A Little More About Blogs

As I thought more about blogs I went on a search to see how other teachers used blogs as well as some of the things that need to be taken into consideration when using them in the classroom. In searching I found a website by my textbook company McGraw Hill on using blogs to integrate technology. This website had some good points on the benefits of blogs as well as things that need to be considered when utilizing this technology in a classroom setting.

The website provided a list of educational benefits which is good to have handy when either parents or administrators ask why you are using blogs in the classroom.

Educational Benefits of Blogs

• Excellent tool for communicating with students.
• Highly motivating to students, especially those who otherwise might not become participants in classrooms.
• Excellent opportunities for students to read and write.
• Effective forums for collaboration and discussion.
• Powerful tools to enable scaffolded learning or mentoring to occur.

Besides using blogs as a discussion such as I suggested earlier, it can also be used by the teachers as a way to post and disseminate information, it can also become a question and answer place for students that otherwise might not talk in class, pretty much creating a alternate classroom community. Blogs can also be used by students as portfolios for their classwork and also as a way for a students to work in groups without physically meeting outside the classroom.

With all these wonderful uses for blogs in the classroom you need to be prepared to encounter issues with administration and student behavior. These can all be dealt with as long as there is curriculum related goals and you teach students safe, acceptable, and sensible behavior as online authors and readers.