Blogs

This week's personal challenge was starting a blog!! This was confusing and frustrating but i must say now it is up and running i am quite proud of myself.
Blogs are an online journal made up of chronological entries. The features of a blog include instant publishing of texts and graphics. A blog is a way for people to provide comments or feedback to each blog post and hyperlink to other bloggers. Blogs provide opportunities for people to present and express themselves online.
Blogs are an excellent way to produce a traditional task of journal keeping in a modern arena within the classroom. Huffaker (2005) states that blogs provide an arena where self-expression and creativity are encouraged. He goes on to say that its linkages to other bloggers establish the same peer-group relationships found in non virtual worlds.
The blogs user friendly design is engaging and simple for teachers to implement. As it is on the internet it allows bloggers to access their blogs anywhere and at anytime and provides learning outside the classroom. Blogs cater to a diverse range of learners and learning styles.
Students using the blog can comment and give feedback, share ideas and ask and answer questions, they connect and create an “interwoven, dynamic organization” Huffaker (2005) and form social networks.

Blogs can be multidisciplinary as they involve reading and writing and can be used in a variety of academic contexts.
In an educational setting a blog can be used as journal to document a science experiment where students upload photos and blog about their ongoing experiment. For example students are growing mould on bread, they will take photos throughout the next few weeks documenting on their blog the changes of the bread as well as providing feedback, asking questions, hypothesizing and predicting.
This collaborative learning sits within a constructivism view of learning, it is "widely agreed that students learn best if they take an active role in their own learning" (Duffy & Cunningham 1996).
Blogs also fit in with Kearsley & Shneiderman’s Engagement Theory (1997) which is based upon the idea of creating successful collaborative teams that work on ambitious projects that are meaningful and engaging. The three components Relate-Create-Donate apply nicely to the class task mentioned.
Relate involves students working in teams where they communicate, plan, manage their blog and use social skills with peers.
Create is where students define the project or problem and focus their efforts on applying ideas to the task in an engaging manner.
Donate stresses the value of making a useful contribution while learning. Students ensure that collaboratively they have solved the problem. For a Learning Manager the impact of using blogs in the classroom could be huge as they are a great way to assess students either in a formative way or a summative way.To view an example of how blogs can be useful in the classroom please click on the following link to view a lesson plan using a blog go to http://s0154220amanda.weebly.com/blogs.html

References
Duffy, T.D., & Cunningham, D.J. (1996). Constructivism: Implications for the design and delivery of instruction. In D.H. Jonassen (Ed.), Handbook of research for educational communications and technology: A project of the association for educational communications and technology, (pp. 55-85). New York: Macmillan
Huffaker, D (2005). The educated blogger: Using weblogs to promote literacy in the classroom. AACE journal, 12 (2), 91-98
Keirsley, G (1997) & Shneiderman, B (1994,1998). Engagement Theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning. [electronic resource] 1999, retrieved from moodle,cqu.edu.au/course/view.php?id=4033

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