BLOGGING IN EDUCATION

me, blogging furiously perhaps?

Do you blog?...  'Cause I do... " I cannot tell you how many times I have heard that phrase over the last two years.  If you are like I was two years ago, you have probably heard the word "blog" being tossed around in conversations, news casts, articles and quite possibly, everywhere you turn.  And even then, you don't really know where that word popped up from or why everyone makes such a big fuss over it, or why you should have one (or three) of your own.  It seems pretty hip (especially is you are a Mormon mom) so you go along with pretending to know what a blog is.  So what exactly is a blog, you might ask? The word "blog" is derived from the contraction of the term "web log" and what it basically is, is an online diary or journal where people post entries regularly with a specific theme or purpose explaining and describing their experiences or feelings about that theme. 

So here I sit, blogging on my new "Got Technology?" blog where I, as an aspiring teacher, aim higher than the normal molly-mormon-mommy blog to talk about how I can use this wonderful tool of technology to assist with instruction in my future classroom.  After all, if it isn't keeping up with all the other moms, it's going to be keeping up with the technologically-savvy students who I will have the responsibility of teaching.  It's about time I join the web 2.0 world!

PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS OF STUDENT-DRIVEN BLOGS IN CONTRAST TO A TEACHER-CREATED WEBSITE. 

Student driven blogs can become an effective teaching tool in a classroom.  Blogs allow students to reflect on in-class lectures or topics that were discussed.  A student may not have voiced their opinion or thoughts in class but in a blog, the student can clearly reflect on what they could have said and articulate it in a class blog. A student-driven blog can be filled with personality as students respond to topics, discussions or comments in their own "style." It could be used for editing purposes, but sometimes knowing that your comments or entries will be edited can inhibit writing in anyone.

Teacher-created websites are a good way for teachers to drive the conversation that happens on the website.  The teacher can assign topics that students can discuss and comment on.  It also can give students a heads-up on what topics will be discussed in a future class and it also lets the students see the topic, think about the topic, think about what to write about that topic, and then actually put it onto the website.  Having a teacher-driven website allows the teacher to create rules and set guidelines and formats for how a blog should be used or kept. 

WHAT ARE THE CHILD-PROTECTION, COPYRIGHT, AND SOCIAL ISSUES THAT ARE INVOLVED?

A lot of times, students do not think about protecting their privacy and public persona.We've all heard of people who've lost possible job opportunities because of their facebook or myspace profile.  Information that is put on the web is being put out for the whole world to see or read and that could have both positive and negative implications.  As a teacher, and one who will be using blogs in my classroom, I will be sure to discuss with my students ways that they could protect their identity.  

Copyrights and the web is a very complicated area.  In googling the phrase "copyright and the internet" I came across this quote: "The Internet has been characterized as the largest threat to copyright since its inception. The Internet is awash in information, a lot of it with varying degrees of copyright protection. Copyrighted works on the Net include new s stories, software, novels, screenplays, graphics, pictures, Usenet messages and even email. In fact, the frightening reality is that almost everything on the Net is protected by copyright law. That can pose problems for the hapless surfer." ("The Copyright Web site" http://www.benedict.com/)

Just like making sure you don't plagiarize when writing a paper, it is important that information and other media used in a blog gives the proper credit to the source.  We would all hate for our work to be used on websites without giving us the credit that we deserve.

And so to end this first entry in my newblogging adventure on a humorous note, I leave you with something to ponder - could this be the true definition of blogging?

from Despair Inc.