Final Reflection!

Sorry I am a few days late posting this! What have I learned about blogs in education?

• They can be a GREAT tool in a classroom.
• However, in order to be a great tool – the blog must have: 1) A purpose! 2) A creator with the patience and time to create and maintain an effective blog.
• They are quite simple to use – and I believe very user friendly.
• Keeping up on others blogs can be quite time consuming. (Much more time consuming than I had originally anticipated.
• I hope to one day use blogs in my classrooms, but for now I don’t think I have the TIME!!! (Hopefully once I am actually a teacher and not just student teaching!)
• I had no idea that blogs were used in the education world - I had always seen them as more of a social network. But blogs are used for ANYTHING and EVERYTHING!

Blogs in Education was a very interesting class. I enjoyed learning to use different gadgets. I also enjoyed reading others blogs. There were some very interesting and informative posts, and I appreciate others sharing. Thank you all for your contributions!

Managing and Marketing

Managing a blog can be a challenge. I have a family blog that I struggle to keep up on. I also struggle to keep up on all my friends and family members that have blogs. And then I added another blog and classmates blogs to follow… I think it can get overwhelming. The RSS feed is still a little confusing to me. I typically manage the blogs I follow through my dashboard. I have literally spent hours upon hours bouncing from one blog to another. I think it is important to set a time limit and to prioritize what blogs you will read and how often you plan to post. I think that managing your time for a classroom blog could be very difficult. I love the idea of having a classroom blog but using one efficiently could be a challenge. Deciding what your purpose is, setting realistic goals and managing your time are the ways I intend to manage my blog.

Marketing a blog is a very interesting notion. I follow some fun blogs that have sponsors and are constantly doing giveaways. Who doesn’t love free stuff?! Cooking blogs, craft blogs, photography blogs – these are all fun things (to me anyway!). I don’t think that a classroom blog could be marketed this way. But I personally don’t feel that I would want to gain a following (outside of my students…). I think that blogs for education should be used on a much more personal level. I would just use one for a particular class. And in that case I don’t really feel that marketing is really required…

Video - Mason Crawling!

My son just started crawling over the weekend - so for me this is a pretty exciting (but scary!) video to share!

Blogs in the Classroom?! An Educator's Perspective

I was trying to decide how I would actually use blogs in my future classroom (or if I would use them...). I came across an old friend that I did a study abroad with. He is currently teaching at Marshall High School in Portland. I decided that someone's opinion who has had some experience with blogs in a classroom would provide some great insight. This is my friends response (I hope you enjoy!):


"Let's see, as far as blogs and the classroom. I LOVE using blogs because the students of today are WAY more connected to technology than when we were in high school (I remember when texting seemed like a huge technological achievement). I've found my blogs to be really useful to direct students if they have missed class, want to download an assignment, see a recap of the day's activities, ask me a question, or simply as another discussion forum in extension of class.

That being said, I rarely make checking the blog a mandatory activity, since not every student has access to the internet at home. When I do make something online madatory, I will always offer up my computer before or after class, during lunch, or after school.

I do not currently have a classroom blog for this year, since much of what I do is tutoring-related (I do have a class in the morning, but it isn't conducive to a blog). That being said, I did maintain one over my summer school of teaching last year, as well as all during student teaching. Here are all of the links to puruse at your leisure:

http://bensonmwh.blogspot.com/
http://westviewgs.blogspot.com/
http://westviesgs2.blogspot.com/
http://westviewgs4.blogspot.com/

The creation of my class blog was really a spur of the moment thing, the weekend before I started teaching in my internship site at Westview. I knew that 1) I am really good at checking e-mail and creating websites 2) I needed a way to connect to students outside of the classroom that made it easier for them to understand what I was asking of them.

I use the blogs in the classroom as a brief recap of the day before, or to show students links that directly relate to what was brought up. Frequently, I will tell a student "I am not sure, I will get back to you on that question and post it on the blog." I have also found that it is a GREAT way for me to reflect on each lesson plan and unwind after the day. Granted, my blog entries take a long time to write (usually about an hour for each), but I think they are worth it."

My experience with blogs has been to keep in touch with friends and family - more of a social network. But after limited research about using blogs in education, I truly feel that they could be very useful in a classroom. I think it would be a great resource for students, but it would most definitely have to be a trial and error project. For some classes it may be worth the time, if the students are utilizing it. However, it may be a total waste of time for other classes.

Article - Using Blogs in the Classroom...

"I decided to write a column about blogs after reading an article in the October 2005 issue of NEA Today, the journal of the National Education Association. Titled "New Kids on the Blog," the article claimed that web logs are "the latest best thing since the overhead projector."

"Weblogs, or 'blogs,' as they are
called, can best be defined as
websites that are easily created
and updated by those with even a
minimum of technology know-how.
What used to be a messy process
for internet publishing is now almost
as easy as sending e-mail; no
code, no file transfer, and in many
cases, no hosting setup. Just login to
your site from any internet connection,
enter the content in a typical
internet form, press a button, and
your weblog is updated. And it's
not just text. Blogs can display pictures
and video, include audio and
Flash, and even store other files like
PowerPoint presentations or Excel
spreadsheets for linking."

These are a couple quotes from the article - I thought it was pretty crazy the the NEA put blogs at the same level as the "overhead projector." The overhead projecter was a big deal back in the day! This article was over four years old so the blogs that the author listed as valuable resources weren't all that great but overall an interesting article and a great description of "blogs" and how simply they can be used!

References
Risinger, C. (2006). Using Blogs in the Classroom: A New Approach to Teaching Social Studies with the Internet. Social Education, 70(3), 130-132. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Article - blogs vs. other discussion tools?

In this article the author discusses the growing trend of blogs in k-12 education and even higher education. They discuss the use blogs vs. other discussion boards (such as BlackBoard...). I found the article to be very interesting and brought up some good points. Blogs have evolved from being personal journals to a type of online community. There are great discussions that can be sparked and students may put forth more effort if they know their work will be on display for the world to see. This opportunity to write for readers outside the classroom is not possible with other discussion tools. I personally think that blogs are a great tool. They can be used individually or collectively as a classroom. There are endless possibilities...

References:

Shiang-Kwei, W., & Hui-Yin, H. (2008). Reflections on Using Blogs to Expand In-class Discussion. TechTrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning, 52(3), 81-85. doi:10.1007/s11528-008-0160-y

Introduction

Hello! My name is Sabrina Maki. I am taking CSE 694 as part of my MAT program through WOU. I am 24 years old. I was raised on a ranch in Burns, OR (on the dry side of the state)! I finished my B.A. in Political Science at WOU in 2008. I got married that summer and moved to a small town just outside of Astoria, OR. I live here with my husband and our eight month old son. I am a stay-at-home mom (...which I LOVE!) and a student. I am very excited to one day be a teacher. And I must confess that I have had a family blog for a few years. I still have much to learn about the "blogging" world and I am excited for this class!