Blogs in the Classroom

Based on my experiences of using a blog and looking at responses of another student I can understand the value of using blogs in the classroom. In EDM 310, the blog captured a whole different scale of learning. Our blog assignments sent us to places we could not go inside the classroom when learning about technology and educational resources. I enjoyed the assignments because of what I learned while exploring ideas and perspectives on education.

Blogs in the classroom are a way to encourage learning outside of the classroom. The assignments can be on any topic that is related to learning, whether it is based on curriculum, communication, technology, or reflection. Reflection is inevitable when students become bloggers because they are having to put their ideas out there for their teachers and classmates to read. Reflection is very important in today's educational setting because it increases children's objectivity to their own ideas and to that of others.

Blogs are not only important for students to use, they important for teachers to use. A teacher's blog offers examples of how to construct a blog and write ideas. It can be used as a way for students to access information, assignments, and also to link them to their classmates blogs. My professor's blog in EDM 310 is a great example of the positive effect that a well thought out blog has. He did frequent posts that gave information about the class: Suggestions of neat things to check out, reminders of being on task, links to handouts, and much more. It was encouraging because you could tell that he really cares about what he teaches.

Why are your student's blogs important to you as a teacher? They can be used for so many different things that you can use. They incorporate writing, typing, research, and reflection on subjects. By having access to all of your student's blogs you can collect information about the individual student and evaluate the class as a whole. It can be used to reflect on your teaching and student interests.

A negative thing about blogs, that I realize as a student, is that student's will get behind on their blogs. They will go home get distracted and forget. As a college student all of my blogs were due at the end of the semester even though it was strongly suggested to complete blogs each week, as assigned. However, with grades K-5 you would have to enforce the weekly posts. So, what do you do if your students get behind as far as how you grade? Are should it even be for a grade? Those are some problems that I can anticipate with blog assignments because I am even guilty of it. I guess I will have to make it so darn fun they won't be able to wait to start blogging!