More on blogging
The latest edition of Learning and Leading with Technology has a nice article on blogging: Blog On: Building Communication and Collaboration Among Staff and Students.
What are the benefits of blogging? Build deeper understanding of content; build a collaborative learning community; delve further into topics presented in class; students direct their own learning; students are in contact with people and information not available elsewhere. Blogging takes journaling one step further - there is a wider audience and the opportunity to interact with that audience.
What are the basic types of blogs?
Individual blogs - best used with older students. They can build portfolios, post work or ideas, and comment on the blogs of others.
Classroom blogs - used to build collaboration and communication among students. Students are motivated by the use of technology and a wider audience. In an effective classroom blog, students can ask questions, draw conclusions and make connections. Blogs encourage THINKING! A safety feature was suggested - students use initals rather than full names. Application example: Reading. guided reading circles + literature circles + readers’ worshop + blogging = powerful learning environment where every is talking about and sharing the good things readers do while reading.
Collaborative blogs - students from one class work with students from another
Staff Development blogs - provides a means of ongoing communication with other professionals who you do not see on a regular basis. Sometimes staff development blogs are tricky to keep active. Suggestions were made to ask probing questions and provide ongoing technical support, insuring that teachers have the skill to use the tool.
The article clearly makes a case for using weblogs in the classroom. The challenging part is getting teachers to see those benfits. I am presently using a staff devlepment blog and have noticed that it is not used all that much. I am meeting with the teachers next week and would like to come up with some strategies to insure the suceess of their blogging.
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