Blog C

I see several possible educational values of blogs in the classroom. Collaboration is one of the main points. Students can share their views on topics and ideas. Blogs are great for daily writing and allow the students and teacher to see their progress in their writing or deal with shortcomings. Blogs can be used outside of the classroom to allow students a forum to showcase their writings or views and find others sharing their same interests. The teachers role in the blogging process should be one of facilitation and monitoring. The teacher will lead the students to the topics they want them to address and monitor the bogs making sure they stay on task and do not venture off topic. Students should be active participants in the blogs making posts and editing their writings, they should actively read the posts of other students and make comments or engage the other students in discourse. In order for blogs to be effectively integrated into classrooms there needs to be more information presented to students, parents, teachers and school districts. Instead of always showing the possible dangers of blogs, show the positive ways it can be used in the classroom. Case studies of best practices using blogs should be presented to county administrators showing effective uses of blogs in classrooms. Parents need to be shown how to access and monitor blogs because they will be vital in the monitoring of the blogging process. Teachers have to be given thorough in service, along with ongoing support in the blogging process (which is fairly simple). Blogs are a free tool therefore school districts can place more money in professional development for their teachers.

Blog B

I did not realize you could add images and videos to your blog, that was a nice feature I discovered. Images can set the mood and tone of your blog and I have always appreciated setting the tone for a literary work. What stands out most about this blogging experience was the honesty of my teammates and seeing them struggle with many of the same issues I am dealing with. Blogs are a place to store shared or oppossing views to ideas you have.

Blog A

I learned I took my time to formulate posts and responses because I realized I had my peers viewing my work along with my instructor. This made me take ownership and pride in the work I was presenting. I have to admit, I enjoyed seeing my work in a blog format, I almost felt like a columnist for a major publication. I also was suprised at my ideas when I saw them in print. It had always been my beleif that diaries or logs were young girls to write about their crushes, not a place for me to record my thoughts or reflections.

PBL - A Different Point of View

Our group created a group project dealing with recounting history from different points of views or perspectives. I chose to deal with the U.S. led invasion of Iraq after the terrorist bombings of September 11th. I did not want to deal with the political ramifications of the war. I was not looking for winners or losers in this conflict. My main goal was to look at how Iraqi citizens have been dealing with the war and look at the day to day living of these citizens. I also wanted the students to see how populated Iraq is and had them research the population of major cities in Iraq and present their populations in Excel charts and graphs. The students were able to view and see some of the hardships experienced by the citizens and were able to better understand the hatred fostered by Iraqi citizens, similar to the harsh feelings Americans had after September 11th. Students created wikis and other visual organizers for the project. It can be viewed in its entirety here.

This project was far more challenging than I expected. I was dealing with elementary students and I attempted to take a complex subject such as war and make it understandable to the students. I had to be very conscientious of peripheral issues, like violence in videos, displaying anti-American and Muslim messages, and getting too political. I have to admit I was well-prepared for any situation or possible situation that could occur. What I realized is we as teachers should always be this prepared and you are pretty much creating an environment conducive to learning.

My article on PBL dealt with the social aspects of this type of learning. The authors point out the social interaction and collaboration of the students and emphasis the many ways can articulate their understanding of the subject they are undertaking. Several modalities can be used to help students and teachers convey their understanding. PBL also allows the students to use their higher thinking skills and this is the ultimate goal of the teacher in the whole learning process. PBL is a very effective way of teaching if the teacher chooses and plans wisely.

Blog Entry 11 : Supporting Student eLearning

eLearning is a new phenomenon that has come about in the last 15 years. It is learning with the aid of the Internet. Communication among students and instructors is carried on via the intenet. Students communicate with one another through various web based applications and submit work to servers for retrieval by instructors. eLearning can be solely online or a hybrid format for students. This form of learning is supported by many impoverished school districts because it allows them to offer courses that would otherwise be unavailable. eLearning is a format for self-motivated students due to the discipline needed in completing assignments. You have limited face-to-face interactions so you are responsible for your own motivation.

ePortfolios are an excellent assessment tool for instructors (226). These portfolios allow students to collect the work they have done in the course. Many times, due to the structure of web based classes, instructors can not observe all the students. ePortfolios are an excellent way to display work that was completed and show the software and hardware that were used in creating the works in the portfolio. This is also a place to insert reflections of the work or concepts you are addressing at the point in time. It also can be updated as needed and referred to for future reference. On a eco-friendly note, ePortfolios save paper that would otherwise be used for a traditional portfolio.

Egbert, J. (2009). Supporting learning with technology: Essentials of classroom practice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson-Prentice Hall