I am just getting accustomed to blogs and blogging. Learning in to use this format for classroom technology is interesting and challenging. I like the concept of classroom webpages done in this format rather than "webpage format" but I worry about the ability to keep it out of the public domain and control the commentary placed on it by students.
User friendly is a huge plus with any form of technology. Litigation free is a huge worry for any teacher. I can see blogs as being a good tool to reach out to students, show casing student accomplishments and informing parents of student assignments. I am leary of the lack of control over the content students might post. I don't know if there are software blocking that can be placed on these platforms but I would probably check before I opened it up to student contribution. I would also be certain of parent approval before I allowed student contribution or involvement.
I really like the idea of using blogs as a commumity forum for educators. The ability to share ideas, comment on techniques and celebrate each others successes is a powerful tool, that I hope becomes common in the future. Some of the best ideas for classrooom management that I have collected for my own classroom have come from public forums such as Facebook and YouTube. One example of that would be Power Teaching, films by Chris Biffle. I'll attach the clip and the URL here. I hope you will take the time to review it and leave some feedback. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTwjFHorQhk or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTwjFHorQhk&feature=related
Do you really think that blogs would be that beneficial in a classroom? If so, at what age? Do you think that kids should start blogging at a young age, or do you think that it is more of another way to communicate things at a later date? I think that blogs are really not that much of an effective tool regardless of age. They are just not a very practical way to relay information. Email, mass email and email chains are just much more effective in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI like to look at blogs as more interactive types of websites as with a blog, you can follow the comment chains for clarification. Admittedly, most of my blogging is social and for personal learning in my obsession of sewing. I have found patterns and instructional infomation to be invaluable when I am trying out a new sewing project and often times find that steps that are unclear to me were also unclear to another user of the blog and through open dialogue I am able to understand and complete the project.
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