You have already created your first blog, and are going to continue to use this Blog in your construction of Assignment Task 2. This activity asks you to reflect on your learning about blogs.
In your blog, create a new posting, and examine the potential of blogs in your teaching context. Use an analytical tool/thinking routine such as a SWOT analysis or PMI to ensure that your focus is analytical rather than merely descriptive. If you are unsure about these thinking routines/scaffolds, please return to the Learning Materials to review them.
You are invited to use both the course readings, other research and sites, and your own ideas, and to be as creative as possible when considering your teaching ideas. Be sure also to consider the way your own students will be using Blogs. Learning with technology should be learner-centred, and it is anticipated that by far your students will be most busy in the online environments, with you in the role of facilitator. If you use any research or ideas from other sites, please BE SURE to reference them.
In this reflection I will evaluate using blogs as a tool to support pedagogy and my Personal Learning Network (PLN). I will frame my analysis using the PMI tool. Then I will provide a personal reflection on how blogs have supported my PLN in this course and how blogs could be used to inform my teaching practice.
Critical reflection on using blogs
Pluses
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Minuses
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Interesting/Implications
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Free tools are available.
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The editing tool in Blogger is a bit cludgy and idiosyncratic eg, changing the font size when the post is published.
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Incorporation of many multi media forms ie,links to web pages, other blogs, wikis, etc
Limited only by your imagination |
Easy to create and edit.
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There is no facility to create tables in the Blogger editor. I had to go to an online tutorial and cut'n'paste some HTML to create this table.
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Informal learning is happening when they engage with the blog and learn how to use it. The skills they develop are transferable to other technologies.
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Students can work individually on a task or to create a resource.
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Teacher needs to scaffold the tasks so that the students are guided in their learning.
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Supports collaboration as students can comment on and link to each others' blogs.
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To keep the level of interest to the blog, authors need to provide regular posts and provide feedback on comments.
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Available for others to comment (external to the group) and from anywhere in the world.
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Short posts are better than long posts.
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Ability to add multimedia to the blog.
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The student has total control of their blog. No-one can overwrite or delete their work. The blog owner can delete comments if they choose.
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My personal reflection on blogging, my PLN and how to utilise it in my praxis.
I have enjoyed working with the blog and find that I am using it for more than just addressing the engagement tasks that Wendy sets for us each week. It is like it is an extension of my brain, only with a better search function.
My blog has become a place where I can keep track of my learning and because it is public it also allows others to contribute through their comments. A big advantage is that because it is on the web I can access the materials on my blog from home, from work and even when I travel.
The only thing that has really daunted me with the blogs is the expectation that we will all comment on each others' blogs. The problem is that there are 100 students in the course - too many blogs to read each week let alone write 100 comments. That is why I initiated the concept of having Blog Buddies. It is early days but so far 4 of the people I contacted are keen on the idea and we have commented on each others' work and offered support to each other. If I were to use blogs in a teaching environment I think I would start off with the idea of encouraging them to form Buddy Groups and when they were comfortable with that level of sharing I would encourage them to enlarge their groups and start to form larger networks.
I am looking forward to the opportunity to use blogs in my teaching. It will be tool that I can use by writing blog posts relevant to the students but also supporting them to use their own blog to write posts about their engagement with the learning materials.
A post from Michael Hyatt (former Chairman and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers) on the use of a blogging template to write posts faster has some sensible advice that could be adapted to the secondary teaching environment.
Gary Holmes gave the Rockhampton students a copy of an EQ newsletter entitled "Motivate, Innovate and Create" which has some sensible guidelines for using blogs in the classroom. EQ supports the use of blogging within the student space on the learning place. Unfortunately I cannot locate a copy of the newsletter on the web so I will repeat the main points here.
Why use Blogs?
- Provides an authentic audience: students can see posts from their classmates or from their peers in the state.
- Add and receive feedback: blogs offer a comments section at the end of the post.
- Learn appropriate online behaviour.
- Builds confidence and ownership.
- Provides a reflection tool.
- Can be accessed anywhere, anytime.
- Builds a sense of community.
When to use Blogs?
- Provides a tool for students to demonstrate their learning.
- Respond to a question.
- Add to a discussion.
- Reflect on a topic.
- Use as a reflective journal: choose the same time each week for students to reflect on their learning and plan for the next week.
- Use as a digital portfolio.
- Share information.
- Use as a presentation tool: an alternative for presenting a research task for example.
The art of commentingOne of the most powerful aspects of blogs is the commenting function. For many students this is a new process. To avoid one word or social comments, it may be helpful to offer comments starters, such as:
- To demonstrate understanding.
- This made me think about...
- I also wonder if...
- I discovered...
- I can relate to this because...
- I agree because..
(Education Queensland, 2012, p. 2)
I think that I can use these simple strategies for using blogs to engage my students in Mathematics and IT and to encourage them to reflect and record their learning. The blog is a tool that they can use for all of their education. It will be interesting for them to look back on earlier posts when they graduate from school. A wonderful tool for promoting HOTS, recording your learning and extending your PLN.
A suggestion from Wendy on constructing assignments:
A blog is an ideal place for students to construct assignments. Start them with a brainstorm about what they need to know. Ask them to then link to and retrieve information. Then to organise and categorise, select and refine information required through the lens of the task description. Ask them to analyse, evaluate the information. And finally ask them to present information. They can attach their presentations to the blog as a movie, presentation, or other type of product. The comments feature can be used to give students feedback, and track the changes they make in response. They can also be used for students to make constructive comments on the quality of each others' work.
A safe blogging site for P-12: Kidblog
Useful Blogs
George Siemens e-learning spaces.
Stephen Downes educational blogging
Reference:
Education Queensland, (2012, 19 June), Student Space Blogs, Motivate, Innovate and Create, Iss 1.
Williams, J.B. & Jacobs, J. (2004) Exploring the use of blogs as learning spaces in the higher education sector, Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 20(2), pp. 232-247. Retrieved from http://ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet20/williams.html
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