“A blog is a frequently-updated personal online space (a type of
web-page) where an author publishes a series of posts, engages others in
discussion about her posts, and collects and shares resources. These posts are searchable by categories and
archived sometimes over a long period of time, usually in reverse chronological
order thus presenting the most recent work first” (Nardi, Schiano, &
Gumbrecht, 2004).
Students typically display their thoughts by speaking, writing, or drawing. Blogs give students a platform to share their
thoughts in these manners on a large platform.
Others can comment and share their own thoughts, contributing to the
discussion. Blogs also encourage
research and digital skills. Blogs help
to combine these skills within one task.
Blogs can be journals that provide an opportunity for
self-reflection.
“Blogging can be an avenue for participation aligned with this new
mindset, and, as such, it can provide students with new forms of participation,
new and broader learning resources and, therefore, a new form of engagement
that offers the potential of unique learning opportunities.” (Lankshear &
Knobel, 2006) Blogs cultivate social
construction of knowledge by allowing students to research, reflect, and
discuss with peers. Blogs are an
interactive platform for a variety of topics.
Blogs are easy and convenient and you are not losing the discussions and
idea sharing that one would receive in the classroom, you are gaining another
venue for such interactions.
There are many benefits to using blogs in the classroom for teaching
and learning. Students enjoy blogging;
it’s the latest and greatest. Providing
students the opportunity to blog can motivate them to participate and
reflect. Blogging gives students
ownership of their thoughts and opinions by allowing them time to articulate
their thoughts and express them in writing as opposed to quickly answering
within the classroom without having time to digest material and process their
response thoroughly. Blogs can also be
followed by parents, allowing parents to stay abreast of what their child is
learning in school.
A draw back to blogging is privacy, its accessible by the general
public. Teachers must be aware of
privacy settings to keep students safe.
While blogging is great for discussions and sharing ideas, it could
never replace face to face conversations.
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