Reflecting on the Blog Experience
Prior to entering this class, blogs were really just a cool, yet foreign concept I had heard about while taking IST 511 (Introduction to Library Science). They seemed interesting enough to me at the time, but being a full-time graduate student, mother of two, wife and part time library clerk gave me little “guilt-free” time to explore. Thank goodness for this course. Requiring blogging forced me to delve into this new territory without the consequence of guilt (yes, now I had to make time for it because it was an assignment, not just a fun, time gobbling novelty).
I called my blog “Swicky’s Kaboom” because, of course, I wanted it to have an original and catchy title. Also, I wanted it to be mind-blowing. I am unsure if I blew any of my reader’s minds, but blogging and reading blogs sure did blow me away! Blogging in the educational setting really is a formidable concept. It encourages independent learning as both a writer and a reader. I certainly learned a lot as I read the blogs of my classmates. It was interesting to read their summaries and comments on Web 2.0 technologies. Reading and writing motivated me to explore a variety of topics and it was really exciting to surf the Internet and be educated at the same time! I amassed lots of useful bookmarks that I am certain will become indispensable someday when I am out in the real world working as a School Media Specialist.
As a blog writer and creator I naturally found myself surfing the net in quest of interesting and pertinent blog topics. This also led to learning about other technologies that had previously been mysterious to me. I figured out how to set up an RSS feed and how to attach this to my blog. I stumbled upon a site that enables users to create a customized search engine and I, in the name of Library Science and raw curiosity, have generated and placed one at the bottom of my blog (this is quite fun to have because it alerts me each time someone uses it; I have discovered that my blog is actually being read even though it has not amassed many comments). There have been other exploits, as well, that have ended up on my Mac’s desktop. I feel as though I have begun to conquer some of the territory Web 2.0 has to offer (in the same fury of amassing power and increased confidence as was once evidenced by the British in the days of the British Empire, the sun will not set until I have conquered the potential of Web 2.0 and safely introduced it to my future students).
This experience definitely has biased me toward believing blogs are meant to be in the classroom. I enjoyed this assignment immensely and am thoroughly convinced that it would be an awesome tool for educators to use within all levels of the educational field in order to inspire learning, reading and writing. In addition, it definitely is an active and practical way for students to gain awareness of the authoritativeness of Websites. When topics are assigned, students need to find reliable sites to blog about. Now, as a Library Science student, I have become acutely aware of how much of a challenge this would be for an elementary, intermediate or secondary student (and even many college students). This method of instruction forces students to consider the sites that they choose to blog on, and to consider them carefully, since the sites are being recommended to an audience of peers. The most beautiful part of a student blogging on an assigned topic is that if they fail to initially weigh the authoritativeness of the sites chosen, eventually this will catch up to them as they continue on blogging. The more sites they read, the more they will become aware of authority. They may even discover that they have picked totally deceptive sites as the blogging adventure continues. This could lead to an “a-ha moment” that could cause the student to question the authority of Websites. I am not advocating that educators rely on blogging to teach this important information literacy skill, but I am suggesting that this is a hands-on method for students to apply the skills I will labor so diligently to teach. It’s a quasi-Montessori approach to information literacy skills that I will staunchly advocate once I am a practicing School Media Specialist.
All this being said, I do feel it necessary to mention the downside of educational blogging. For the first half of the semester I was part of a group of students that did not feel compelled to engage in this quest. Part of the fun and of this experience is reading the responses of peers as well as having the opportunity to learn from their blogs. What can be done to remediate the situation when students fail to cooperate. At the collegiate level, being placed in an alternate group that did have active participants was a good solution, however, what would be the course of action in a public school setting? Perhaps students could be graded via the use of a clearly laid out rubric in the hopes that receiving repeated weekly or bi-weekly grades might help to prevent procrastination and uncooperativeness. This might be a plausible solution, but only if the teacher can manage to stay on top of all the students’ blogs (undoubtedly a monumental task). Another problem is the existence of a great digital divide in this nation. Not all students have computer access once they leave the school building. Even 1:1 laptop programs do not guarantee students the ability to have Internet access via a modem or wireless connection. This presents a situation that requires educational blogging to occur only within the school building during school hours. Requiring educational blogging only within the school means students would have restricted amounts of time to seek information to place on their blogs. It would limit natural exploration tendencies due to its inescapable contrived nature.
As a future School Media Specialist I am excited about the possibilities educational blogging can offer, but disheartened by some of the obstacles that can make it difficult for public schools to implement. I will not surrender to the difficulties, however, but forge on in search of innovative methods that can incorporate blogging into public schools in order to promote independent, inspired and informative learning for all students.
Prior to entering this class, blogs were really just a cool, yet foreign concept I had heard about while taking IST 511 (Introduction to Library Science). They seemed interesting enough to me at the time, but being a full-time graduate student, mother of two, wife and part time library clerk gave me little “guilt-free” time to explore. Thank goodness for this course. Requiring blogging forced me to delve into this new territory without the consequence of guilt (yes, now I had to make time for it because it was an assignment, not just a fun, time gobbling novelty).
I called my blog “Swicky’s Kaboom” because, of course, I wanted it to have an original and catchy title. Also, I wanted it to be mind-blowing. I am unsure if I blew any of my reader’s minds, but blogging and reading blogs sure did blow me away! Blogging in the educational setting really is a formidable concept. It encourages independent learning as both a writer and a reader. I certainly learned a lot as I read the blogs of my classmates. It was interesting to read their summaries and comments on Web 2.0 technologies. Reading and writing motivated me to explore a variety of topics and it was really exciting to surf the Internet and be educated at the same time! I amassed lots of useful bookmarks that I am certain will become indispensable someday when I am out in the real world working as a School Media Specialist.
As a blog writer and creator I naturally found myself surfing the net in quest of interesting and pertinent blog topics. This also led to learning about other technologies that had previously been mysterious to me. I figured out how to set up an RSS feed and how to attach this to my blog. I stumbled upon a site that enables users to create a customized search engine and I, in the name of Library Science and raw curiosity, have generated and placed one at the bottom of my blog (this is quite fun to have because it alerts me each time someone uses it; I have discovered that my blog is actually being read even though it has not amassed many comments). There have been other exploits, as well, that have ended up on my Mac’s desktop. I feel as though I have begun to conquer some of the territory Web 2.0 has to offer (in the same fury of amassing power and increased confidence as was once evidenced by the British in the days of the British Empire, the sun will not set until I have conquered the potential of Web 2.0 and safely introduced it to my future students).
This experience definitely has biased me toward believing blogs are meant to be in the classroom. I enjoyed this assignment immensely and am thoroughly convinced that it would be an awesome tool for educators to use within all levels of the educational field in order to inspire learning, reading and writing. In addition, it definitely is an active and practical way for students to gain awareness of the authoritativeness of Websites. When topics are assigned, students need to find reliable sites to blog about. Now, as a Library Science student, I have become acutely aware of how much of a challenge this would be for an elementary, intermediate or secondary student (and even many college students). This method of instruction forces students to consider the sites that they choose to blog on, and to consider them carefully, since the sites are being recommended to an audience of peers. The most beautiful part of a student blogging on an assigned topic is that if they fail to initially weigh the authoritativeness of the sites chosen, eventually this will catch up to them as they continue on blogging. The more sites they read, the more they will become aware of authority. They may even discover that they have picked totally deceptive sites as the blogging adventure continues. This could lead to an “a-ha moment” that could cause the student to question the authority of Websites. I am not advocating that educators rely on blogging to teach this important information literacy skill, but I am suggesting that this is a hands-on method for students to apply the skills I will labor so diligently to teach. It’s a quasi-Montessori approach to information literacy skills that I will staunchly advocate once I am a practicing School Media Specialist.
All this being said, I do feel it necessary to mention the downside of educational blogging. For the first half of the semester I was part of a group of students that did not feel compelled to engage in this quest. Part of the fun and of this experience is reading the responses of peers as well as having the opportunity to learn from their blogs. What can be done to remediate the situation when students fail to cooperate. At the collegiate level, being placed in an alternate group that did have active participants was a good solution, however, what would be the course of action in a public school setting? Perhaps students could be graded via the use of a clearly laid out rubric in the hopes that receiving repeated weekly or bi-weekly grades might help to prevent procrastination and uncooperativeness. This might be a plausible solution, but only if the teacher can manage to stay on top of all the students’ blogs (undoubtedly a monumental task). Another problem is the existence of a great digital divide in this nation. Not all students have computer access once they leave the school building. Even 1:1 laptop programs do not guarantee students the ability to have Internet access via a modem or wireless connection. This presents a situation that requires educational blogging to occur only within the school building during school hours. Requiring educational blogging only within the school means students would have restricted amounts of time to seek information to place on their blogs. It would limit natural exploration tendencies due to its inescapable contrived nature.
As a future School Media Specialist I am excited about the possibilities educational blogging can offer, but disheartened by some of the obstacles that can make it difficult for public schools to implement. I will not surrender to the difficulties, however, but forge on in search of innovative methods that can incorporate blogging into public schools in order to promote independent, inspired and informative learning for all students.
posted by Swicky at Thursday, November 30, 2006
1 comments
