Blog-a-what? Discovering Blogging in Education

The concept of blogging was a relatively new concept for me, surprising considering I believe myself to be a member of (or at least on the cusp of) Generation Y and (at least somewhat) computer savvy. And so here I sit, my blog (Web Log) created, a relatively simple process thanks to You Tube, I am making my first blog posting and feeling, well in all honesty, daunted by the prospect of my work being read and scrutinized by any number of peers and experts in the field. What a wonderfully motivating prospect, for me as a pre-service teacher, as much as it would be for a student in my class.

The applications of Blogs in the classroom are endless, and I will endeavor to share my ideas later in my post, but it is this motivating factor that I believe holds the key to engaging students, giving them the opportunity to share their very best work with the world in a meaningful way. Too often students, particularly adolescents, feel demoralised and misunderstood in the tumultuous teenage years that we can all associate with. Imagine giving them an outlet through which they could truly be 'heard.' It is an outlet that, as well as giving them valuable ICT and literacy skills, is a way a sharing there thoughts, reflections and ideas in an ideal environment - where they are safe from judgement, an important ideal according to Marzano and Pickering's (1997) Dimension 1, and yet motivated to share their very best work. "When student projects are put up on the web, this provides an incentive for them to do the best possible work, since they know their work will be viewed by their classmates and possibly the whole world." (Kearsly & Shneiderman, 1999).

So, how might we implement such a useful tool in the classroom? My first instinct is always to first take note of how I am using it to learn, I am after all a student too. Reflective Journaling is an excellent way of incorporating "Text User" and "Text Critic" literacy skills (Luke and Freebody, 1999), along with ICT skills, into whatever subject content is being taught at that particular time. For example, within science, students could blog about what they had learned in class on the digestive system. Using guiding questions, the students could share their ideas on how the knowledge they have gained could be used to discover the effects of diet and nutrition (Text User). As their knowledge progressed, the students could compare and contrast different diets regimes and who developed them (Text Critic) and ultimately decide on and design a dietary plan for a particular group of people, e.g. athletes, obese, Coeliac's Disease. In this way, whilst ICT skills are used in the blogging process, various "roles" of literacy within the Four Resource Model (Luke and Freebody, 1999) are are also being practiced. Teachers are then able to assess both formatively and sumatively whilst students work toward a meaningful goal, the 'Donate' stage of engagement theory (Kearsly & Shneiderman, 1999) and Dimension 4 of The Dimensions of Learning: Use Knowledge Meaningfully (Marzano & Pickering, 1997).

Alternatively, students can use a blog to post questions regarding homework, assignments, class work and concepts in a way that encourages discussion and help amoung peers in a group learning environment. This ties in with the "Relate" component of engagement theory, whereby student collaboration encourages students to "clarify and verbalize their problems" (Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1999). This concept also links with active learning and allows students to drive their own learning in a student centred pedagogical approach.

These ideas are practical applications of the theories I have discovered within an e.Learning Pedagogy, I'm sure there will be many opportunities to learn, design and implement such ideas as I progress in my Embedded Professional Learning (EPL). I wonder now, as I suspect I will many more times over the coming months as I discover more ICT's for my ever-expanding classroom 'tool kit', how on earth did we ever survive without it?!

For some inspiration, here is a video about the use of blogs in the classroom:



References:

Luke, A. & Freebody, P. (1999). Further Notes on The Four Resources Model. Reading Online.
Retrieved 2 March 2010, from http://http://www.readingonline.org/

Kearsley & Shneiderman, (1999). Engagement Theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning.
Retrieved 1 March 2010 from http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm

Marzano & Pickering. (1997). Dimensions of Learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

The Albiene Christian University Adams Centre for Teaching Excellence. (2000). Why Use
Active Learning?
Retrieved 8 March 2010 from http://www.acu.edu/cte/activelearning/whyuseal2.htm