Teaching with Technology

Online Diaries

Reflection is a vital part of a students learning experience.  It allows for important metacognitive growth.  One way to integrate reflection and technology is by using Weblogs or blogs.  Blogs are online diaries that students can construct.  The diaries are posted into cyberspace, allowing others to respond and comment to the posting.  Blogs can be set up individual or by groups (like classrooms).  They can also incorporate various multimedia elements, like graphics and videos.

In The Educator?s Guide to the Read/Write Web Will Richardson discusses the many uses of blogs in the classroom.  The can be used to tap into cricitcal thinking and langurage skills.  They can be used by teachers to grow professional by discusses educational resources and their uses.  Students can use them to design ?online, reflective, interactive portfolios of their work?, to share not just with their parents and each other, but with the world.  Richardson personally uses blogs in his high school classroom in a variety of ways.  His students use their blogs to collaborate with experts like autors of the books they are reading.  They also communicated with students in Poland as part of a holocaust unit.

Of course being able to reach a worldwide audience also has its drawbacks.  The decision to use blogs needs to be addressed with administrators and parents.  Students need to be informed of the safe use of the internet (which is part of the curriculum in most states) and what to do if inappropriate material is encountered.

The benefit to using blogs would be to open up the possibilities of reflection.  One aspect of the guided reading program is to reflect on books that you read.  With a blog that reflection can be shared with interested others.  Students will have the unique opportunity to respond to other students reflections as well, asking questions or providing support. Teachers and parents can respond to a posting as well, offereing supoort or opportunities to dive deeper.  If a student expresses an interest in a particular topic, the teacher could suggest other resources/sites to visit. 

      As Richardson pointed out, blogs could be used as portfolios, one more way to evaluate the learning of our students.  The unique aspect of this electronic portfolio, is that parents could check in periodically and have insights into their students learning.

Blogs could also be used by groups within the school, like Student Council, to share club minutes and the projects that the club is involved with. 

David Warlick is an expert in this area and has written the book Classroom Blogging: A Teacher?s Guide to the Blogosphere.  He also has a useful blog site at www.davidwarlick.com/2cents/. He also runs a website to help set up a classroom blogsite for free at www.classblogmeister.com.