Diana Dell (2009) informs her readers of many educational uses of blogs. She says blogs can be utilized in teaching to help students complete writing assignments, and in creating a portfolio of students writing samples. Also, it allows students to express opinions in which students can write comments or questions on blog posts. Blogs also allow students to express their opinion at home on a discussion in class, in which they didn’t get a chance to. In addition, she explains how students can write about class topics, using subject area vocabulary words; create an online book club; create a collection of story starters; create a class newsletter, using student-written articles and student photography; use the blog as a reading response journal; allow your class to communicate with another class somewhere else in the world and more importantly, showcase the student created projects such as art, poetry, and creative stories (Dell, 2009).
The most intriguing aspect about blogs is how they can be implemented at all grade levels and in any subject area. As teachers’ we can post a blog for a reading assignment or writing prompt, which students can respond to and be able to comment on each other’s work, suggesting an improvement. This is an excellent way for students to collaborate and learn from each other, especially for those who might not be very out-spoken in the classroom. Another way to incorporate blogs in the classroom is to assign a weekly blog team to create the blog entry, describing the daily events (Teachers First, 2007). This has students striving for creativity as a team to create a blog, letting them be the teacher or leader for the week’s blog assignments. Also, family members can get involved by making a comment on the blogs. More importantly, if a student is home sick, he or she can still be involved with a few clicks of a mouse. Overall, BLOGS can be a very useful technology tool in education and they make learning more fun and interesting.
References
Dell, D. (2009). Educational uses of blogs and tags. Retrieved May 8, 2010, from http://www.slideshare.net/sqoolmaster/educational-uses-of-blogs-and-tags-234136
Teachers First. (2007). Blog ideas for the classroom. Retrieved on May 8, 2010, from http://www.teachersfirst.com/content/blog/blogideas1.cfm
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