Blogs in Education

1) Google was my first choice for a search engine. I have definitely formed an addiction to Google over the years and was curious to see how it would compare to other engines. The first few sites were: Educational Weblogs, Kathy Schrock’s Home Page, and Top 100 Education Blogs. I moved onto Dogpile, which is supposed to be comprised of a variety of search engines, including Live search, Google, and Ask Jeeves. I found that its first few sites were identical to Google’s sites! Finally, I went to Ask Jeeves, and got some different results, including: Educational Blogs, Blogs for Your Students, and Free Blogs for Educators. I suppose the results were varied because of what each search engine company is affiliated with. I’ve heard that some engines get paid to basically “advertise” a searched page. I don’t know if that’s what made the difference in these instances, but it’s a possibility.

2) After perusing some different educational blogs, including the ones listed on the assignment page, I found that blogs are becoming incredibly prominent for technologically aware schools and educators. A major use of blogs in the K-12 classroom seemed to be as a form of “collaboration” between educators. On edublogs.org, you could share lesson plans with teachers across the internet! You don’t have to know the teacher, but you can bounce ideas with others across the nation, giving a much wider perspective. I also noticed a lot of blogs encouraged student-blogging, in which students could have online discussions of topics. This allows for a quicker sparking of interests and views than the typical homework assignment might allow. Finally, the third innovative use for a blog was through newsletters. I have noticed in my practicum this semester that the teacher sends newsletters home with her 2nd graders. She complained, though, that often times, those letters just don’t make it home for some reason or another. I can imagine that using an online newsletter blog would be immensely useful, especially for children at a younger age. This whole process could save paper, ensure delivery (assuming parents kept tabs on the blog), and make the teacher’s life less stressful.

3) I had never heard of “RSS readers/aggregators” before this research, but after finding the definition, I realize that I have been exposed to these aggregators. RSS readers/aggregators are basically an application for compiling (or “aggregating”) specified web content into a single location. These web contents can include news headlines, podcasts, blogs, etc., whatever the client desires. These act as a sort of “personal newspaper” that are specified to your desires! It also takes away the annoyance of searching a bunch of different internet sites for all the different headline stories! RSS readers can be used in the classroom to help guide student learning by compiling a bunch of resources for them into one place. This can eliminate stumbling over inappropriate content and get students quick information fast. I think they could also be a great tool for compiling information on a “class website” that can be accessed by students throughout the classroom.

4) Using RSS readers and blogging would have a tremendous impact in a K-12 classroom. First of all, the internet is such a prominent “way-of-life” in our nation that students need to be able to zoom around on it without confusion. Having these RSS readers and blogs would begin to help them see the full extent of the internet’s ability. Blogging itself could give a place for students to share opinions and ideas while gaining insight from others. The only fear I have from blogging is the elimination of face-to-face contact. Used moderately and appropriately, blogging would be time efficient and give students a place to discuss outside of the classroom. However, I wouldn’t want my class to solely depend on the computer screen “curtain.” Overuse of the internet and these technologies could cripple students’ abilities to converse in person, which is still a vital skill in our world. RSS readers could also hinder abilities to seek out desired information. Used in moderation, both can be helpful, but they shouldn’t completely replace other forms of communication and research.

5) As described in question four, blogs and RSS readers can be a positive for the K-12 classroom. They enable students to find information quickly (in the form of content-specified RSS readers) and to share ideas and opinions (in the form of blogs). Blogs can be a fantastic place to write teacher-parent newsletters, which eliminates the messy paper-trail. There are some down-sides to these technologies, though. Blogs can take away from the face-to-face contact that is vital in our society. All too often these days, it seems that people can’t discuss things in person. They would rather shy behind the computer screen so that they don’t have to be directly accountable for the ideas they share. RSS readers can take away from the research component that comes with searching for desired content. Having everything you want and need catered to your desires and convenience will hinder students if they don’t learn the process of finding information on their own. Again, used in moderation, both blogs and RSS readers can be beneficial.

Webquest & Wiki as Education Tools

Webquests and Wikis can be extremely powerful and beneficial tools for students, especially since the internet and technology are critical in our society. My group and I discussed our views of Webquests. I was very excited about the whole idea of making a huge project that would require students to access appropriate internet sources. I can't imagine living in our society without knowing how to find information on the web. I feel like students must have an understanding of computers, and Wikis can be an appropriate source to introduce them to new research techniques. One of my groupmates was not excited by the whole webquest ideas, mainly because she felt it was a lot of work, but she also felt that her mind would change once she actually understood how to set one up. I love the whole idea.

Students can be quite obsessed with computers these days. If the webquests were creative and intriguing, I can definitely see kids viewing an online project and getting as excited to do it as they do to play video games.

When I did the webquest worksheet, I actually didn't go to the Teacher Web -- Webquest. I'd just searched for webquests through the actual webquest website. In class today, my groupmates showed me some of the Teacher Web Webquests, and I was really impressed by how easy they could be for students to access and use without frustration! These would be great for young kids as well as older ones.

I definitely need to play with the Wiki more as I'm still a bit confused about its full range of abilities, but I'm definitely intrigued and excited to have this as a source for my classroom!

Applying Technology to Learning Styles

Technology can be a powerful resource for reinforcing good behavior or negating bad behavior. Students in today's society love computers and are eager to play games (even learning games)! We can build about this eagerness using positive reinforcement. Say, for example, that students are supposed to be silent and stay in a straight line while walking from the classroom to the lunchroom. For the week, I could give them points for how well they performed this task, and each point would earn them 5 freetime computer minutes. This positive reward would increase the good hallway behavior coming to and from lunch.

Going along with reinforcement and the example of computer freetime, I could go so far as to take away points if students don't behave down the hallway to lunch. Rather than giving them points, they could start with a specific number of points, and for each mishap, they would lose a point. This negative reinforcement would decrease the behavior of being rowdy in the hallway. Both positive and negative reinforcements are looking for the same results, but they get to that behavior by either positively rewarding or negatively taking away. Technology is so exciting for students, that it's easy to use it as a reward.

Beginning the Education Program

This is my first block in the education program, and I am excited to be embarking into my future! I've finally figured out what exactly I want to do with my life, and I hope the program will make me become a highly qualified teacher. I have no idea which grade I want to teach; I need more time in the classrooms. I spent a full week in 3rd grade and loved that, but I am flexible with my options! I can't wait to get to the Spring of 09 where I will begin my student teaching and graduate from college!