A blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit.
A collaborative space. A political soapbox.
A breaking-news outlet. A collection of
links. Your own private thoughts. Memos to
the world.
Your blog is whatever you want it to be.
There are millions of them, in all shapes
and sizes, and there are no real rules.
In simple terms, a blog is a web site,
where you write stuff on an ongoing basis.
New stuff shows up at the top, so your
visitors can read what's new. Then they
comment on it or link to it or email you. Or
not.
Since Blogger was launched, almost five
years ago, blogs have reshaped the web,
impacted politics, shaken up journalism, and
enabled millions of people to have a voice
and connect with others.
And we're pretty sure the whole deal is
just getting started.
* Reference:
http://www.blogger.com/tour-start.g
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Educational Benefits of Blogs |
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In addition to providing teachers with
an excellent tool for communicating with
students, there are numerous educational
benefits of blogs. Blogs are:
- Highly motivating to students,
especially those who otherwise might not
become participants in classrooms.
- Excellent opportunities for students
to read and write.
- Effective forums for collaboration
and discussion.
- Powerful tools to enable scaffolded
learning or mentoring to occur.
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Ways
to Use Blogs in the Classroom |
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| As an educational tool, blogs may be
integrated in a multi-faceted manner to accommodate all learners.
Blogs can serve at least four basic functions. |
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1. Classroom Management |
| Class blogs can serve as a
portal to foster a community of learners. As they are easy to create
and update efficiently, they can be used to inform students of class
requirements, post handouts, notices, and homework assignments, or
act as a question and answer board. |
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2. Collaboration |
| Blogs provide a space
where teachers and students can work to further develop writing or
other skills with the advantage of an instant audience. Teachers can
offer instructional tips, and students can practice and benefit from
peer review. They also make online mentoring possible. For example,
a class of older students can help a class of younger students
develop more confidence in their writing skills. Students can also
participate in cooperative learning activities that require them to
relay research findings, ideas, or suggestions. |
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3. Discussions |
| A class blog opens the
opportunity for students to discuss topics outside of the classroom.
With a blog, every person has an equal opportunity to share their
thoughts and opinions. Students have time to be reactive to one
another and reflective. Teachers can also bring together a group of
knowledgeable individuals for a given unit of study for students to
network and conference with on a blog. |
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4. Student Portfolios |
| Blogs present, organize,
and protect student work as digital portfolios. As older entries are
archived, developing skills and progress may be analyzed more
conveniently. Additionally, as students realize their efforts will
be published, they are typically more motivated to produce better
writing. Teachers and peers may conference with a student
individually on a developing work, and expert or peer mentoring
advice can be easily kept for future reference. |
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Reference:
http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/educationupclose.phtml/47 |
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| © 2005-2007, Lisa Olson.
All Rights Reserved. |
