Reflection on Blogging as a tool for the classroom

I think blogs are great. I really do. BUT another weakness that I thought of after making this chart was that they are very time consuming. Filling in my own takes enough time and effort but reading others is even more so. I love to read what others have to say and I could easily spend my 10 hours per week allocated for this course just doing that and nothing else! However because of the workload I unfortunately do not have enough time to do that:-( I also feel that you need to have a natural love of getting your voice out there and being heard... along with little self-consciousness. Oh wait - that could also be a positive - blogs help to open those who like to stay closed off and I guess that what is said is only limited by how much you are willing to say. So therefore privacy is in the hands of the writer. Hmmmmmmm. I think I have recognised this already on the few blogs I have been following... some have chosen to confess every high and low of their learning journey's while other have kept it very academic and done only what is required. I wonder if this can relate to their learning styles and intelligences??

How Blogs could be implemented in the Classroom:
- Teacher setting up a class blog to display class activities, homework lists, reminders, etc.
- Class blog where Teacher sets up homework activities with scaffolded questions that students have to answer in the comments box.
- Introducing students to professional blogs online from people related to class topics, projects, issues, etc
- Individual student blogs where students can discuss class activities, document learning journey and write up assignment. This type of blog requires stringent scaffolding to ensure students are focusing on the right questions and develop useful thinking routines.
- Class blog where that documents class happenings but that is created and updated by the students. The benefit of class blogs is that parents can be followers and keep up to dat with what their children are learning and build on this at home.
- Class blog extended to global collaboration whereby one class links with another somewhere else in the world and they share information and ideas on a specific topic.
- Students could critique and comment on a topic within a professional blog- this allows an authentic focus.

After reading Stephen Downes' article about Educational Blogging, I have summarised a few points that he made:
He breaks the "virtual space" of educational Blogs up into 3 sets:
- Classroom Web Space where announcements are displayed and work of common interest is posted
- Public, personal communication zone where students post results of work or reflection
- Private, personal space, reserved for student thoughts and teacher guidance

He states that "blogging is something defined by format and process, not by content". This mimics the idea that Blogs enhance learning about learning and not so much learning about content. It is the process from lower order thinking to higher order thinking that makes Blogs such a useful tool in classroom. It aids students in their ability to reflect, recite and evaluate (not in any particular order). Of course scaffolding is required to ensure that students stay on the right track.

Downes discuss the 5 major uses in Education as being:
1. To replace web pages - this is because they are reverse chronological so the latest posts are easy to find and Blogs are easy for both students and teachers to use.
2. Hyperlinks - enable easy links to extra material and information
3. Organise class discussions
4. Organise seminars and provide summaries of class content
5. Writing individual blogs

He also mentions a few pitfalls and pros of blogging, some of which are similar to those mentioned in my SWOT analysis.
Pitfalls - lieblous content, conflict between writer and institution (ie School), risk of copyright and protected info
Pros - gets students writing, breaks down barriers (can read blogs of professionals, class mates, etc), good blogs based on merit rather than origin.
The last point means that people who write blogs that become well known or followed by many do not have to be those of professionals, celebrities, etc. They can be someone who simply writes quality postings that are of value to certain readers.
Downes' also references Richardson who adds more positive points on blogging that include the ability to reflect, to write about a topic over a sustained period of time and to engage an audience which encourages quality postings and thought.

Safe, Ethical and Legal Issues
- As blogs are a part of the "blogoshpere" and open to everyone, students need to be aware of maintaining their privacy and not saying specific names, addresses, personal information. Using avatars like the Voki's is useful as well as nicknames. They are also able to use privacy settings on the blog so need to be informed on how to use these effectively.
- Teachers need to ensure that students are aware of issues such as cyberbullying, copyright issues, stranger danger, inappropriate language or images, securing passwords, and they need to know how to go about reporting any of these issues if they see other students who may be breaking the rules.
- Here are some great website on how to stay safe, ethical and legal when using Blogs:
http://www.netsmartz.org/Blogging
http://education.qld.gov.au/smartclassrooms/ictstudents/p-3-ethics.html - the link here is for classes p-2 so it is the most basic way to create awareness, with links to other helpful websites.
* It is important that Teachers not only introduce students to ethical, safety and legal guidelines but that they frequently assess their knowledge so that it becomes clear what students do and do not know about these issues so the teacher can fill in gaps at keep these ideas at the forefront of all Web 2.0 use. Behaviourist quizzes embedded in a blog and Collaborative constructivist postings in the blog could be useful for this.



Reference:
McKeands, Nancy A. (2006) Random Thoughts about teaching, learning, technology and life. http://namckeand.blogspot.com/2006/03/and-yet-another-favor-to-ask.html