The Educational Value of Blogs

What do you see as the educational value of blogs in the classroom and outside of the classroom, and how can blogs be integrated into K-12 classrooms?

Blogs can serve several purposes in a classroom. Used as a teaching tool, blogs can provide students a way to interact with other students and/or classes in a safe, controlled environment. They can help students build writing and critical-thinking skills by giving them practice in organizing and conveying their thoughts. In addition, blogging allows students to learn about subjects from experts in a particular field. Used by teachers, blogs offer a way for students to stay connected to their classes if they miss school or just need to know what the homework assignment is. They can also allow students to see a different side of their teachers and get some insight into their personalities, as well as discovering additional information about the content covered in their classes.

Outside of the classroom, blogs are an excellent way for people with similar interests or professions to share information, regardless of the physical distance between them. For instance, authors can use blogs to communicate with their readers and business experts can share ideas, processes, and technological discoveries. On a more personal level, blogs can be a way for families and friends to stay connected, and to communicate with each other in a written format that’s completely different from snail mail and email. Blogs allow you to post pictures, links, likes and dislikes, and to reveal as much or as little of yourself as you want.

Blogs can be integrated into the classroom in many different ways. Classes can set up their own blogs and each student can be assigned a period of time to keep it updated with new content learned. Students can create blogs as a way of communicating with other students, both across the country and across the world. In addition, blogs can be part of a group project where members each have a component of the blog that they’re responsible for creating and building. Older students can use blogs to interact with experts in certain fields, and even to help them determine possible career choices. For younger students, teachers can create links on their blogs that can be a source of educational games and activities. These activities can help students to build skills during non-school time.

Excellent Features of Blogging

What do you see as excellent features of the blog(s) you participated in and why? What stands out from this blogging experience and why?

One of the most beneficial aspects of blogging was the freedom it gave me to focus on subjects that were both relevant to me and interesting as well. Other than the “emerging technology” blog requirements, I was pretty much free to write whatever I wanted. My team members had some great insights into technology applications and devices that I’d never used, so they were also very helpful to me. I liked the way the Google blogger application allowed each person to put his or her own personality into the blog, by the use of certain backgrounds, gadgets, and images. One feature I particularly liked was the profile of the blogger. I thought it was enlightening to readers to see the background of the blog owner, and to be able to put a face with all the written entries. Another very positive feature was the ease with which I could review and edit previously published posts. It gave me a concise list of what I had published without having to scroll down through pages and pages of blog entries.

Learning About the ActiveBoard

Because of the recent addition of so many ActiveBoards in our school, I spent some time this weekend getting familiar with the ActiveInspire software used with the boards. I quickly realized that it's not easy to figure it out on your own, and then I remembered that my county has a subscription to Atomic Learning. I located the username and password, logged on, and discovered that there are almost two hours worth of tutorials on ActiveInspire. I went through almost all of them! It was a great way to learn the main concepts in an organized manner, and to focus in on the concepts that most interested me. In some cases, I played the tutorial three times. But the tutorials were very brief - not more than two minutes each. So, you can quickly learn about just those aspects of the software that are the most interesting (or most confusing) to you. I now feel much more comfortable with the ActiveInspire application and even created a few flipcharts to use in the future. In addition, I sent an email to our staff, letting them know what I had discovered. Since many have only received an overview and won't get additional training until January, I thought this would be a great way for them to learn a little more in the interim.

What I Learned from Blogging

"What did you learn from this blogging experience about yourself and about blogs as tools for teaching and learning? What surprised you about this blogging experience? Why?"

I had no experience whatsoever with blogging prior to starting my “I Am Blogger” project. I knew it was a tool used by many teachers (mainly high school, from my understanding), but I really didn’t see much use for it in my school, especially with our student population. Not very many of our families have computers in their homes, and when they do have an opportunity to use them, they’re not likely to be accessing the school Web site or teachers’ blogs. But I realized that although our students may not use blogs, they’re a great way to communicate with others in my profession. In addition, I’m now more aware of what blogs can do, and I’ve noticed that almost every one of my high school age daughter’s teachers use one. Students can access it to see upcoming assignments, or what they need to do if they missed class or forgot to write down the homework.

One thing that really surprised me about my blog was that someone outside of my group actually read it. I posted a blog about using Camtasia, a screen casting application, and mentioned that I intended to purchase it for my school. Sometime later, I noticed that a representative from Techsmith, the company that developed Camtasia, had posted a comment to my blog letting me know that as an educator, I was eligible for a significant discount when I purchased the software. So, instead of paying almost $300 for the application, I paid less than $200. I had thought my blog would simply be a class assignment, but discovered that it had “real-life” implications as well.

Project-Based Learning Reflection

Our project-based learning group undertaking was probably the most challenging of all the projects we’ve completed. Perhaps that’s why it broadened my horizons more than any of the others did. Because our group leader, Keri Rhinehart, teaches high school math, that was the grade and subject level focus that we used. When I first realized I would have to do a high school project, I was somewhat nervous. But when I learned we were focusing on my worst subject, math, I was downright anxiety-ridden. Fortunately, the math skills we incorporated were basic and even I remember how to do percentages and adding and subtracting decimals.

One thing I felt really good about was our overall theme – using basic math skills in real life. Rather than have each person do something they felt comfortable with and then find a way to tie it together, we started out with the theme, and worked outside of our comfort zones to stay within the theme’s boundaries. Our activities – budgeting for college, basic expenses, a car, a vacation, and an event – were all realistic examples of activities the students would likely be required to do as adults. Once I really sat down and concentrated on what I needed to do, I realized that I could actually be creative with my activity.

What we produced was truly a lesson that could be used in the classroom, and by just one teacher, if necessary. I felt that Keri did a great job helping us tie everything together and lending her expertise to those of us who weren’t feeling very comfortable. All in all, what started out as a very confusing, disjointed project ended up being both cohesive and creative.

My Life as a Training Coordinator - Blog #11

Our school has recently installed ActiveBoard interactive whiteboards in all classrooms, and will soon be installing iRespond student response systems in all second, fourth, and fifth grade classrooms. Amazingly enough, however, our teachers are getting thorough training on these devices. The first training, an overview, is being provided by the device vendors, and the subsequent trainings are being provided by contract trainers from Kennesaw State University's Instructional Technology Department. As the media specialist at my school, I acquired the job of “training coordinator” for all of this. My job is to make sure all necessary staff is trained, and to coordinate dates, times, and places for all of the training. As easy as this may sound, it’s been anything but that. However, it’s also been a model example of the diverse attitudes and backgrounds of teachers regarding technology.

The KSU training is not just a one-shot deal. Our county is paying for 38 hours of training at just our school. That means the trainings will range from a few sessions on the basics, to several sessions on advanced techniques. Rather than force training on the teachers, I’ve elected to allow them to decide how much training they want. As one might predict, there are those few who don’t feel like they need any training, because they have no intention of ever using their ActiveBoards. What I really want to say to these teachers is, “It doesn’t really matter what you want, or don’t want. What matters is what’s going to benefit your students the most”. I get very frustrated with teachers whose attitude is all a matter of what they need or don’t need, or what they want or don’t want. Sometimes you just have to do it because it’s the best thing for your kids. And from what I’ve seen, the students are engaged, excited, and participating when they have the chance to use the interactive whiteboards.

Fortunately, the majority of the teachers are extremely humbled and excited to have this new technology available to them all day, every day. They don’t pretend to know everything, and are always apologetic when they have to ask me the same question more than once. It may take them a while to learn new technologies, but they give it their best, and laugh at themselves in the process. These teachers are the ones I look forward to working with everyday.

Technology Integration Article - Digital Storytelling

Gregory, K., & Steelman, J. (2008). Cresting the digital divide. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 32(11), 880-882. Retrieved November 8, 2009, from ERIC database.

In their article “Cresting the Digital Divide”, Gregory and Steelman discuss the inclusion of digital storytelling (DST) in the Catawba Valley Community College curriculum, and the benefits they observed from it. The authors felt that one great advantage of DST was the way it bridges the divide between frequent and familiar users of technology and those who are not as familiar, either because they are returning to college after some years, or because they were economically disadvantaged as high school students. One reason DST is able to bridge this divide is because there are so many diverse and creative ways for a student to express himself, and all types of learners can benefit from that diversity. Catawba also trained its instructors in DST and discovered that by doing so, they helped both the instructors and students. The authors performed a comparison between expository writing students who used DST in their curriculum and students with a more traditional curriculum, by comparing their performance in a subsequent literature course. Not surprisingly, the DST students performed significantly higher. Furthermore, DST students seemed to have both more pride and more confidence in technology as a result of DST.

I found it interesting that this particular college chose to train its instructors in DST in conjunction with its incorporation of DST into the English curriculum. Too often, teachers are expected to learn technologies with little or no training, and then turn around and both include them in their classrooms, and teach them to their students. By training the instructors, the Catawba leaders prepared them better and at the same time, got the instructors’ buy-in by getting them hooked on DST. I’m sure this was partially the cause of the success the college has had with DST. In addition, this is the first time I had heard of a comparison being done between students who created DST projects and students creating more traditional projects. The result was a reinforcement of critical-thinking skills in the DST class, as well as students being more engaged in and attuned to the various components (voice, image, music) of the DST projects.

Emerging Technology That Supports eLearning -- Blog #10

In her chapter on supporting eLearning, Egbert is very candid about the pros and cons of allowing students to participate in distance learning. Some of the issues involved with eLearning include lack of technical support, lack of access to technology outside of school, the complication involved in participating in team-related activities, and the difficulty teachers have in meeting all students’ needs (Egbert, p. 214). Although all of these challenges make sense, I think that ultimately, the success or failure of eLearning depends on what type of student is participating and how motivated and disciplined he is. In fact, Egbert quotes Blomeyer (2002) when he stated that eLearning is more about people and being able to use technology to support their interactions than it is about the technology itself. Students who participate in eLearning need to be good time managers and need to be able to keep their schoolwork organized. They need to have the attitude that they’ll succeed, and not use the limitations of eLearning as excuses not to try.

For these reasons, I think the blended, or hybrid learning environment is the best of both traditional and eLearning methods (Egbert, p. 209). Students benefit greatly from being in a classroom and being able to physically participate in discussions and group work with other students. Yet, the freedom of online learning and the potential for learning new technologies is extremely valuable to certain students as well. If the hybrid learning environment is unattainable, then a portion of the student’s eLearning should be done via videoconferencing. This would at least allow interaction that is similar to being physically present in a classroom, and help the student to create more of a relationship with both the teacher and his fellow students.

Egbert, J. (2009). Supporting learning with technology: Essentials of classroom practice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.