Using a Blog when teaching
Image source: http://creativethinkers.edublogs.org/2010/09/25/why-should-people-visit-our-blog/
Potential of Blogs
Using Blogs as part of the teaching process can be both beneficial to our students but also engaging, motivating and instrumental to future learning.
We can encourage our students to look outside the classroom for their information, invite comment and feedback from others, offer up suggestions to others, collaborate, and construct their own pathways and learning experiences.
As educators we will scaffold their learning but in creating a blog, students are partially scaffolding their own way simultaneously.
Headmaster Mario Asselin in an article prepared by Stephen Downs says using a blogs in his school "offers students and teachers a support tool to promote reflective analysis and the emergence of a learning community hat goes beyond the school walls...blogs fit the bill perfectly...Because of that, I am able to name what they do and see where it comes from. I can also figure out the directions they are taking and how they do it (EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 39, no. 5 (September/October 2004): 14–26.)
Analytical Tools:
I have used a SWOT analysis to uncover the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of using a Blog in the Classroom. Details of this analysis can be seen in the diagram below.
I think hypothetically this kind of analysis is useful, however outside factors need to weigh into the exercise. These issues would include the kind of school you were working in, many don't have a computer available per child; budget and the availability of technology both at school and at home would need to be considered to ensure a level playing field; as would parent attitudes. Many parents would resist too much internet based school activity, so the inclusion of this kind of materiel would need to be introduced to parents as well as students.
In all, it is my belief that using a blog to facilitate an otherwise dull activity is the way forward. As has been discussed previously it is the technology our students are already engaging in to some extent. Embracing this technology will only compliment their learning experience as long as it is done successfully.
As Marc Prensky highlights in his paper 'Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants' students today "think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors...their thinking patterns have changed" (On the Horizon MCB University Press, Vol. 9 No. 5, October 2001)
Image source: http://creativethinkers.edublogs.org/2010/09/25/why-should-people-visit-our-blog/
Potential of Blogs
As educators we will scaffold their learning but in creating a blog, students are partially scaffolding their own way simultaneously.
Analytical Tools:
I have used a SWOT analysis to uncover the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of using a Blog in the Classroom. Details of this analysis can be seen in the diagram below.
I think hypothetically this kind of analysis is useful, however outside factors need to weigh into the exercise. These issues would include the kind of school you were working in, many don't have a computer available per child; budget and the availability of technology both at school and at home would need to be considered to ensure a level playing field; as would parent attitudes. Many parents would resist too much internet based school activity, so the inclusion of this kind of materiel would need to be introduced to parents as well as students.
In all, it is my belief that using a blog to facilitate an otherwise dull activity is the way forward. As has been discussed previously it is the technology our students are already engaging in to some extent. Embracing this technology will only compliment their learning experience as long as it is done successfully.
As Marc Prensky highlights in his paper 'Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants' students today "think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors...their thinking patterns have changed" (On the Horizon MCB University Press, Vol. 9 No. 5, October 2001)
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