Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Blogs


Now that we have reviewed the Blog Page and done the Blog Activity where you looked at exemplars related to your authorization & subject areas, you are ready to post a response for Chapters 2&3.

To Post your Response, please Click on Add a Comment below this posting. Copy & Paste your content from your document and Save. That way we can organize all of your thoughts around the theme of Blog.

8 comments:

  1. Shane Robinson EDUC 537
    Chapter 2: Weblogs Pedagogy and Practice
    I have never blogged before and was under the false preconception that bloggers were self consumed techies with nothing better to do with their time. With an open mind, I checked out the educator and blogger Dean Shareski’s ideasandthoughts.org website/web blog and found myself instantly consumed. I thoroughly enjoyed reading his Blackboard Collaborate Presentation on The Importance and Seriousness of Silly. Perhaps my eyes are starting to be opened to why, “a hundred and eighty million” other people are already enjoying blogs and blogging (Richardson, 2010).
    I am encouraged to read Fernette and Brock Eide’s research cite blogging as having , “a great deal of potentially positive impact on students in regards to, “promoting critical, creative, intuitive, analogical thinking and being a powerful medium for increasing access and exposure to quality information.”
    On page twenty of ch.2 Richardson states, “students are learning to read more critically, think about that reading more analytically, write more clearly… and, they are building relationships with peers, teachers, mentors, and professionals within the weblog environment.” At what cost? There is an opportunity cost of spending time building relationships on weblogs and in person. The lack of connection is what concerns me. On the other hand I do like the idea of creating a weblog as a class portal for all the reason cited in the text on page 21.
    The Pedagogy of Weblogs section of chapter two found on pages twenty six and twenty seven are some compelling arguments why weblogs should be utilized in the classroom. Richardson states; weblogs are constructionist tool for learning that truly expand the walls of the classroom, build archives of school work, is a democratic tool that supports different learning styles, enhance the expertise in a particular subject, and teach students the new literacies they will need to function in an ever expanding information society. Reasons why a teacher would use weblogs in a classroom are quickly outpacing my own prejudices’ against them.
    Chapter 3: Weblogs- Get Started!
    Richardson states, “Without question, the most profound learning experience in my life has been the ongoing education I have received from keeping my own Weblog for the past seven years (Richardson, pp. 43).” He attributes this to the way in which it has changed the manner in which he reads and consumes information (Richardson, pp. 43). I appreciate how much practical step by step instruction/guidance Richardson provides new teachers for getting a class started blogging as well as relaying the importance of blog safety.
    1. Provide a list of Weblogs and get students reading appropriate blogs
    2. Let students respond to posts on the class blog
    3. Give each student their own blog
    (I appreciate that going in this direction can eventually lead to a paperless classroom)
    Richardson recommends www.Blogger.com which is owned by Google so I've given it a go and ended up on our Flex 2012 Post. I had not realized this is the format in which we were using. Since publishing to our blog has been a bit difficult and I stumbled to this point in my reading and see a pencil at the top I am going to give publishing this a shot.

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  2. Chapter 2 & 3 response – Ann Marie Caplan

    I have always been a little behind the eight ball when it comes to technology. I resisted Facebook for as long as I could, claiming I didn’t need social networking to keep me entertained. I do use it today, and enjoy the connections I have with classmates from high school that I wouldn’t otherwise have. Being a proponent of outdoor activities, I tend to see technology as a distraction from the beauty and entertainment that the natural world has to offer. My kids, having grown up with technology at school and at home, are naturally drawn to new advances. I’m thrilled that they are comfortable with different formats, though I cant help but be a little frustrated when they would rather have their noses buried in their iPods rather than go for a hike with the family or build a fort in the back yard as I did when I was growing up. With that said, technology is a part of our everyday lives, and as much as I may want to resist its temptations, I realize that it is the way of the future. Learning how to maintain balance is my current parenting challenge. I realize that having experience in all things “Read, Write Web” is only going to make my kids better prepared for the world and their future.

    Weblogs have become a great way for interests to be shared, for information to be spread, and for groups to keep in touch. Using them in the classroom can be a very effective tool. My only hesitation with Internet communication is the confidence people gain by not communicating directly with another person. What I mean by this, is people may not filter themselves as they would if they were talking to a live person. Reminding students to be aware of what they are saying and how they are saying it would be an important lesson. I am constantly reminding my own kids this as they communicate with their friends through texting. I advise them to only text what they would be willing to say to that person face to face to avoid an uncomfortable situation later. The same applies with weblogs. ON the other hand, some people may have an easier time opening up if they are doing so on a blog as opposed to face to face. Either way, it opens a new line of communication, which opens up all sorts of possibilities.

    Through this education journey that I am on right now, I have already experienced technology that I wouldn’t have been able to experience otherwise. Just the opportunity to be “more green” through posting assignments to my PLE gives me great satisfaction. In addition, the process of meeting online, the availability of so many resources on the Internet, and the chance to learn new teaching techniques (such as blogging) opens my eyes to all that is available. I look forward to learning more as my journey continues, and I will strive to absorb as much as I can, while remembering to take a hike every once in a while too.

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  3. Chp 2-3 Response – Luis Cisneros

    Students and the use of computers have been a routine practice for them in the classroom. From taking a computer class where they learn the fundamentals of typing and the use of the different tools to create documents. In some cases they get a crash course on internet and how they can use it to help them in class, but by this point the students already have knowledge on how to manipulate the internet to their benefit. Keeping that in mind, as teachers we need to also be on top of our technology game! We need to know how to communicate with our students, how can we reach out to them in a way that they are willing to participate and interact with their peers and teachers? Students today are spending more and more time on the internet, meeting new people, posting picture and videos or simply posting what they did for the day. This act can be used to the teacher’s advantage and by creating a Weblog or a class portal teachers have created an interactive environment and also established a link with their students using a form of mass communication.

    In my case I like the idea of create a class portal with a weblog where students can come together with their peers and also potentially have access to other students around the state country or even around the world. The possibilities could be endless. On page 33 Richardson looks at blogging within the curriculum, “Blogging across the curriculum offers student and teacher not only the ability to infuse writing into all disciplines, it facilitates connections in ways that plain paper cannot”. Students can easily practice their Spanish with each other, they can post videos, share pictures, comment on each other’s work. It doesn’t have to end there. I could also create a pen pal for the students with other Spanish speaking classes from our own school district or around our state. I guess you could say a 21st century pen pal. This gives the students the opportunity to meet new students that are also learning the language.

    With this type of interactions from student to student and class to class students must practice appropriate behavior. In chapter three my attention was pulled more towards the safety of the student and appropriate behaviors. Students now, tend to not confront students with personal issues they are more likely to post negative comments about a particular person they don’t get along with. Instead of being bullied face to face it has moved to the cyber world and they call it cyber bullying. This is not the only thing that teacher must concern themselves with. We have to keep in mind that they can also post picture and videos that could be inappropriate, but these challenges can also be dealt with and controlled. Teachers can ask students to submit their work before posting. Teacher could give positive feedback when a student has posted a blog. They main idea is safety and respect for students and the new people they are interacting with. I believe that this is a great way to manage the content of the blog and also keep unwanted material out of the blogs and the class portal.

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  4. Response to Chapter 2 and 3- by Bob Hankel

    As Richardson states that the first time he used a blog and posted his opinion and someone responded to it, "There was something powerful about so easily being able to share resources and ideas with a Web audience that was willing to share back what they thought about those ideas." I totally agree with this although my first experience was particularly negative. I decided to respond to an article about my favorite football team on a Oregonlive.com blog and posted a pretty innocent response to the article saying I thought a particular player was headed for a good season and made a prediction for team for the season. Immediately some "anonymous" blogger blasted my message and me for posting it with some inappropriate comments. My first response was to fire a message right back, but then I realized I have no idea who this person is and what good would it do to get into a war of words on a blog. This kind of put a bad taste in my mouth about blogs in general and how there is no accountability and no way to know if what someone says has any credibility. I have since gotten on several blogs outside of oregonlive.com, but mostly as a way to "research" a certain topic such as how to use a certain product or what people have done in a certain parenting situation. I am usually only a reader and seldom a writer.

    As far as blogs in education I think they can be an amazing resource if used properly. As Richardson says in chapter 2, we need to figure out how to get kids to use these sites as a means of learning and not just a social tool as most kids do. His idea for setting up a class portal is a great idea to get kids to use technology in a positive way. All of the class materials are on the blog so there is no excuses for not knowing when something was due or not getting a certain handout. They can keep track of all their work and keep organized. This can also get parents involved as well. Students can collaborate with others online and learn a lot from each other. One practical application I thought was exciting was about how science experiments can be run concurrently at any number of sites across the country or world and results can be compared. Can you imagine how big of a data set you could have using this technology?

    After reading these 2 chapters it is clear to me that the potential of using blogs in education is endless but there are many challenges to be aware of. I think we have to be aware of the safety of our students as well as maintain a balance to keep kids active and not even more reliant on technology than they already are. At the same time we need to factor in the economic position of our schools and families as to what we can expect our students to participate in technology wise.

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  5. Chapter 2/3 Response Andy Haugen

    In chapters 2 and 3 Richardson really begins to dive into blogs. He believes blogs are a necessary educational tool and his main reasons are that writing on the web is easy and there is always an audience for a perosn's ideas. He gives many ideas and uses why blogs are useful and there a couple of examples that stood out to me. He discusses how blogs and websites are a great place to put copies of assignments and when they are due. Also, how students can post their work on the web and can create an e-portfolio so the work is all kept in the same place and there are not excuses for not having it or turning it in on time. This is important because many students have organizational issues or cannot find the teacher for an extra copy of the assignment and this way they have access to the work 24/7.

    Blogs are considered a new way of writing and learning that students can relate to. It is a different learning environemnt where all students can contribute including those who might not want to speak in class which is huge. The students can learn from each other and are not just being talked at by a teacher in the classroom. I think it is good to mix it up in learning methods and if students and teachers find informative links and resources they can just post it in the blog for everyone to take advantage of. I feel by using blogs a greater sense of collaborative learning can happen and blogs can be used for multiple subjects.

    Blogs can be a great resource tool and part of the learning process. I like Richardson's theory of starting blogs off as simple because it is important to teach students the rules and safety issues surrounding blogs while learning how to use them and I myself had never used a blog until last class so I am still learning about them as well, start small then grow. I also believe to use a blog in the classroom a teacher has to know their class. For example, there may be a number of students who do not have a computer at home. Also, just because there is work online does not mean the students will post comments or their assignemnts. I feel it would reach a larger number of students to participate but there are a few classes that I am in at my placement where I do not think it would matter at all to some of the students if it was online or not. As a whole it is an effective teaching method but there are instances where blogging is just not the right situation or tool to learn effectively.

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  6. Chapter 2 had a lot of great information on the use of blogs. What I mostly came away with is understanding the vast ways in which blogs can be used and the benefits of using them in the educational setting. Blogs can serve as collaborative space for educators and others to contribute and learn from one another, archives- to store work (I thought the idea of creating an online portfolio from beginning to end was brilliant! Especially considering the amount of time creating classroom portfolios take for each student), global conversation (I also loved this idea of drawing in experts into the world of blogging to educate and collaborate with students), and to promote critical and analytical thinking.

    The pedagogy of weblogs I found to be particularly important as it gave information to the various ways weblogs can improve student learning. What I took from this section was that the weblog is a constructivist tool for learning. The benefits that really stood out to me were those of supporting different learning styles and the assurance that everyone can contribute and have a voice.

    I also learned that good blogging is that of including links to posts, analysis, and synthesis. This is really huge when you think about it- especially when students are participating in this! I never realized the potential blogs had to build on student experience and skills.

    Chapter 3 gave an easy breakdown of how to start a blog. I personally can see myself starting small with a class blog and working in a group setting to get kids used to the idea of blogging- ensuring safety while teaching them how to find credible sources. I will definitely be referring back to this chapter!

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  7. Chapter 2 and 3.
    The chapters about blogs in out text I found to be very interesting. I have always known about blogs, seeing mostly that famous people on TV often times have bogs that people can follow and sort of get an idea of what that person has to talk about, but never really thought of them in an educational sense. Chapter 2 gave me an entirely different approach to blogs. Reading the chapter combined with looking for educational blogs during last class have led me to understand that blogs can be an amazing piece of technology in the classroom. They can be a source of information, like many of the blogs we shared during last class, or they can also pose questions and expect responses from the blogs followers. One of the usages that I found particularly interesting is the archive of past used materials for a class. I think a blog could be a great way to record what you did during a class and then have a space to reflect of whether what you did worked or whether it didn’t. The teacher could then look back on previous entries and see what they did last year and change it according to their reflections. I think blogs really epitomize web 2.0 in the sense that the creator is constantly making new information on the internet for others to possibly use and see.
    When I think of blogs what generally comes to mind is a source for teachers to collaborate their efforts, but blogs for students is another great way blogs should be included into education. Having a sight where students can write about a topic for class and analyze their understanding of the subject will lead to further learning and development of key educational goals. The students would have to learn to read others posts, think about and analyze what they have posted and think of a way to either agree with or dispute their arguments.
    The chapter 3 section about starting out was particularly interesting to me because I am completely new to blogging so it was nice to have some step lined up for how to start out the process. Overall I believe these chapters are a great resource for the teacher who does not have any sort of blogging experience and would like to learn more about the possibilities of blogging in the classroom.

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  8. Weblogs
    I have heard people saying they follow blogs, I have heard people saying they found “cool” information from a specific blog, I think I have read some blogs that friends recommended to me via email. However, I am not very familiar with them. The book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, by Will Richardson describes, in a very easy and interesting way, the purpose of blogs and the information you can get from them. As we did the exercise in our Technology class (EDU537), by finding and exploring a blog, I was able to picture the information in the book and apply it in the Web site. I can clearly see the how powerful tool it could become in the education environment. It seems to be great in a personal level, but it could be more beneficial in an educational level, too. Teachers can benefit from all the content, tips, videos, news, etc. posted on them. Students can get a huge amount of text and interaction that could engage and make reading and writing easy and “cool” for them. Once they master the blogs (because they will or they have already) they can become a rich tool for their personal and professional development. Now, I see myself using them. I do not want to be told about them anymore. I think it is time for me to tell about them and benefit others with this, precisely, powerful web tool for my classroom.

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