BP3_2009121_EduUses4Blogs

There are several educational uses of blogs and in this post I would like to discuss some of them. In my last class my group was asked to create an educational website that focused on experiential learning. The blog was used as a means to documents students experiences as the completed activities assigned to them. It was thought that the blogs would be a great opportunity for students to talk about the course content, thereby enhancing the learning experience through the creation of a learning community.
Blogs can also be a method of allowing teachers or subject matter experts to share information with the wider public. There is a teacher in Trinidad and Tobago that blogs about her experiences teaching. You could learn about her successes and trials as she tries to integrate technology in to the classroom. A fellow’s teacher has the opportunity to learn from her mistakes and build on her successes. In this scenario both the student and teachers benefit from a teacher following her blog and implementing what they have learned in the classroom.
One of the more obvious uses for blogs is that it helps students hone their writing and reading skills. Students can create portfolios of their writing with a global audience. However another not so obvious benefit is that it is identity formation. In a paper titled Presentation of self on the Web: an ethnographic study of teenage girls’ weblogs Bortee argues that blogging helps student find their own voice and consequential helps them to create their own identity.
Finally I think blogging and blogs helps students to become more active and engaged in the learning process. Blogging for a student allows them to extend their education experience to teaching and information sharing., which is not always available in the classroom. I believe that is the true benefit of blogging

Bortree, D.S. (2005). Presentation of self on the Web: an ethnographic study of teenage girls’ weblogs. Education, Communication & Information, 5(1), 25-39

http://halfanhour.blogspot.com/2009/04/blogs-in-education.html