Week 2: Blog Questions

What do you think about using blogs? What and how do you think blogs would be useful for education? Some people think using blogs in classrooms is a waste of students’ time. How would you respond? What are some ways that you could use the technology ideas in Chapter 6 to support your curriculum and student learners?

I think using blogs in the classroom is a great idea. Parents can use them to check their children's assignments and become more actively involved in their child's education. Being able to make one post and reach an entire class and each student's parents also lessens the work load on teachers. As Dr. Tyson pointed out, publishing worksheets to the blog so the students may print them out at home helps save on the school's paper budget.

Blogs are ideal for discussions as well. First, students will become more comfortable using the computer, if they aren't already. Also, everyone will get to post their thoughts without interruption, so their ideas are more developed. Another thing that I think is a big deal is that a lot of students will be more comfortable expressing their thoughts and ideas in a blog than in a classroom setting.

I understand that some students would be more comfortable with traditional classroom instruction. That's why I think it is important to have both. A blog could be a beneficial tool when used along with classroom instruction. The only drawback I can see is for those students who don't have internet access at home, so I think that needs to be considered when teachers decide how they want to use their blogs.