing unusual in this use of the blog. The instructor, however, finds that the use of blogging software makes this previously odious chore much simpler.
Second, and often accompanying the first, instructors begin to link to Internet items that relate to their course. Mesa Community College’s Rick Effland, for example, maintains a blog to pass along links and comments about topics in archaeology.15 Though Mesa’s archaeology Web pages have been around since 1995, blogging allows Effland to write what are in essence short essays directed specifically toward his students. Effland’s entries are not mere annotations of interesting links. They effectively model his approach and interest in archaeology for his students.
Third, blogs are used to organize in-class discussions. At the State University of New York at Buffalo, for example, Alexander Halavais added a blog to his media law class of about 180 students. Course credit was awarded for online discussion, with topics ranging from the First Amendment to libel to Irish law reform. As the course wound down with a discussion of nude bikers, Halavais questioned whether he would continue the blog the following year because of the workload, but students were enthusiastic in their comments."(Downes, 2004)
Here is a concept map designed using bubbl.us to outline how blogs relate and link to theories - engagement theory, Bloom's Taxonomy and Dimensions of learning.
I will continue to read and adapt my thinking about blogs throughout my journey, however I believe that I am off to a good start!! Here are some comments that I have added to my peers blogs about blogs.
Downes, S. (2004). Educational Blogging. EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 39, no. 5 (September/October 2004): 14–26.
There are some really interesting points you have made. The opportunities are really endless with blogs!
ReplyDeleteI was doing some research and just googled statements like "blogs in education" or "blogs in the classroom" and 1000s of results came up. Why haven't I heard of this earlier! It going to be a very useful tools to use in the classroom as a teacher. Just look at us, we are uni students using this blog to learn. We are having first hand experience in using them. By the end we will have mastered it :)
YES Emma!! It is truly amazing to discover and read about all of the articles, theories and information that is related to blogs and using them as an effective learning tool in the classroom. I am quite passionate about blogs as you can see by the amount of interest I have taken in them. I believe they are one of the most easiest and most effective tool that could be incorporated into students' learning in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteThey allow students to control their own learning (student- centered learning) and reflect on not only their own learning, they can reflect on their peers' learning as well. This creates a collaborative learning environment for these chidlren that aligns with the engagement theory that states that children need to be engaged in meaningful worthwhile tasks, not time fillers.
Blogs are a great tool and I will be using them in my early childhood classroom despite the context and age level of my students.