What is a Blog?Blogs are simple web pages, made up of short, informal and frequent web posts. The web page and posts are maintained by an individual who frequently posts commentary, descriptions or other materials such as pictures or videos.
Blogs can function similar to a journal or diary or can be used to provide information on a particular topic or subject. All reader can leave comments and feedback on individual blogs.
Blogs are an online form of communication for people to share their thoughts, feelings or knowledge to others.
What are the implications of blogging in the classroom context?
Before engaging in this course content I had very limited knowledge as to the benefits of using a blog in the classroom context. My thoughts on blogging were negative as I was being closed minded to the technology available to learners and learning environments. I guess I could also say I was a bit scared to engage with such technologies and learning as I was unfamiliar with how to use them myself let alone teach them to my students. This perspective has now changed since learning to create my own blog. My eyes have been opened up to the creativity and enriched learning that can come from such tools as blogs.
I have learnt that blogging can be used to engage students in research, exploration and discussion. That they encourage collaboration and peer interaction. Blogs enable students to take ownership of their learning. Students social learning is supported through blogging through peer interaction of discussions and reflections on individual blogs. Such social learning is supported by Vyotsky (1978) "social learning".
Although blogs can enrich the learning of each and every student and can also support the different learning styles that make up a classroom there can be some negatives. One major negative is that blogging can be seen as time consuming.
In my own classroom I would support the use of blogs and would definitely implement them into my students learning. Some ideas for learning would be using blogs for students daily writing activities where they can add each day posts to their blog instead of using pen and paper. Blogs could also be used as a individual learning journey or diary where students can log their learning on a particular subject or topic over a period of time. This blog can then be used as a form of assessment to show students learning.
There are many more ideas and implications for using blogs in the classroom and as I continue on my own learning journey I will hopefully learn and become more confident with the uses of blogs.
No comments:
Post a Comment