BP2_2010051_Educational/Professional Uses for Blogs





Many thoughts, many opinions, many entries have been written down in the journals, diaries, and  notebooks of children, teens, and adults through out time. Some of these entries have been kept secret, some have been published, and some have been disregarded, but the common denominator is that they have all been documented, expressed and personalized. In recent days the internet has been used in the same way. With the creation of the web-log or “Blog” many of these same people have been given an outlet to write their thoughts, opinions, and entries and do with them what they will. This has been a particularly useful tool in the world of education. “Blogging has the potential to be a transformational technology for teaching and learning” (Jacobs, Williams, 2004 ). Potential is having or showing the capacity to become or develop into something in the future. Blogging in recent years has reached the place it was suggested to be going and is continuing on track to become even more.
As an educator I have just recently turned to blogging for educational purposes. Although I have not implemented them in my lessons, i feel that they are a very important tool for students and teachers to utilize. Much can come from blogging. For instance, teachers can create a blog for students to access online for information about class, posting assignments and student work. They can also communicate with parents to update them about whats going on in class. Students creating their own blogs have great opportunities to do excellent work in a structured digital environment with endless boundaries. 
Blogs present, organize, and protect student work as digital portfolios (Crie, 2006). In doing online portfolios it allows for multiple types of learners to be assessed and graded, and it give the student a sense of completion and pride that their work is being exhibited or published online.
In retrospect, I don't think that people really understood how valuable and powerful the use of blogs would be in society and education. As it is now, blogs still have almost a limitless potential for educational uses. 
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Crie, M. (2006, February 20). Using Blogs to Integrate Technology in the Classroom, Education Up Close, Teaching Today, Glencoe Online. Glencoe.com. Retrieved May 8, 2010, from http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/educationupclose.phtml/47
Williams, J. B.,  Jacobs, J. (n.d.). AJET 20(2) Williams and Jacobs (2004) - exploring blogs as learning spaces in higher education. ascilite - Home. Retrieved May 8, 2010, from http://ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet20/williams.html
Images are of free use and are courtesy of stock.xchng VI. image license

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
Return top