Blogs are digital diaries that create and foster an atmosphere or reflection, collaboration, and community. They allow users to share their thoughts, expertise, and introspections with others in real time. There are often comment sections where other users can add their input and responses to the original bloggers content or perhaps even suggest content or ask their own questions regarding the content shared. Many blogging platforms allow users to embed various content such as videos, photographs, GIFS, links, etc. This sets blogs apart from glogs, vlogs, and discussion boards as it offers all these features in one location. Blogs allow more freedom with creating content as the user can decide what media (video, graphics, text, etc.) best serves the purpose of the post they are creating.
I arrived at my definition by exploring four different blogging platforms: Edublogs, Blogger, WordPress, and KidBlog. All four platforms spoke to the social interaction of blogging and offered users the ability to embed content, though some required a paid membership. Viewing these blogging platforms through the lens of educational purposes, Edublogs and KidBlog had the advantages of creating a more user-friendly way to directly involve students through invite codes and features that allow teachers to create their own private community within the blog. I ultimately felt Blogger met the needs of what I needed for this course and my pursuit of a degree in Educational Technology with Library Science. However, as an elementary teacher I would probably opt for Edublogs as it is more friendly for younger students while still free.
Blogs afford learners the ability to collaborate and share their learning in multiple formats. As a college student, a blog allows me to share my philosophies, update regularly how my views on technology and education evolve and change, and collaborate with others in order to grow as a learner and teacher. Many other technologies are restricted in respect to how a user shares their content and lacks the collaborative nature that a blog provides. Furthermore, a blog is updated regularly, keeps and displays content in reverse chronological order, and has more searchable features. It's a nice way to organize and keep an anecdotal portfolio of my learning, coursework, and research I complete throughout the course of my studies.
One way blogs could be incorporated into my classroom in through reading response logs. These logs have long been used to help make students accountable for their reading and provide they a way to share their thoughts, feelings, and reflections on what they were reading. By using blogs this assignment is now enhanced as the teacher can comment on the students' reading responses and engage in an online discourse on their favorite parts or sections that were confusion or challenging for them. I can challenge my students with deeper level thinking questions, develop connections with my students as readers, and offer fresh insight to challenge their thinking and reading experiences. Using blogs as a platform for reading logs augments learning by replacing paper with typing and enhancing learning with a collaborative piece between teacher and student.
Collaborative novel studies are another way I could use blogs in my elementary classroom. Students can be placed into groups where a different student is assigned the task of blogger each week. The other group members take on the role as commentor. The blogger poses a question or post for the other members to respond to such as what if a certain part of the plot hadn't happen or which character do you relate to most and why. These higher level thinking questions will create a deeper conversation between students about their reading material that will foster deeper comprehension with all members as they learn and gain insight from each other's point of view and comments. This greatly modifies novel studies by putting students in the driving seat of facilitating their learning while collaborating with their classmates. The teacher is not the point of instruction, rather the students and their classmates are and can help each other appreciate and explore themes, plots, and character development through various formats of media in one succinct place.
Blogging is a form of social interaction. As a result, some blogging platforms such as Blogger require users to be 13 years or older. If students aren't 13 or older and still sign up, their blogs are subject to being deleted. This is tricky issue for educators who work with elementary students like me. However, there are other blogging platforms that are made specifically for education and particularly younger users such as Edublogs. These types of platforms have added security to protect students from their content being viewed by unauthorized users and simplify the process of blogging as a whole. There are growing concerns about social interactions online with other social technologies such as various social media platforms, but I feel blogging still is worth the challenge due to the collaboration and ownership of learning it can provide for our students. Blogging also provides authentic and important opportunities for teaching digital citizenship and the importance of displaying character in all online interactions to provide a safe, welcoming, and engaging environment for all classmates and peers.
