Journal Entries for Week One from Sandra Cannon Scott
Blog Basics, a how-to article, from McGraw-Hill
Companies’ Teaching Today, is a part
of its Technology Integration Series,
and introduces readers to the educational blog, and ways that teachers may use
the blog as a technological tool to improve teaching and learning. A blog is defined here as a Web publishing tool that allows authors to
quickly and easily self-publish text, artwork, links to other blogs or Web
sites, and a whole array of other content.
It consists of daily posts which are text entries, with posting dates
and times, similar to those written in a journal. Blogs also include short,
frequently updated comments made by readers who express their own views and
opinions. Those comments appear in reverse chronological order and can include
archived ones.
Thirteen advantages of
educational blogs for students and seventeen for teachers precede instructions
for setting up a blog and a resource for historical data.
Blogs for Teaching
and Learning—Something More Than Just Technology is presented in three
components: introduction, educational
uses, and getting started. Francesc
Balague, who is affiliated with the University of Barcelona, shares that blogging
is a tool that presents new challenges for students, teachers, and
institutions. Each slide that is
presented in the introduction shares data about educational blogging from
various contributors internationally, with specific URL addresses for further
research.
Teachers may educationally use technologies to introduce new
methodologies and learning environments.
Blogs support knowledge building, reflection, monitoring, sharing, and
archiving. Bloom’s Taxonomy is also
referenced and graphically illustrated with action terminology enumerated beside
each of the corresponding levels from the lower to the higher order thinking
skills.
Blogging allows teachers to provide feedback and to monitor
students’ performance more effectively.
It allows students opportunities for self-assessment and personal
reflection. Students and teachers may
track the entire process. Tips for
getting started and useful links end the work.
Blogger in the
Classroom was created for Google by WestEd and is reached at http://www.blogger.com. Blogger
makes it easy for teachers to create blogs where they may post resources,
lessons, and homework assignments; keep parents informed regarding class
happenings; reflect on their own teaching practices, and share their ideas with
other professionals. Blogger allows students to easily share
schoolwork with peers, parents, and other stakeholders; collaborate on projects
and get feedback from others; and keep a reflective journal throughout the
entire term or year.
Instructional ideas are presented for grades PreK-12,
including a specific Blogger in Action
Project which demonstrates how a class scribe is appointed daily to post
class notes to the blog located at http://apcalc06.blogspot.com. Others reflect use by various stakeholders
and include the following:
create private blogs seen only by
your class, parents or school. From the Blogger Dashboard, click on Settings,
select Permissions, and set who can view the blog.
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