Functionality of a blog

After reading Educationa Blogging by Stephen Downes it has opened my eyes to how I could utilising this tool in my own classroom in the future. I especially think the virtual extension of the classroom set up by principal Mario Asselin is a great idea.

Benifits of blogging:

• common intrests shared
• announcements displayed
• if students are away they can see what they have missed out on
• exchange points of view
• everyone in equity
• students can reflect on findings
• everyone else can see it so people will tend to take more care in what they are writing eg punctuation and making sure they have the right facts.
• it gets students writing

I think making blogs part of learning, as this course E-Learning has done, makes students engage in their learning more as they have to continually prove they are engagin with the required course content. Its also reassuring to look at other peoples bloggs to make sure you are on the right track.

This online tool would suite those students that are constructivist as social learning has a large influence on them.

3rd August 2010

After reading Kates blog on the functionality of a blog I like how she explained that allowing students to blog in the classroom will also be teaching them important computer skills. This made me think about a point that was mentioned in our English assignment on visual literacy, about how students knew how to use a programme but didn't understand how elements such as colour and pictures worked together to create meaning. The use of blogs and allowing students to personalise their own blogs with back grounds, inserting pictures etc could be a great way to explain and show how these elements could work together.