Using Computers in Education

This is a new posting to this blog.

Edited.

Using the blogger in the classroom would be a rewarding experience. Though seeming tedious when first beginning the blogging experience, then turned into something that I enjoyed doing. The sites that I found to blog were both fun, interesting, and I would be able to use them once I begin teaching! This is going to save me time and stress when it comes down to finding engaging activities for the students to do.
This blogging does have experience as a community building as students could blog their progress on projects, group experiences, etc. Though I'm not sure if high school students would be enthusiastic about this task - but depending on the spin the teacher put on it would influence the enthusiasum that they would have towards the activity.
I'm not sure where I would use blogging in the classes that I teach. I see blogging as reflecting - the one class that would be useful would be Career and Work Experience. This would be used when students come back from their Work experiences, and blog about experiences that had happend at work.
Overall, I believe that blogging could be useful in the classroom - depending on the students and the content begin taught. In business education, there are not many classes that can be inclusive of the blogger experience.

Just to add in on my own posting, I want to expand on how I mentioned that this would be useful in my own classroom.

I feel that a blog can be used in a few different ways. I feel as though I would have the students use a blog as a personal journal. Obviously nothing that is private, but a weekly reflection on what they have learned. This would be done in a way of accommodating the lack of computers. If the students take turns spending a few minutes adding an entry to the blog, by the end of the week, each student should have had a turn. And as I have said, it would be on something that they have learned through out the week.

Another way that I want to use this would be literature reflections. A feel a very beneficial part to lit circles in the personal and group reflections on what they have read or discussed. Using the blog system, students are able to read each others posting and respond to it. It would also cut down on paper that needs to be handed in to the teacher. It would allow for easier monitoring of the students progress this way. If it is done in the same way that this group blog is done, it would be very useful in furthering the students understanding.

The only downside to this would be what I just experienced. I like how it is possible when entering a posting in a personal blog, you can go back and edit it if needed to. You can add something or take it away. In the case of the group blog, as I have just experienced, I don't think that this is possible. I didn't see this option. There is the option of commenting but when I tried this it seemed a little confusing. I also find it funny that the blogger spell check does not actually recognize blog as a word.

Overall, though, I feel that I would use this in my classroom.

As with many other people, this has been me first experience blogging. I felt as though it was very beneficial to me in the way that it gave me ideas on how to incorporate another technological activity in my classroom. I also like having a list of resources that I can use through out my teaching career. As well being able to look at what other people have found is helpful as well.

My only concern with it was that the more I searched for good sites, the less I found. And the more time consuming it was. I found it hard to be searching for sites that would be beneficial to mention to post every week. On top of that, it was difficult for me to do my 20 postings in total. I like having the resource list, but I am not to keen on the amount of time I spent creating it. Though, in the long run, I know that this would be very beneficial to me. I know that I will now have this list and what is out there and therefore I will have more ideas of fun lessons in my classroom.

I also think that it would be just as beneficial to add sites that would be useful to a teacher rather than just interactive sites. For example, I am always looking for more lesson plan ideas and if anyone knows of any sites for this, I would have been just as happy with viewing them. Overall I did enjoy this experience and am thankful for it.

This has been my first time every blogging, and I agree with what people have been saying... it's a great way for beginning teachers like us to blog helpful sites that we can use throughout our careers. I think that it's great that we can have access to each other's blogs... it's kind of like having a huge library of resources right at our fingertips. I've enjoyed our experience with blogs, but have found it very difficult to keep on top of it every week. Although I did get my 20 in before the end of the semester, it wasn't something I found that I needed to do every week. I would have liked to have had it as more of a leisure, like when you find something great, blog it; I found myself spending time searching for good sites just to blog.

I have learned a lot with my Blog. Blogger was a technological tool that I used to become more familiar with the Internet and technology in general. At the beginning of this semester, I did not even know what the terms "Blog or Blogging" meant. I was a bit apprehensive about using a Blog, but now I see how easy and student-friendly it can be. I am a lot more confident about abilities in searching the web and finding "good" and "safe" sites for students to use. I am more familiar with what is out there and able to document what I have learned as well as where I would use the resources when I am teaching. If you take a look at my first few Blogs and compare them to my last few Blogs, there is a huge difference in the quality of my posting as well technological skills I have shown, such as links. If you want to see for yourself, take a look at my Blog to see for yourself.

I would use Blogging while I was teaching a concept, for example, in Math. The students could Blog what they learned that class and ask questions on their posting. Other students could respond to the questions and offer websites to help the student. This way, technology is a tool students will use to become more familiar with the Internet while using it for a meaningful purpose. This is just one idea, there are a lot more out there.

This is my first time blogging and I really enjoyed it. It gave me a chance to save some of the interesting sites that I found on the internet. This was helpful because I didn't have to email it to myself, I could just post it on my blog.

I think using these with students would be a great idea. Although there are some concerns with that. It depends on if they like it or not but as a teacher you might need to have a specific time during the class that they could work on their blogs. A group one for students would be helpful for group assignments, as well. For middle years students, I think it would be great for group work or presentations. Then they could search places on the internet and have their discussions on the blog. It could also be put into an entire class project that is taking place such as what we are doing. Reflecting on what we have learned and how it helped us out.

When I have group projects I might have the groups set up their own blog where they can post their research, their sites, their thoughts, etc. It depends on what technology resources I have where I am teaching.

This was a great way for me to, again, save my websites. I was not as faithful to blogging as I would have liked to be. I think if I had a little more time, I would have been blogging more. It was a great experience and I most likely will continue to use blogging.

Thanks Jo for introducing blogging!

While this being my first blogging experience ever, I have enjoyed being able to document my Internet findings on a site that is accessible to myself and others. By having our sites accessible to ourselves and other (beginning) teachers, it saves us alot of time searching for sites that are misleading. By this, I mean, most of the time we search site after site after site and come up with things that we thought were useful but after analyzing them realise that they aren't as useful as we thought. By having a different blogs to visit and having an anaysis of the site that is blogged, we have the resources available to us that have been looked at by other teachers.

By using blog in the classroom, we allow our students to spill their own thoughts and their own opinions on the content being learned in the classroom onto the Internet. It's almost like they are creating their very own web diary, only it's one that is accessible to everyone on the net. I will definitely be using blogging in the classroom with my students. I believe that this will give them and myself a glimpse into the progress they will make through the course of the class, just as it has done for us in ECMP 455.

Oops, I was looking in the group blog and accidentaly did my personal blog here. Just ignore it everyone! (I hope this counts towards my personal blog :))

I love dinosuars and I had a great time teaching it during my pre-internship. You can never go wrong with magic schoolhouse! This site is good because it is scholastic. It has been my experience that scholastic sites are generally great. They are child friendly, always have teacher links and have wonderful information.
This site offers a site map, guided tours, games and activities, books and a theme index.

While this being my first blogging experience ever, I have enjoyed being able to document my Internet findings on a site that is accessible to myself and others.
By having our sites accessible to ourselves and other (beginning) teachers, it saves us alot of time searching for sites that are misleading. By this, I mean, most of the time we search site after site after site and come up with things that we thought were useful but after analyzing them realise that they aren't as useful as we thought. By having a different blogs to visit and having an anaysis of the site that is blogged, we have the resources available to us that have been looked at by other teachers.

By using blog in the classroom, we allow our students to spill their own thoughts and their own opinions on the content being learned in the classroom onto the Internet. It's almost like they are creating their very own web diary, only it's one that is accessible to everyone on the net. I will definitely be using blogging in the classroom with my students. I believe that this will give them and myself a glimpse into the progress they will make through the course of the class, just as it has done for us in ECMP 455.

I have really enjoyed blogging this semester. I have found it very useful, as I will definitely use the websites/resources I have collected. I also think that I will add on to this blog from time to time when I find more websites to use in my classroom.

After using blogs for this class and seeing how they work, I would definitely use blogging in my own class. I think it would be a great tool that students could use to reflect on what they have learned. This would make it a great assessment tool for teachers as well. It would also be a good way for parents to view what their children are learning if they have internet access at home.

Students could also use it as a tool to help teach each other. Students could use the group blog to post questions or thoughts on things that have been happening in class. If they didn't understand something they could explain what they are having problems with and another student could post back with some helpful ideas.

At the beginning of the semester, I didn't think that I would enjoy blogging, but I have. It has been a wonderful new experience. Without having taken this class, I know that I would not have tried this on my own. I normally do not like writing in journals, but I found that by using a blog it was a new twist to the old idea. You are able to go on the internet and write about what you want (educational issues in this case) for anyone to read. I also found that it is a wonderful place to store internet sites. A person is able to put their favourite sites in a place that is accessible from anywhere, unlike the favourites tool on the computer.

I think that blogging would provide an excellent addition to any classroom. Students would be able to ask questions and answer other students questions on line. Blogging allows students to be part of a learning community. For those students who are normally shy, it is a place for them to be able to form friendships with their peers that they may not have in a regular classroom situation. It allows them to feel comfortable in a non-threatening environment. I agree that using a blog is a great way to motivate students to reflect about what they have learned in class that day. I would most definitely use blogs in my classroom.

I think that using a blog as a discussion format for students could be helpful in many situations. If you are discussing a topic that is controversial and it may cause students to either get really angry at other students or may cause some students to close themselves off from the discussion, I think the use of a group blog could allow for a "safer" environment. The students that get angry will have time to absorb what others have to say before coming to class and they may have had time to cool down. The other students that do not like to speak up may find this format less threatening and begin to share their ideas more readily.

I think it could also be used as a homework help group. Students could use it to post questions and then responses can be made. It can also allow the teacher to give extra help. The teacher can view what questions the students are asking each other and use it as a cue as to what needs to be happening in the classroom.

I think it may give an opportunity for students who do not normally interact with each other in the class to begin a relationship. This may create a more pleasant classroom environment with a larger support for the students.

I think the blog can be helpful, but only I do not think it should become a main focus in the classroom.

I have really enjoyed blogging this semester, as I agree with others that it is a great way to document websites.

I was excited when I found out we would be doing a blog this semester. One of my good friends has a blog that he updates regularly, containing funny stories and anectotes, and any other thoughts he may have at the time.

I would definitely encourage my students to blog, as it would be a great way for them to become comfortable with writing. Blogging could be used in the classroom as a form of journal. Students could even respond to each other's blogs. It would be great to use, as it does not have to be done within the classroom.

I'm pleased that so many of you have found blogging to be useful. It was brand new to me this semester too, so it's been interesting to learn about blogs! It was a risk I took as a teacher and I'm glad we tried it!

I read Cari's and Jolene's comments and I agree that it can be overwhelming with 25 people posting lengthy comments. However it is kind of nice to be able to just scroll through the postings without having to click on the links like you do in WebCT.

Anyway, I went looking to find the answer - is it possible to post comments in Blogger? I went to the Support link and typed Comments in, and found a message explaining that Blogger doesn't offer that service, but there are other places on the web where you can acquire the service. I clicked on CommentThis which took me to a site where I could copy and paste a couple of chunks of html script into my blog template. And voila! We now have Comment capability!

Try it out and comment. :-)

Blogging is an excellent way to keep a record of websites. I have a computer at home and during my internship I was always wishing that I knew what the address of the site was that I had bookmarked on my home computer. Blogging is a great way of getting the information from one computer to another computer. As well I have enjoyed putting my blog together. I believe that I would definetly use a blogg in my classroom. I agree that this is a great way for students to respond to questions or make comments at the end of class. As for the fact of private information, students can use code names in order for them to respond. Just like e-mail or any other website that requires information, you can use blogging as a teachable moment to teach students that the internet is a public place.

I believe that I will continue to use my blogg after I am done this semester. There are lots of uses for the blog and I really enjoy using it. The community blogg is a great idea to get eveyone involved in the same ideas and read others thoughts. What a wonderful tool to use the internet for!

Thanks Jo for teaching us about blogging.
Shelley VanOs

I have enjoyed blogging throughout the semester. It has been a great way to store awesome sites, which can be accessed from anywhere. I agree with Michelle that it is important to monitor any personal information that is posted, but blogging can be a great tool to be used for a research project. Students often will find amazing sites at school and when they go home they do not have the address copied down just right or they didn't have time. Blogging allows for students to quickly store their sites and write a quick description.
I think that it could also be used for reflection (again if it is monitored), to talk about different projects or community events that they are working on. It would be great for parents and students to be able to look back over the year when it is done.
I do feel that for communication purposes it may not always be the best answer because it would be just as easy for students to discuss it right in class. It makes more sense for students to be sharing their information orally, rather than reading it on a screen.
Overall, I think that blogging is a great tool that I will definitely incorporate into my classroom.

Well, I have enjoyed blogging this semester, and I think that I will use the resources I have gathered. I also enjoyed going through other peoples blogs once and a while to see the sites that they had found.
I think that blogs would be useful in the classroom, for the upper elementary maybe, it would help them in their typing skills and they could do some reflecting in their blog. I agree with Jolene, I think it would be a good way for the students to respond to some of the books they are reading or different things that are happening in class.
I really like the idea of blogging, I am not sure about the class blog, because the only way I could get in was through my account, so I would probably just have them use individual accounts that everyone could check, like we had for ECMP, but if I understood how to do it another way I may change my mind. Anyways, take care!
Kim

When I first found out that we were going to be blogging, I was excited. I love journaling, and it sounded to me like that was kind of what it was. I have enjoyed blogging throughout the semester, as I have now developed a great annotated list of sites that I definitely want to use in the future! I will continue to blog even after this class, because I think that it is a great way to document sites that I find in my journeys on the Internet. I think I may start another blog ... just for fun. I may use it as a journal, or something like that.

I would definitely use blogs in my classroom. I agree that the privacy thing may be an issue, and therefore I would not allow my students to put any personal information on their blogs. I would have them use the blogs as a means to reflect on what they have learned in class and on readings that they do. I would also have them blog while doing a novel study. If they were doing a reflection on a line in the book, or a character, they could do it in their blog. This way, other students could read what they have said. Another use for blogs, that I had in my webquest, is to have students blog about articles that they read in the newspaper (one per week). This would help them to learn about current events, and share what they have learned in an interesting and interactive way.

The group blogging thing can be a little overwhelming. There are so many people posting, that it is a bit confusing. I have seen blogs that have one person's entries, but then a link for comments after each entry. To me this seems more organized than having one big blog that everyone in the class can post to.

I have really enjoyed blogging over the past semester and I think I will like it even more when I want to find a site I remember seeing and wished i could use it now and can because I know where it is. I think that blog could be used many different ways in the classroom. I liked Melissa's idea of having students save their resources to a blog when working on a science or social project. I also think that they would be effective to use when doing a novel study because students could have a blog where the keep track of their reactions and thoughts about the novels. I also think it would work great to have a community blog for the classroom where they could ask each other things about the book.

I agree that having the blog as a personal journal is risky because they are on the Internet so I do not think I would encourage students to share any type of personal information. I think I would stick to the blogs for school subjects and students could set up blogs at home if they wanted to have a blog be more personal. I also liked the idea of exit slips Jo. I think that it would also make it easier for you as a teacher because you could read their responses all in one spot and not have so much paper.

Another thing I think a blog could be effective is for teachers much like we have used them in class. If all the teachers in the school were interested they could all have blogs where they keep track of great resources or professional development ideas and course information. I think that it would be another way to keep in touch with other teachers and help each other when developing effective units and new ideas.

Blogging has been a great experience for me this semester. Not only have I found it to be a way to organize my own thoughts and interesting resources, I have also begun to think of many different ways that blogging could be implemented into the classroom. I know that I have already passed this tool off to other teaching professionals. When we first found out about blogger I phone my cooperating teacher from internship and suggested it to her.

I can definitely see it being used for students that would like to journal like the rest of their classmates, but have fine motor problems that restrict their printing. There are other programs you could use for this purpose, but blogger is especially nice because of the compact and neat way it formats your journal entries for you. It would also help unorganized students keep their entries together and safe.

I can also see it being used for research projects. If students are experiencing a list of websites you have put together for them, using something like blogger would allow them to document their personal reactions, make notes about what they are seeing and quickly link specific pages to their thoughts. This would be better than doing it in word because the students could access their work at home or school as opposed to just at school on the school network. This would be useful in classes such as science and social.

Having students be able to work as a community through blogging has pros and cons. I think that it would allow students to discuss topics and provide the chance for everyone to talk. It would also benefit the shy or quiet students that would not talk out for themselves. The negative aspect to this though would be the idea of using blogger itself. We have been discussing using technology to enhance the learning experience. I am unsure of whether it would be more beneficial to discuss topics through blogging than in person. I think it may be just as effective in the classroom. This being said, it would be an incredible tool to use to connect other classrooms and make them feel as though they are conversing. I would be cautious if blogger would released any personal information about the students.

I think blogger could be very positive in a classroom and I am looking forward to trying it out in my own classroom.

I normally hate writing in journals, because I can't seem to be consistent with my entries. At first, I wasn't sure about Blogs, because I am always leery about putting any personal information up on the Internet. In terms of privacy, and I don't think blogs are a good thing. The potential threat of predators accessing students' blogs and learning information about students that could later be used to harm them, is almost too great of a risk. However, as long as students don't post personal information, then I think that blogs could be very useful.

I think blogs are a good way for teachers to keep track of what students are learning. One way that I would have my students use blogs would be to have them record bits of information from each class that they could later use to help them study. This information would be available to them at any time, so if they were having problems with something at home, and it was posted in their blog, then they simply access their blog and find the information. I also think that it is easier for a teacher to access a student's blog than to access their hand-written journals. I had my Career Guidance 9 class keep journals, and it was always so hard for me to check them because half the time their journals were at home.

Is there a function on this site that allows you to respond directly to someone's blog posting? I couldn't figure it out so I signed into my account to type this posting instead. I hope this is not the only way to do it! I think that blogging would be a great way to facilitate a class discsussion in school. However, if this is the way it has to be done, it is trickier because students have to view the site on the web. Think of what they want to respond and then sign into their account.
In response to Stephanie, I agree that blogs get students motivated to use the computer and internet. As Courtney said, using a computer is cool! I also agree that students might be more interested in looking at other students' blogs. To use the journal idea for example: looking at someone's journal notebook does not seem as exciting as looking at someone's blog!

Well, if you would ask me this question at the beginning of the semester, I might have said, why use blogs?
But the tables of turned!
Why use blogs? Well, I think they get students motivated to use the internet and computers to communicate with other students. They can share ideas, ask question and comment on other students postings.
I found it pretty interesting to check out other classmates blogs and to exlpore their thoughts, sites and educational ideas. It hink for this ECMP class, it was a good idea to try a new thing. Not very many people really know what a blog is. THerefore, introducing this to students in my future classroom will be just that much more exciting. IT's new, it's different and it's their own personal creation. Each student can choose their own layout and the way they create it. I really like the idea of getting students to find sites, or perhaps their all time favoirte sites to post on the web.
I was reading Jills comment on the blogging and I think it would be an aweome solution for her info pro(20) class. At leat to give it a try. You never know!
Well blogging is an interactive way to get students pumped and motivated about online resources and communicating with others on a different level!!

Those are all great ideas! I can see one advantage to blogging over a WebCT type of discussion already - it's easy to read through the postings all on one page without having to follow message links!

I agree, Kristin, that it's not always easy to share personal thoughts in a public place like the web. Some people really pour out their hearts in a blog but I think I would not tend to use it for a "personal diary". It does seem to have applications for the various types of journalling mentioned - anything where you want to have ongoing involvement.

Congratulations on your job, Jill! That would be a great thing to try with your class. I banned chatting (I'm still not sure how to use that technology to advantage!) but have my students set up with Gaggle email accounts, so they like to use those. I was thinking that a blog could be a very effective way of having online "exit cards" - where kids have to go online and answer 2 or 3 short questions at the end of class (like we did with multiple intelligences discussion on WebCT). If the students did it in a blog, then there would be an ongoing record of their thoughts and their learning so that you could evaluate progress.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your thoughts!

I think that it would be very beneficial for students to relate blogs to literature. I think that when reading a novel students could be asked to keep a blog as one of the main characters. They could make a blog posting after reading each chapter and include their feelings about situations in the book, what they think they will do to resolve problems, what they think will happen to themselves and other characters, etc. Keeping a journal about this will require students to really reflect on what they have read in the book and I think that keeping an online journal would give them incentive to do a good job because their work could be viewed by others.

Well I finally got in! This community blogging is a cool idea, it is kind of like our "Web CT Discussion" yet a little more personal. There is one way that can think of right off the top of my head for a highschool health class. In my preinterniship I taught "sex ed" and had a question jar for the students to put in any questions that they wanted to. It was confidential and it saved the students from feeling embarassed in front of their peers. i could use blogging to post the questions annonymously as well as my feelings/answers instead of the jar which would save time in class, and the students could log into this as frequently as they wanted to. The students would also be encouraged to add in any additional information that they could to better answer the questions, and aske more questions if they were comfortable with blogging them.

I have really enjoyed blogging during the course of this semester. It has been a great place to store good websites that come along. I found this helpful because many times I forget to write good websites down, and "Favorites" don't follow me around. Blogger can be accessed from all computers, so these websites are there whenever I need them. I would use this in the classroom. In early childhood we rely alot on journals, and blogging is an online journal. I think that any age students could do this. With younger students you would have to take them a few examples, until they got the processes. It would be fun to use blogging in Thematic Units. Every time we switch a thematic unit (over the course of the year) students could switch topics, or become a new "character". An example of this would be in an "Under the Sea" unit students could write from the perspective of a fish. In a "Dinosaur" unit students could become a dinosuar. Also having the students blog good websites would be benefitial, just like it was for us. So in summary, I enjoyed blogging and I would definatly use this in my classroom.

I am starting a teaching job as of the 19th of April here and I was out at the school today. I am teaching an Info Pro 20 class (which kind of has me scared because I am not totally sure what I am doing!). The current teacher told me that some of the students seem to enjoy "chatting" on the internet instead of doing their actual given assignment. After tonight I am thinking that blogging may be something I need to incorporate into that classroom. If the students know that they will have time to do a classroom blog at the end of everyclass, and it can be a class they can ask each other questions it may eleviate some of their "want" to chat on MSN, etc. I am hoping that this will work, I will have to see what the lab is like and if it is possible for me to actually do it in the classroom. I will have a lot of learning to do to get through this class, but I am hoping that I will be able to make it through. I am sure that the students will know more than me and all will be well, but this blogging thing is looking like it might be useful. It will be a good way for the students to ask me questions too through that since we won't see each other everyday and they may need help in between time. I will definitely have to check it all out! I do think that blogging is something I will try and introduce in my other classes too. Life Transitions, Health and such it would be really good for discussions, especially for the students who find it hard to talk in class, or it takes long to articulate an answer. Hmm... the ideas are just floating in my head now!

Blogging is a great way to get students involved in many different kinds of activities in the classroom. They are fun and I think they make tasks such as journaling and responding to questions more appealing because students get to go onto the computer and THAT IS COOL!! For my web quest, blogging was a great way to get students doing a daily journal reporting some of the components they needed to research and reflect on. Without blogging I am not sure what I would have had them do instead. I guess I would have had them do a written journal, but being on the computer already for the web quest and being able to post in a place where it is easy for others to view as well as for the teacher to access, seems to make more sense. The possibilities are really endless with how you could use blogger in your classroom.
As a teacher, blogger is also really useful. I like being able to record favorite websites quickly and write a quick note about what they contain. By bookmarking websites in Netscape Composer, you can't write descriptions about what they are about, so I like blogger for this. As well, I like that you can go to any computer, anywhere and have your sites avaliable. Bookmarks only work on your computer and cannot be viewed anywhere. As a teacher, you could blogg sites for students to check out and this would be a quick and efficient way for them all to get the information.
These are a few ideas for how to use bloggs. I really like blogging and have come to appreciate all hte possibiliites the web site can offer!

I think blogging works pretty well. I am not a very detailed person so find it hard at times to put my thoughts on the web for everyone to see. I would use this with my kids but I am not sure of the purpose I would have them use. More thought would need to be put into this.

I sure hope this works.