Blogging on Blogs!
The thought of writing on Constructivism, even with a new slant, brings back memories of stress and sore fingers from the Teaching and Learning exam! Therefore for this task, I will highlight some of the advantages of using blogs in Education. I should qualify that some (or actually all) of this information is not original to Davo's thinking but is actually a combination of thoughts stripped from other blogs and the general web!
Fellow teachers in training, why should we use blogs for education?
The DET explains Blogs provide a communication space that teachers can utilise with students whenever there is a curriculum need to develop writing, share ideas and reflect on work being undertaken in the classroom. From an education perspective the availability and ease of use of blogging software makes creating blogs a viable classroom activity and a means for teachers to communicate with other teachers.
A well respected New Technologies lecturer at UWA details, a blog can function as a reflective diary but it can also be the centrepiece of a conversation, since readers can leave comments for the blog's author and each other, forging connections and community around topics of mutual interest. Advantages for students include the fact that they are writing for a wider audience - whether the entire internet in a public blog, or a more restricted group of class peers in a private class blog - and can receive feedback, thus co-constructing knowledge with others as they develop their online personas. Blogs are commonly 'in conversation' with one another, as bloggers link to and comment on each other's ideas.
Now, I realise that this is not my thinking, but seeing I am new to both blogging and education, I figured it was best not to share my ignorant opinions. That said I am more than happy to receive other peoples thoughts, ignorant or not!
Well, this is a good illustration of how to draw on the 'collective intelligence' of the web!
ReplyDeleteBe proud - Is good to start by looking at the base knowledge from experts / Govt Department Statements before exploring - is brave to show that research when others are haring off without touching that base first.
ReplyDeleteJulie
Indeed, plus it raised some ideas that I hadn't thought of, such as teachers using blogs to communicate with each other. This sounds good in theory, but really what would teachers need to communicate to each other on a blog that they couldn't in person? Then again, some of the examples of blogs Mark has shown us have been of Language teachers communicating with him - so distance would be a factor.
ReplyDeleteAnd Ross, kudos on using the references - it's probably what I should have done!
Oh! I thought Davo might have been the new student in our class. Well, its Ross! Or is it?
ReplyDeleteI found it difficult to do away with refering to sources, so you have done this beautifully. I quickly edited my blog before publishing, was far to academic to start with. Well, we are being marked arn't we? How is Mark going to assess if we don't cite our reference properly? I cheated and looked at what others were doing before going "live".
On Averil's point - Don't forget, the blogs are also supposed to be experimental, especially at this early stage. One thing you'll do over the next couple of months is to develop your blogging voice, striking a balance between formality and informality, academic and general purpose writing, etc, as you find what works for you.
ReplyDeleteOn Matt's point - yes, blogs allow teachers to communicate across long distances. In addition, they allow you to assemble useful resources and links, and to provide more reflective commentary than might be possible in a corridor conversation. On top of all that, some teachers find them useful as reflective diaries of their own thoughts on teaching. So there are lots of possibilities ...
Ross, any chance you could come up with an opinion of your own?!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Matt - long distances and blogging. It's more the content and filtering that irks me.
Gee its nice to use the word irk.
Actually I take it back, i would prefer if i didn't recieve someones thoughs! (rhymes with som)
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of being able to communicate with teachers all over the world through their blogs. And borrow (i.e. steal) their teaching ideas. I believe that if the cause is noble, copyright and plagiarism should not exist! If UWA is reading, I promise I never plagiarised anything!
ReplyDeleteThere's a fine line between plagiarism and borrowing, of course, but luckily a lot of educators are very willing to share their resources! It's also great for educators that there are 160 million Creative Commons licences out there (not counting Wikipedia) - including more than 100 million photos, as we discussed in class today.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to talk about copyright, an area that i would never have given a second thought. At least there appears to still be alot of resouces out there to use!
ReplyDelete