Wednesday, March 17, 2010
The Pros and Cons of Blogging
I believe blogging can be useful in schools. I see many drawbacks to blogging as well. The pros to blogging would hopefully include greater student participation, easy access to student work, incorporating additional skills into classes such as reading and writing into math, and peaking student interest. Some of the cons I see to blogging include access to the technology be it at school or at the student’s home, having to do a lot of preparation ahead of time to set up the blogs, and having to take the additional time to teach students how to use the program, specifically with my students their understanding of technology is sometimes poor. Occasionally I give my students a website to use in class and I forget I need to explain to them that once they log in they need to click on the Internet Explorer link and then type the link in at the top of the page. However, I do feel that the pros outweigh the cons in this situation and I do hope to use this new technology in my classes to help my students find greater success.
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I agree with you on the value of blogs in the classroom, but also on some of the cons of using them. I see great promise in using the blogs in my social studies courses to allow students to become more engaged with their peers and offering them a safe environment in which to express opinions they may not feel comfortable saying outloud in class- but struggle with the technology aspect of it. I am learning this myself, which is quite valuable, but I wonder how other districts would use them? In my district technology is pretty regulated, and all of the sites we are using are blocked for student access- so I wonder, would it be fair to require students to do such work outside of class? What about access to computers?
ReplyDeleteI was simply looking at the pros of blogging and not to the cons. I agree with many of the points Angie brought up. I wonder how it will be determined what age is this appropriate for? I know some parents don't allow their children to have access to the internet. How would alternatives be incorporated so the student doesn't feel left out?
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that there probably are many more pros than cons, the thing I worry about is the content. People might be more inclined to express how they feel in blog format but once they do, it's there for all to read. All you have to do is watch SportsCenter a few times to see how often people put their foot in their mouth posting messages on Twitter or their web page. Students/teachers/parents are no different. I can see this possibly creating additional problems that will need to be resolved.
ReplyDeleteSam raises a good point. Once it is in writing online, it could be there forever. This is an important thing to teach students. I find even college students don't quite get that their Facebook pages often can be seen by future employers. We need to help students learn to manage their online identities.
ReplyDeleteAs Angie and Rebecca note, there are hurdles to overcome in schools when using some of these tools. Often we have to do educating to get them made available. The best way to do this is to have a sound educational reason for doing it, an example of how it is done elsewhere, and a suggestion or two for how to do it safely. We'll look at some of these options later in the semester, but many of the tools like Class Blogmeister and Edublogger have ways of controlling access and not requiring students to have email addresses to use the tools. The district also needs to address these tools in their Internet Safety Policy.