Thoughts on the use of blogs as a teacher and learning tool
These are my beginning thoughts on using blogs. I am intrigued with the possibilities:
- open, uncensored opportunity for sharing of ideas with others
- opportunity for people to publish to the web without having to have a knowledge or understanding of web page creation
- free access -- enabling anyone who has access to the Internet to use this, without having to purchase space on a server or to have to jump through hoops (e.g. within an organization or school to get a page online)
- students have a real audience for their writing, which makes what they have to say more meaningful
I am curious about what other people think about using blogs. I invite you to share your thoughts. For example: What have been your experiences in using blogs, either as a creator of blogs or as a someone who reads blogs created by others? What do you think are pros and cons for their use in educational and work settings?
posted by Helen MR at 12:27 PM
3 Comments:
I think the use of blogs is taking us into territory that (for those of us more familiar with using pen and paper to share our thoughts) is unfamiliar. I am relatively new to this...Had the opportunity last year to facilitate using a blog in a class I taught, set it up and everything, but then just couldn't figure out (again, too unfamiliar) how to convey to students what it was that I wanted to do with it. The irony is that the students were probably more familiar and comfortable using this format. I am learning as much about myself as I learn about the technology!
I am also becoming more familiar with blogs since my son was deployed to Iraq. He is blogging his experiences, and through the process, affording dozens of people (who are reading his blog) the opportunity to have a first hand account of his experiences, really, as they are happening. It is astounding.
So, my experience is limited, but my enthusiasm is growing. Part of my summer work includes thinking through and setting up several blogs for fall classes. :-)
I tried to use a blog in my "Language, Cognition, and Writing" class last fall. The students were quite careful with their writing because they had this opportunity, which was great. For years I have written about the importance of real audience and purpose for student writing, and blogging provides a real audience, perhaps a real purpose. Vygotsky writes about the difficulty students have in getting beyond what he calls egocentric prose. When students have a real audience they have to develop an audience sense, figuring out what an audience needs to know in order to get their message across. Sondra Perl calls this projective structuring. It is a recursive writing process. Even with tech. assistance though, the process was so delayed that though the students posted there was little chance to let them have responses. Part of this was my fault in not getting the process going early in the semester. I will try again this fall because I believe that it will solve some problems for me. I want students to be accountable for some reading that they do, but I don't want to be their sole audience. I would love to have some support in the process.
I am very excited about the whole Blog thing. I had no previous experences with blogs other than reading some political ones. now that I have created one for personal use I feel like a kid in a candy store. I want to see everyone elses blog and look for all the different thoughts and coments that are out there. I can deffinatly see the difference in searching the Blogs vs so web pages. the communication seems to lend itself to a more open and free flow of thoughts and ideas. Additionally, I like the feedback format, one can think before responding. Of course I also find it valuable to have others adding to your ideas, or giving direction. Im not sure I would like the Idea of a Wiki? Have you use this format? How would you compare and contrast the two.
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