Reflection: Group 1 Technologies, Digital Tool 1 - Blogs

I have of course, been keeping my own blog for a little while now. I can see applications for blogs in the classroom. Following is a brief SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats) of the use of blogs in the classroom.

I have some thoughts about how I might use blogs in eLearning.

Reflections:

My learning: I must admit, in the beginning I wasn't too keen on this blog idea. However, I am used to it now, and I do like having a learning journal to look back on. However, at this stage I am wondering if I could have just written the same thing and saved it to my hard drive. It's a lonely blogging world when you're not sure if anyone is really interested in what you are writing. To date I don't have any comments on my blog, how sad! I think is a useful learning, because now if I introduce my learners to blogs I will emphasise to them the importance of reading and commenting on each others' blogs, and I will ensure I also regularly provide feedback through comments on their blogs.

Potential applications in eLearning: I can see potential applications for blogs in eLearning, both through blogs I create, as well as learning experiences that involve learners creating their own blogs.  
Example 1: Create and maintain a blog, serving both as a journal of learners' activities, as well as a medium for communicating information to both learners and parents. Within the blog, the teacher documents class activities, shares important information, reports class news, provides forms and other documentation for parents (using Google Docs), and links to interesting items related to learners' activities. It would be essential of course to remain mindful of the legal and ethical issues related to placing learner and classroom information on blogs. In addition, it would be beneficial to choose an educational blogging service, such as Edublogs
Example 2: Learners produce their own blog, again using an educational blogging service such as Edublogs. Learners document their learning journey, reflect on learning, and raise questions they still have around the learning material. All learners are encouraged to access and comment on their peers' blogs, especially to answer questions others' have if they can. With a service such as Edublogs, the teacher can manage learners' blogs, easily track contributions, and edit if necessary. Assessment items are posted on learners' blogs, and the teacher can then leave feedback for learners in the form of a comment (perhaps a Jing video comment, which is possible with Edublogs). Parents would be encouraged to regularly read their child's blog, to keep informed about their learning journey.

Potential benefits for my learners: From personal experience, posting to my own blog has been a useful way of journalling my learning. In addition, I think keeping a blog about learning experiences encourages one to engage in the learning, share thoughts and ideas with peers, and received feedback (and potentially assistance) from those reading the blog. 

In addition, making use of blogs in the classroom can lead to opportunities to move learners to higher order thinking.  For example, in a traditional learning journey, learners might tend to be presented with learning material and then asked to answer questions about it and demonstrate their understanding of the information (perhaps by summarising it).  This type of learning concentrates learners’ efforts within the Remembering and Understanding realms. However, by having learners create a blog, document their learning journey, reflect on their learning, and raise questions around the learning material, they are likely to be engaging in thinking within the Applying and Creating Stages. Furthermore, when learners access and comment on their peers' blogs, especially to answer questions others' have, they are engaging in thinking within the Analysing and Evaluating stages.