There are many great ways to utilize a blog in an educational setting. One way I think that I could use blogs to enhance my eleventh grade chemistry students learning environment would be to have them complete online journals and post comments weekly on each other’s journals. I already have my students complete weekly reflection journals where students can write about what they understood from the week’s lessons and what they need assistance with, but the only person reading and responding to these entries is me. I think that the students would benefit greatly from reading each other’s journals because then they can answer their classmates questions and read entries others have posted to gain a better understanding of the content being covered in class.
Other aspects of online journaling that would be beneficial to students would be that they would learn how to appropriately communicate on the internet (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). Students just do not understand how to interact in a professional manner without guidance (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). What makes journaling a great introduction to blogging and appropriate online behavior is that it still deals with content but it is content in the students own words. What sets blogging journals apart from standard paper journals is the interaction that the students will have with one another (Richardson, 2010).
Some points that give me pause with my student’s blogging are that I am not exactly sure how to set blogs so that the comments do not publish without being approved first. I do not want students to post content that is inappropriate so I would like to review every post before it is submitted to the class blog site. In addition, I am also nervous about how much of my student’s information I want to be available on the blog. I’m not sure how I will handle students’ names while still being able to identify who contributed in the time they were supposed to.
References:
and society. Baltimore, MD: Martin.
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd
ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
My blog for this class is currently set to notify my email of all new comments and I need to moderate/approve them before they are published to the blog, so I assume that is something that would be relatively standard for you to set up for your chem class blog. One of our readings from week 1 listed guidelines for student blogs that included using pseudonyms. I believe it was the one titled "Chapter 6 Expanding the Boundaries..."
ReplyDeleteHello Tracy,
ReplyDeleteI was looking through the settings and I cannot find something that will allow me to approve comments before they publish. What blog database do you use? Are you using Blogger by Google? If so how do you adjust the settings so that I can approve all posts before they are published, because I noticed that on your blog that is the way it works?
Here is where to change that setting: at the top right of your blog page click on "design" then On the left at the bottom click "Settings" then "posts and comments" then "comment moderation"
ReplyDeleteI set mine to "always"
The disadvantage I see already to moderating all posts is that the person commenting cannot see their contribution added, as in no instant gratification. But more than that; for this class we are being graded on our contributions to our peers' blogs. What if we comment on a blog post but the blog owner is a slacker and does not release the comment from moderation?
Richard, the idea of online journaling would be a sure way of connecting across the curriculum. Common core standards require instruction which connects all subject areas. Writing prompts can cover a variety of topics. Additionally, the use of technology is a focus within the common core. This is a sure winner.
ReplyDeleteThank you Tracy
ReplyDeleteKrista,
ReplyDeleteI am hopeful that journaling on a Blog will enrich my students experience.
Hi Richard!
ReplyDeleteNice to back in a group with you this time around.
You can set it up so you can moderate (or read your students comments first). Tracy's instructions are what I would have said - and of course I agree with the "slacker" comment too. Actually I am probably the slacker she meant, but unfortunately my blog was blocked too, like hers was... I did not do it on purpose, let me tell you! It was very stressful.
Lisa
Rick -
ReplyDeleteThanks for opening up your blog to those of us without a blogspot blog. It seems that these little "hiccups" in permissions can create giant hurdles for classroom use of technologies such as blogs. Sometimes its hard to anticipate what glitches will be experienced. Students (and parents) often get very worried when they are unable to complete an assignment at home due to issues such as these. Any thoughts on how to reduce the impact these types of wrinkles have on a classroom assignment?
Here is my inital post:
ReplyDeleteDo you think that you could set up a rubric for student to peer review each other’s journal entries? This would allow you to clearly set expectations for each student’s post, and then have peer reviewers checking to ensure that these were met. In addition to growing a community, sharing work amongst students, this might also help with the perpetual issue of grading everything as a teacher!
However, you are correct, that when students begin responding to one another, they often can be inappropriate or unkind to one another. As mentioned in our reading, pseudonyms can help address this, but in smaller class settings, these pseudonyms are often useless to protect identities within the community. I find students are often very literal when creating codenames and can easily guess each other’s very quickly. Pseudonyms are helpful when dealing with confidentiality outside of the immediate community, however.