Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
President Obama Education Speech
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
The Computer Delusion by Todd Oppenheimer
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Saturday, October 17, 2009
BP12_200910_Web 2.0 tool #6 PLE
The convenience factor is the main appeal of start pages, instead of visiting a ton of sites every morning; all you need to do is visit one. Each Netvibes and Pageflakes is free and easy to sign up. Deciding on which site to use is the other part, which one appeals to you for content, customization and community?
To see what you need on your page, each site offers widgets or flakes that are tools for adding content to you page. They are like virtual links to other sites in one place. Some of the useful widgets are for any or all of your email accounts (Gmail, yahoo, .Mac, hotmail), Face Book status, Twitter updates, Flickr viewer, Picasa albums, and social bookmarking sites. There is also all kind of utilities like to do lists, calendars, school schedules and weather.
Both PLE allows for the fun, colorful customization of themes and layouts. This allows for the individual to emerge from the other users. PakeFlakes allows for a personal image to your header and background. With Netvibes you can get images from Flickr or any URL for your personalization of your page. To save space on the page you can organize your content with tabs. Each site has the option of adding tabs; make one for your RSS feeds, maybe one for just your emails.
The best part of these two PLEs is that you can share the content easily. Netvibes allows you to post a public page to the “Universe” of anyone online. You can add all the same widgets as your private or private pages. It’s easy to switch between your public and private pages in Netvibes with a easy drop down menu that lists all of your Netvibe pages. PageFlakes allow you to share your individual tabs of your private site to either a specific group for friends, or to everyone. With the sharing features, both are open for social networking potential.
Netvibes and PageFlakes are two great options for personal learning environments. After navigating each for some time I’m torn on which I will be sticking with. I find that it’s after using iGoogle for so long that making the switch permanently will be difficult for a creature of habit, but the sharing ability may make one of these sites a good option for future classes.
Chart from http://www.cnet.com.au/start-page-smackdown-netvibes-pageflakes-igoogle-and-live-com_p5-339286371.htm
PageFlakes Video from YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAq4tanY0ao
Netvibe Video from YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uepcauDhN7s
Friday, October 16, 2009
BP11_200910_web 2.0 tool #5
For those of us you use Firefox knows that the add-ons can be priceless additions to our web arsenal. Zotero is one of Firefox’s add-on for the students and researchers out there. It’s an easy yet powerful research tool that can help users gather, organize, and dissect sources of many kinds.
“It's easy to use, lives in your web browser where you do your work, and best of all it's free. Zotero allows you to attach PDFs, notes and images to your citations, organize them into collections for different projects, and create bibliographies using Word or OpenOffice” (Mooney, 2009).
Zotero has easy features like an icon in the URL address area for a quick for collecting a website content. In the lower right corner of the screen is another link area that will open a control panel for the add-on. Within this control panel you can look at the collections of libraries you’ve collected. Inside each library is the list of sites you’ve added, then next to that is the different information for notes, attachments, and tags.
The greatest item about this tool is the ability to see a snapshot of the site you saved and then be able to highlight, and make comments on that page for quick reference. You can save the snapshot with your highlights and comments for future use. Once you have items of interest saved in Zotero, you can create a bibliography by simply dragging selected items from Zotero control panel into a word processor document.
This could be considered a virtual notebook where you can add other file attachments on a particular item in the library. Tags can be created for each saved item to allow for easier search fuctions. Collaborating with others can be done through group library files Zotero.org can be the central location of all your project group's research, communication and organization.
One downfall is that some elements or flash items on pages may not be saved in a snapshot. The sharing the library on multiple computers takes extra step than just logging onto a website since this add-on is downloaded per computer.
Creating a library, bibliography, notes and a compiled amount of information on your research in Zotero is easy and helpful. I find this to be a nice asset in my pocket during my research.
Extra resources:
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/zotero_moves_into_the_cloud.php
http://liblogs.albany.edu/library20/2007/12/zotero_commons_who_needs_libra.html
http://www.umw.edu/library/zotero/default.php
http://librariansmatter.com/blog/2009/09/15/zotero-and-saving-flickr-images-wowza/
References:
Mooney, E. (2009). Guides. Zotero. Home. Retreived October 16, 2009 from http://guides.main.library.emory.edu/zotero
Video: From YouTube
BP10_200910_Web 2.0 tool #4
Mind maps are diagrams used to delineate words, or ideas linked to a central idea or word. These visual aids can be utilized for studying, organizations, problem solving, or writing. “Because mind mapping is more flexible than outlining, it encourages creativity” (Murley, 2009). Bubbl.us is a free collaborative tool to create mind maps with ease.
Bubbl.us allows the user to productively create their brainstorming or organize ideas for a multitude of projects. The balloon style format allows a uniform easy to read styling. The tool is fully web based powered by flash, nothing to download. The sign up is easy and doesn’t require any extraordinary personal information.
To start all the user needs to do is press the ‘start brainstorming’ button on the home page. This button will open will start the map off with it’s “parent bubble”. To change the text, color, or location just hoover over the bubble and find the coordinating icon. For information about each icon as the user hoovers over it there is a help box on the right side that will show the information and shortcuts.
Once the user has started with a central idea, they can click for a “child bubble” for a bubble under the parent. There is also a “sibling bubble” that will appear on the same level as the parent. This is laid out like a family tree levels of hierarchy. The user can change the colors of any bubble. The bubbles can be easily moved around to fit the look the user wants.
Among the features is the ability to save the file on your Bubbl.us account, print, or export as a jpg file. There are other free tools like Bubbl.us but they aren’t as easy, quick or helpful. After using Dabbleboard, I would highly recommend Bubbl.us instead.
Image is from :
http://bubbl.us/view.php?sid=7988&pw=ya71XC6HwyNHkMSRmVHlVLlVMcmR2TQ
Reference:
Murley, D. (2009). Technology for everyone…Mind mapping complex information. Retrieved October 16, 2009 from http://www.aallnet.org/products/pub_llj_v99n01/2007-11.pdf
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
BP 9 Reflective media 1 Weebly
BP 8 Flickr in the classroom
Flickr is a remarkable tool sharing for personal photography and images but it can also be used in a lot of classroom settings. In an educational setting Flickr can promote social learning. In one area students form multiple classes can collaborate through visual elements, discussion boards and comments. “Students who are engaged with content demonstrate better learning outcomes and visual media facilitates that sense of connection to subject material” (Educause, 2008).
There are several ways to incorporate Flickr into assignments in a lot of grade levels. For younger ages you can use it in addition to a creative writing project; they can find an image that appeals to them and write a story about that image. The teacher can pick a photo for the story as well. Another project could be to find photos of items, animals, people or art from a specific area of the world to post to their account with a description or story about those items.
Older students could have a collaborative discussion about a specific artwork and the elements in that image. A fun project could be to post a how-to with photos, or a photo book of your vacation, a photo story. Students can also post their own art work for comment and analysis.
The ideas of how to use Flickr in your classroom are endless. If you engage the student in something they love, you can inspire them.
Reference
Educause. (2008). 7 Things to know about Flickr. Retrieved October 12, 2009 from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7034.pdf
Sunday, October 11, 2009
REPSONSE TO ANOTHER STUDENT'S WEB 2.o post
REPSONSE TO ANOTHER STUDENT'S WEB 2.o post.
Alicia's Blog
http://aliciakalb.blogspot.com/Friday, October 9, 2009
bp6_20091009_Web 2.0 Tools Lala
When I was researching music Web 2.0 tools, I wanted to find a tool that would allow me to take the music that I have on my computer and have a copy online. A big part of music education for me is having my students listen to music. Often I would use my iPod during class to have my students listen, but in the event that I cannot hook up my iPod to a speaker system, I need a way to listen to with my students. The Web 2.0 tool that I found that meets this need is called Lala (http://www.lala.com). Not only does it allow users to listen to complete tracks and albums before purchase, but it allows you to upload you entire music collection and play it from anywhere in the world. There is also the social aspect of the site, which allows you to listen to friends’ playlists and discover new music.
Lala. (2009). Listen for free on lala. Retrieved October 9, 2009 from http://www.lala.com
My Response:
I've heard of Lala prior to Alicia's post. The Full Sail Music History class found this product in a response the better functionality than iTunes. When it comes to large scale distribution to your students of music Lala offers a better platform for gifting credits or specific songs.
After reading Alicia's post I naturally when to research more. "The social networking aspect of the service combines different ideas from more general social networks such as Twitter and Facebook and does a good job of serving recommendations, aiding music discovery, while not duplicating unnecessary functionality" (Neagu, 2009). I was shocked how social this music site was. I think that Lala.com is a great alternative to iTunes and Pandora.
Also check out emusic.com and a change from iTunes. It's the second largest online music store with the recommendation aspects of Lala.com (Lardinois, 2009).
References
Lardinois, F. (2009). Four approaches to music recommendations: Pandora, Mufin, Lala, and eMusic. Retrieved October 10, 2009 from http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/music_recommendations_four_approaches.php
Neagu, S. (2009). Lala- Really cool new site for music streaming & downloads. Retrieved October 10, 2009 from http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/lala-the-best-new0service-for-music-downloads
BP7_200910_Web 2.0 tool #3
Micro-blogging is a term described by Wikipedia as "a form of blogging that allows users to write brief text updates (usually less than 200 characters) and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group which can be chosen by the user" Tumblr is a very enhanced, easy to use micro-blogging platform. Its core is on simplicity and posh. Users can share a multitude of items including text, photos, quotes, links, chats, or videos.
As with most web 2.0 tools, Tumblr is easy to set up and personalize. They offer hundreds of user made backgrounds, though they are sorted by keywords so you have to just keep scrolling through to find one that’s appealing. Once you have your appearance set up, add services like sending your Tumblr to your twitter. There’s nothing like posting on two places with one posting. Also, there’s a FaceBook application as well, so really you can post to three locations with one post! No friends on Tumblr yet, you can find others to follow from the staff suggestions or by category.
Sharing you links is super easy. There’s a tab in the top menu called goodies that offers widgets and ideas for expanding the usability of the site. The very first item is called bookmarklet, all you do is drag and drop the button to your bookmark bar on your browser. Now when you have something to share you just click that link and a window opens for you to add the page to your Tumblr. Othe goodies are the facebook app, iphone app, and dashboard widget for mac users.
I’ve only scratched the surface with this tool. With all of the abilities to share various types of media make this a useful tool for students and classes.
http://jferguson.tumblr.com/
Other useful resources:
http://www.ikirudesign.com/2008/01/11/showdown-tumblr-vs-wordpress/
http://mashable.com/2009/03/27/tumblr-extras/
http://speckyboy.com/2008/01/30/a-rough-guide-to-the-excellent-tumblr/
Java, A., Finin, T., Song, X., & Tseng, B. (2007). Why We Twitter: Understanding Microblogging Usage and Communities. Procedings of the Joint 9th WEBKDD and 1st SNA-KDD Workshop 2007.
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon, 9 (5), 1-6.
Reference
Microblogging. (2009, October 9). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16:12, October 11, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Microblogging&oldid=318962376
Other useful resources:
http://www.ikirudesign.com/2008/01/11/showdown-tumblr-vs-wordpress/
http://mashable.com/2009/03/27/tumblr-extras/
http://speckyboy.com/2008/01/30/a-rough-guide-to-the-excellent-tumblr/
Video from: http://speckyboy.com/2008/01/30/a-rough-guide-to-the-excellent-tumblr/
Saturday, October 10, 2009
BP6_200910_Web 2.0 tool #2
Weebly.com is a free way to create and publish websites. These pages are easy to create with many different types of media to integrate. The creators offered an easy drag and drop layout, with multiple pre-designed backgrounds ready to go. The greatest feature of Weebly, it’s free. The host the you site for you at no cost, or you can publish your created site to your own domain name as well.
The features are endless with Weebly; unlimited blogging, no advertisements, multiple pages, and password protection. These features just scratch the surface of what you can do with Weebly. The ability to add a plethora of multimedia elements with a easy drag and drop makes these sites attractive. Weebly also works with some of the Google tools like checkout, AdSense, and Analytics.
After reading reviews about Weebly, I decided to give it a try. I’ve tried a few other free website builders and I wanted to see if was really as easy as they said. Creating the website was pretty easy, you don’t need to know much about building a website or the programming that goes with it. To start you have to create an account with basic information like your email then pick a user name and password.
It was as simple as picking a background from over 70 templates and picking what I want on the page. They offer a range of elements like basic text boxes, text with images, photo files, and documents files. The fun happens when you can add the advanced elements like multimedia photo galleries, Flickr photo slideshow, YouTube videos, Google maps, and even games. You can add more pages with a click by choosing the “Pages” tab at the top of the page, click new page, then what you want the page to be. The more advanced user can add items with embedding HTML code.
Weebly has gone a step further and has started an education side to their creation at http://education.weebly.com/. “Weebly’s new features are for the teachers and staff who want to get content online quickly and have their classes join them in a safe environment” (Dawson, 2009).
Resources
Dawson, C. (2009). Weebly launches education services. Retrieved October 8, 2009 from http://education.zdnet.com/?p=3145
Image is from:
www.flickr.com/photos/
Friday, October 9, 2009
BP5_Web 2.0 Tool #1
Web 2.0 Tool 1: Glogster
Glogster is a way to create multimedia virtual posters, scrapbooks, or e-portfolio pages. During my school years I can remember how many projects or presentations I had to create a poster for a visual. I’m sure you can remember cutting up magazines, coloring in words, and making diagrams. In today’s world students are more digital natives and have more computers available. Imagine if posters were a good medium 10 years ago, glogs are today’s answer for the new generation.
Glogster is a free, web-based tool that you can create any type of poster you can think of including adding videos. Registration is quick and easy only basic information like a user name, password, email address, and your birthday are needed. Once you’ve received a confirmation email form Glogster, you can create a profile. Creating a glog is easy and a lot of fun. The website provides a large amount of backgrounds, graphics, and text options. The graphics can be found in a range of styles and colors, sizes and orientation can be changed. They even offer animated graphics that flash or move to add that extra element to the collage. Images can be uploaded from your computer files as a background or just as a part. Glogster adds that digital advantage by allowing sound, videos and hyperlinks to be included. Lastly just click to save and publish.
This site if more than just creating terrific virtual posters, you can use it as a social network. From your dashboard you can see messages, your friends, add your current status, and see your glogs. You can share your glogs, or keep them private. Users can comment, rate, add it to your favorites, or send to your friends through email. Glogster is a creative social website that allows for creative freedom and collaboration. One of the big bonuses to this site is that you can share your glog outside of their website. You can copy the code to post it on other sites like wikis and blogs, or you can click the easy share button to add it to several other social networking sites.
Glogster additional resources:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgqwv5cr_127g7nqc8fm
http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=936
References
A New World of Educational Innovation Awaits You. (n.d.).Retrieved October 8, 2009, from http://edu.glogster.com
Thursday, October 8, 2009
BP4_200910_Social Bookmarking
When we think back in the ages we can see the evolution of bookmarking, from the ornate page holders to the “dog-eared” pages. To continue to the new generation we have eBooks, so it’s only proper that we also have eBook marks. Leave to the digital natives to make eBook marks a social networking method.
“Social bookmarking is one of the signature Web 2.0 categories” (Alexander, 2006). Social bookmarks are sites that users have selected as a favorite site or for future reference. User can also use “tags”, or keyword for others to find in a search. When users use the tags they are creating a categorization, like the scientific method of taxonomy. This new method of categorizing was dubbed Folksonomy for “the people's taxonomy” by Thomas Vander Wal, an information architect and Internet developer (Pink, 2005).
There are some obvious uses of social bookmarking in education like convenience, usability, and sharing. Since the social bookmark sites are web based students, and teachers can access their page from any computer. Convenience leads to the overwhelming usability for the users. Teachers can use the page to keep links to sites for homework, new lesson plans, and sharing with colleagues. Students have the ability to manage resources, organize information with tags, share with a group, and connect with others with similar int'erests.
“There are more than 100 million Web sites on the Internet." (“Social Bookmarking,” n.d.). This is a lot of resources for everyone to sift through. For some of the more advanced uses in the classroom, teachers could monitor the student’s research and their sources. Some bookmarking sites allow for comments giving the teacher the ability to leave feedback about the source. Another great ability is the tags users apply to the links could be used as a alternate search engine method.
The uses of social bookmarking sites are endless. The biggest trick will be to the one of the 100’s of free sites that fits your needs.
Some additional fun information:
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/social_bookmarking_faceoff.php
Resources
Alexander, B. (2006). Web 2.0: A new wave of innovation for teaching and learning. EDUcause Review, March/April. Retrieved from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERM0621.pdf
Pink, D. (2005). Folksonomy. Retrieved October 6, 2009 from http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/magazine/11ideas1-21.html
Social Bookmarking.(n.d.). Retrieved October 6, 2009, from http://teachingtoday.glencoe.com/howtoarticles/social-bookmarking
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
WGO tab contents
Fun cartoon about PLE from http://edtechpost.wikispaces.com/PLE+Diagrams
Sunday, October 4, 2009
BP2_200910_Anti-Teaching
Our educational system today is not working for this generation or changing with our evolving societies. You hear people say that the government or businesses need to evolve but why not schools? I can only take from my student experiences and how I learn to think if our educational system isn’t working for a majority of students.
When I began at St. Petersburg College online they have you take a test to see what kind of learner you are. I already knew that traditional learning wasn’t my best option, but to have a test tell me I was a visual learner was not a surprise. Since taking the past three months of courses we’ve learned (or already knew) about the multiple learning theories and how to address them. If you look back in classrooms today more schools don’t even come close to addressing all of the types of learners or their needs. When thinking about what would work in classrooms today, I keep going back to the Anti-Teaching article by Michael Wesch, he makes several good points about how schools currently work with “John Dewey’s notion” and how “test’s offer little more than how well they can recite what they have been told”. Welsh’s ideas focus on the quality of learning not teaching.
Course Management System, or CMS, is a good start but I don’t think that all students would feel comfortable with this. We are also going to have that range of students from the traditional mindset to the new age. Can CMS handle both? Or would a hybrid style between the two work best for everyone? Taking Personal Learning Environments (PLE) in combination with the classroom to create a CMS hybrid experience maybe the first step. I found this site that has some very interesting graphics some users have made on what PLE are, you check it out even if for enjoyment. http://edtechpost.wikispaces.com/PLE+Diagrams#mcpheeters
CMS hybrid is something to think about for K-12 but in college level you have the right to choose how you want to learn. You aren’t forced to take an online class, most universities have campus based classes or online versions of the same class. If you choice to go into a online based program, you have to expects that CMS will be the best options for the school. The school can gear their CMS, or a more advanced learning management system (LMS) towards their goals much like Full Sail Online.
After thinking about my high school experiences and my college years I found that I was directing my thoughts at when the best time was for me to do my work. Some might say night owl, but how does ones biological clock play into learning? Could CMS help these students in high school?
Personally I would follow a model that my nephew was able use. My brother is in the military and during my nephew, Ian’s, sophomore year they had to move, this is never an easy task for kids. Ian found it difficult to connect with the teachers, and some of the students. By his junior year they found out that the school offers online classes in conjunction with the public school district. He was able to use a CMS to get his assignments, resources, and turn in homework. There were some times he would have to go to the school to take a test or turn in projects but he was able to focus on his schedule without the added stress of the school atmosphere.
This concept to me would be an ideal model to follow; it’s not required and could work better for some families and students. In Ian’s case he was a straight A student until he moved, he’s grades dropped in the new school until he was able to go online. He graduated with his high school and he received the diploma from that school.
With our evolving world we need to think that our education system also needs to evolve to meet the needs of the new generations. The new age of students is not in an industrial world but an electronic world and we need adjust.
Michael Wesch Article and Blog:
http://savageminds.org/2006/04/02/a-brief-theory-of-anti-teaching/
http://mediatedcultures.net/ksudigg/?p=168
Schools and Society book with great information:
Biological clock and learning.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circadian_rhythm
http://www.preteenagerstoday.com/articles/health/raising-night-owls-1036/
LMS vs. CMS
http://it.cofc.edu/tlt/lms/communication/LMSBrochure.pdf
http://www.articlesbase.com/e-learning-articles/cms-and-lms-a-comparison-107069.html
PLE information.
http://edtechpost.wikispaces.com/PLE+Diagrams#mcpheeters
http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Personal_learning_environment
NO cited materials.
Images are from Getty Images: Royalty free.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
BP3_200910_RSS feed
RSS (Rich Site Summary or Real Simple Syndication) is a format for delivering regularly changing web content like news-related sites, weblogs and other online publishers.
Check out this great resource I've found on RSS feeds:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/2955978/RSSFAQ4
I've selected several RSS feeds to follow in my Google Reader account. The majority of them are about education and education technology.
TechSETS RSS feed from http://www.techsets.org/ . TechSETS is a collection of free and low-cost technology support resources, designed to provide improved access to training, tools, and information to assist the growing number of K-12 school technologists.? I was interested in this blog because of the few posts they had up at the time I was searching Google reader. The blog centers around IT tools for educational technologies. Since I?m not a teacher this path is interesting to become involved as a future option after graduation.
EDUCAUSE NEWS from http://www.educause.edu/. EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology.? Educause has several initiatives or programs that helps with advancing education and learning through IT with research, resources, and support. The host live events about great education topics like emerging technologies in higher education.
Education IT from ZDNet.com. (http://education.zdnet.com/) ZDNet.com is a part of the CBS network of companies. This series of blogs in every topic possible are all informative and a valuable resource online. Christopher Dawson who is a high school teacher in Massachusetts writes this education technology blog, he is also the technology director for his school district. He has also has held several positions at John Hopkins, and other biotech companies. Dawson writes a lot about web 2.0 information, education careers in today?s economy, and technology products.
Education Week America from http://www.edweek.org/ew/index.html. I found this one in the Google reader listings and found that this blog offers a lot of posting about government in association with education. Considering that the government has a lot of influence on education and schools this is a helpful post to follow.
Education Technology from http://www.edweek.org/ew/index.html. This site is part of the University of Illinois at Springfield (UIS) campus website edited by Ray Schroeder. This site is this writer?s reflection of the news he reads every morning about changing technologies, issues and developments in education, online learning and distance learning. Ray Schroeder is a professor at UIS, director of Technology-Enhanced Learning and Faculty Associate at University of Illinois Online office in Urbana. This is just one of he few blogs, I found that his posts are clear, concise and informative.
I'm also following a Music Learning blog called Listen and Learn Music. The blog is located on their website http://www.listenlearnmusic.com by Rachel Rambach. She is a music therapist and educator, and her writing was inspiring and full of ideas. Rachael Rambach creates educational songs to assist in the learning process. This concept began to intrigue me after our group project in EDE when one of my teammates by used music and songs in an educational way. (Thanks Billy!)
Thursday, October 1, 2009
BP1_200910_Blogs in education
Blogs are useful in several aspects of life, especially in education. Regardless of what part of education you are in an online blog or “weblog” can assist in conveying information or gathering information.
The overwhelming amount of information, talent, and resources in the world everyone has an opinion and these can be delivered in a number of methods. “Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (artlog), photographs (photoblog), sketches (sketchblog), videos (vlog), music (MP3 blog), and audio (podcasting). Micro-blogging is another type of blogging, featuring very short posts” ("Blogs," 2009, para. 2).
Blogs can be a personal spaces for daily commentary about what’s going in your life, like the old school diary in the new age. Students can uses these to reflect on their school experiences, and to grow with their writing while they do this. Teachers can grow on this concept and have specific assignments to write about.
These spaces aren’t just for writing; they can also be learning tools for teachers or professionals. Many webloggers, blogvangelists, newspapers, and magazines update blog links and feeds (RSS) daily to keep readers informed of current trends of education, technology, business, or government. These types of feeds can be used to help students find articles to write about or to keep up to date on current events. By using weblogs teachers can also conduct reading circles, discussions, review and feedback that extends the classroom experiences.
Many teachers, and students can use weblogs to connect with others with a common interest from anywhere in the world. These tools can be utilized to showcase your student’s talent. Any type of talent can be displayed through the multitude of media available in weblogs.
One of the most useful ways to use a blog is course management. With the ability to post links, resources, and articles for students to easily locate. Some of the more advanced multimedia blog sites can allow for uploading documents, audio, and videos for even more capabilities in the student’s overall experiences.
Other good articles to read about Blogs and Education:
http://incsub.org/blog/2005/blogs-anywhere-high-fidelity-online-communication
http://secondlanguagewriting.com/explorations/Archives/2006/Jun/HowtoUseBlogsintheClassr.html
http://teachingtoday.glencoe.com/howtoarticles/blog-basics
http://digitalwriting.pbworks.com/Using-Blogs-in-the-Classroom
The American ‘Inside Higher Education’, which offers a number of different blogs:
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/blogs
References
Blog. (2009, October 2). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved October 1, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Blog&oldid=317552248
Image from Getty Images: Royalty Free
