Students become the "Constructors of Knowledge"

Students can provide the content, links and pose questions to solicit comments...

Blogging engages students to create own meaning of knowledge!

Blogging to Communicate with Other Teachers

Teachers might use blogs as a way of reflecting on new ideas they're interested in trying in their classrooms.  If others are reading and commenting on their posts it creates a sense of energy and collaboration around the idea, perhaps motivating the teacher in their efforts to try something new.

Teachers can communicate when out of school with a large group of colleagues.  This could be a way to reflect upon decision making and stay in touch with colleagues over long breaks.

Blogs might have limited use for communication with colleagues because of the scope or specialization of topic on each blog.  Scope might be an important factor for reaching a wide or narrow audience.

Blogs Create Ownership and Choice for Students

Because their word is available to a wide audience and they are accountable for their responses.

Blogs are student centered and allow students to create their knowledge in a multi facetted way. AKA they can take it in any direction they want.

They are the ones deciding on what is focused. They determine and choice how much to engage with the blog and what areas the most time is spent on. They are the ones creating the curriculum and taking advantage of the blog in their class.

Using Blogs to Showcase Student Work

1. How can teachers use blogs to showcase student work?

2. How can teachers use blogs in their classroom and how could students use blogs to help facilitate classroom projects?

In my (Melissa's) science classroom, I would use blogs as an online lab notebook -- students could post their research findings, hypotheses, experiment results and analyses, photos of apparatus and experiments, etc.  At the end of an experiment, they could post their finished analyses and results.

Students could participate in communal learning by reading and replying to each others' blog posts.

As with all technology, the digital divide poses a problem if you want your students to work with blogs at home.

Blog Exercise Jac's Group

Concerns are public vs. private information.   How much do you publish, how do you keep students safe?   

Don't use last names or have possibly use initials or an alias known to the teacher specifically but also could be known to the classmates.

Concerns outside the classroom are monitoring of content how does an instructor moderate the student interaction.  What is appropriate?   How do you check in on conversation and make sure issues are not escalating.

Guidance and step in for appropriate content and personal information.

Instructor can give specific rules on how the students interact and what they post.

Set the tone for the blog, don't let it free flow.   Has to be the actual student don't want brother or sister posting for you.

Depends on your classroom, equity in technology, goals of the classroom, how much student trust you have, student relationships, size of class.       I think you can be either very successful using this media or very unsuccessful if you are not careful and if you are not deeply involved as a moderator.

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