Why use a Blog?

What is a Blog?
A Blog is basically an online program that allows individuals to have their own personal webpage that they can add journal entries to. These then can be publicly accessed if the author wants them to be, or can be kept private and used as a personal journal. If the Blog is made visible to the public, anyone is able to comment on the journal entries. These comments however, are monitored by the administrator to ensure they are acceptable content for everyone to read. Blogging is much easier than ordinary websites as there is no HTML used, therefore making it more suitable for school students (Bartlett-Bragg, 2003).

Blogging for learning
Blogging has the capability of allowing students to think critically via higher order thinking (Barlett-Bragg, 2003). With deeper learning, students have a chance to contextualise meanings of different concepts. Blogs can be helpful for learning as students can maintain a Blog to keep a record of their learning experiences in class and then when their Blog is commented on, they can critically reflect in order to continually learn (Barlett-Bragg, 2003). By keeping a journal via a Blog, students can reflect on what they are learning in order to help transform knowledge.
Blogging has become a wonderful tool for middle-phase learners who are so technologically savvy and have grown up using ICTs. Blogging is a type of ICT that is an appropriate pedagogical approach to engage students (Barlett-Bragg, 2003). Research by Barlett-Bragg (2003), showed that students feel Blogging gives them greater freedom to focus on the topics they want to, write as much or as little as they want, and gives them somewhere to record their classroom experiences which they can access 24/7. Students can make their Blog personal by adding pictures (See Right) and videos also. All of these reasons just show how Blogging would be a useful pedagogical strategy in my classroom.

Issues of Blogging
Teachers need to ensure that the use of Blogging as a pedagogical strategy in their classroom is accepted by the school. It is still a relatively new phenomenon, especially in schools, and some persuasion may be needed to get the school on board.

Summary
After I have been using Blogs for the past couple of months, I have realised how useful it could be when I am teaching. I am excited to give it a go as a pedagogical strategy to engage my students and allow them to reflect on their learning and aim towards higher order thinking. I really feel students will be able to connect with each other at a greater level also when they get a chance to comment on one another’s Blog entries. Blogs allow for greater online collaboration (Goodman-Jones, 2003). Students will have greater freedom, and classroom tasks can aim to be more student-centred, which is what I would like to aim towards when I become a teacher.

References:

Bartlett-Bragg, A. (2003). Blogging to learn. University of Technology. Sydney. Pp1-12.

Goodwin-Jones, R. (2003). Emerging technologies: Blogs and wikis environments for on-line collaboration. Language, Learning and Technology, 7. Pp1-10.