I continue to be overwhelmed while trying simultaneously to figure out how to use these innovative tools and wrap my mind around ways to use them in a sound, educational manner. Having said that, my excitement for them grew as I read in Richardson’ work how he and other educators are finding innovative ways to enhance their students’ education. I was particularly taken with the understanding that blogging is a tool that when used effectively can push students do more than simply “journal” ideas (p. 20). Richardson cites Eide Neurolearning Blog, 2005 and notes the various types of deep mental engagement and social participation that can take place while blogging. As educators, we are constantly looking for ways to get our students to use higher levels of thinking, and it appears that blogging can be an effective tool to achieve this.
We’ve known for some time that students’ ability to attend to a given task vary from child to child and age level to age level. We’ve learned to vary our teaching style and intersperse activities and social engagement so that children can better focus and utilize social skills in order to learn. It is looking like, again, if used correctly, that blogging as a teaching tool can be used to meet many of these needs while providing even more content related stimulus and opportunities to develop, check, and/or reinforce their comprehension of what is being “blogged” about. On top of that, they are simultaneously enhancing their cognitive, technology, and communication/social skills in general. Blogging allows students to have access to a huge amount of ways and means to make a point, counter an argument, check for accuracy, enhance an idea … you get the picture.
I really am beginning to believe that if I can understand the many benefits that blogging has to offer and effectively use them, it will be well worth the effort to then come up with creative “projects” for my students to work on as a community of learners. The fact that they will always have a broader audience for their work besides the teacher is a fine motivator for them to put more effort into their work. In addition, the opportunities for a lot more feed back from a potentially large and varied group of participators will make the learning experience richer and more meaningful (p. 27).
What a great idea! Blogging as a tool for differentiation! I hadn't really thought about this, but it makes sense. Each student blogs at his/her own pace and you as the teacher can quickly determine what each student needs based on what they produce. It is a great way of giving a formative assessments on students while they work to check their understanding, while the collective blogging activity makes an excellent summative assessment. Love it!
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