THE EDUCATIONAL BLOG LOG: The Good and the Ugly
The blog has been around for years and it’s great to see that many techno-savvy teachers are getting on board with the idea. Personally, I never thought of using a blog in education before this course started! There are so many benefits to utilizing this technology in the classroom. In this blog entry, I will outline the many benefits but I will also provide you with some cautionary notes.
THE GOOD:
Blogging is also creating a two-way street in the web world. No longer are students using the web to gather and read information. They can now publish their own information on it too. In an article entitled: “The Benefits and Concerns of the Read/Write Web in Education: Blogs, Wikis, RSS, and Social Networks, including MySpace.com” this concept is referred to as the “read/write web” or “Web 2.0”.
One of the other selling features is the fact that the blog becomes a digital portfolio. Portfolio is a word that is heavily used in the education system. Teachers are expected to keep tabs on writing, or art or math. The portfolio is meant to help students see progression in their work. The blog is a great alternative because it is already set-up as an archival system with the most recent work always appearing at the top of the page. As a teacher, it is easy for me to file through the postings and also show the postings to a parent on parent-teacher interview night. I can also easily pick a piece of work and look at it with the student for mentoring purposes. We can talk together about ways to improve the work and make it tighter or stronger.
During my research for this blog, I came across Will Richardson’s blog site. He wrote the book entitled: “Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms”. On his blog, he also highlights the benefits to using such technology. I liked the way he described his reasons for considering this a great publishing tool that will motivate kids to write. In his blog, (under: why weblog?) he says:
“About a year ago, I asked my first year composition students whether they did much reading and writing outside of class. Most of them said, “No.” But when I asked them if they wrote emails, used AOL IM, and surfed the Internet, they almost unanimously said, “Yes.” To them, the Internet and other forms of electronic discourse were not associated with their concept of “reading and writing” in the school sort of way. I imagine that this difference might be because one is “fun” and the other is “work.”
Isn’t that the truth? Even when I created my blog introduction, the question was asked “what is your favourite book?” It took me a second or two because lately, I haven’t read any great pieces of writing. Being a new mom, I have the attention span and energy for a magazine, e-mail or my weekly subscription to Macleans. Why did I not consider the fact that my reading included websites, e-bay’ing and online shopping sites?
To some, blogging might be considered a frivolous past time. But to students, it has the potential to become life-long learning. Many students who leave my class as a blogger, would likely continue to update their blog regularly. (I plan to do the same after this course wraps up, so doesn’t that tell you something?) It is life-long learning if it doesn’t end with the final term three report card. This is likely something they will do again in their lifetime.
THE BAD:
As you are aware from one of my last postings, there are also risks to consider. At my particular school, students sign a waiver early on in the year which ensures that the students use the internet for educational purposes only. If they are caught writing, or viewing information that counters the waiver agreement, it results in a suspension of internet use. Students who blog can get themselves in hot water even if they don’t intentionally mean to do it. In a blog profile, a student could post information such as their address, picture, school name, and the list goes on. This makes it much easier for criminals, or sexual predators to find their blogger. The article on glencoe.com suggests that teachers educate their students before blogging begins. Talk to them about privacy issues, defamation, libel and infringement.
The most grave concern, as noted in the edtechlife.com article, is dealing with cyberstalkers and predators. Students must be taught not to “post their names, addresses, phone numbers and personal information, or pictures, particularly sexually suggestive images.”
There are other security measures that will offer teachers some peace of mind in knowing their students are safe in the cyberworld. Companies such as ePALS schoolblog, (see link below) offer blogging systems that protected the students in a particular board, or classroom. Content such as personal information and pictures can be blocked.
THE END:
As stated by Mike Lawrence, the head of Computer Using Educators Inc., gone are the days of “you will remember it and you will regurgitate it”. Students who are in the field, creating their own blogs, podcasts, and websites are doing something useful and practical in today’s world. It is something they are bound to do again and again during their lifetime.
Now that I have taken on the role of teaching grade seven and eight students in the new year, I will gladly incorporate the blog into my teaching repertoire. We have two laptop carts with more than 100 laptops. What a great way to use the technology and make learning titillating!
Articles used for researching my blog entry:
http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/educationupclose.phtml/47
http://schoolblog.epals.com/safety
http://edtechlife.com/files/ReadWriteWeb1Page.pdf#search=%22%22education
%20blogs%22%20%2B%20%22benefits%22
