Thing 4: How Blogs Are Used in Education
After reading five or six of the suggested educational blogs, I noticed a few things that most of the blogs had in common. First of all, reading these blogs was similar to reading an article in a magazine or an editorial in the newspaper. I guess the biggest difference would be that they have not been edited or screened by anyone so one has to be a careful when using information from blogs (and to take them with the proverbial grain of salt).
Secondly, I saw that there is no formal code or format stating how blogs should be written. Any opinion can be expressed; however, the most enjoyable blogs for me to read were those whose authors backed up what they wrote. I especially appreciated the links that were included within each blog. It gave the writers’ opinions or viewpoints more validity. Most of the blogs that I saw were free of horrific spelling and grammatical errors (at least most of the ones written by adults). I think that this a different experience from what others have had after reading over some the blogs of other participants in this course.
Thirdly, it is now more apparent to me how blogs can facilitate learning. I thought that Anne Davis did a beautiful job of explaining our role as educators in A Rationale for Educational Blogging: “Teachers need to address writing for a public audience, how to cite and link and why, how to use the comment tool in pedagogical ways, how to read web materials more efficiently as well as explore other ways to consider pedagogical uses of blogs.” I think that the most important point that we need to impress upon our students is that they need to carefully proofread their work before posting it for the world to see. Duck with a Blog shows the blog in action with young students, and it is delightful to read the interactions that the second graders have with each other.
Create a free edublog to get your own comment avatar (and more!)