Thursday, January 17, 2013

Assignment 1 –The Importance of Blogs in K-12 Education


Throughout the history of the computer age, numerous people have sought to have the breakthrough invention or application that would solidify their place in the field. In what was known as the Third Generation (the mid 1960’s), the race was on to find the computer language everyone would use. We saw BASIC, B, Pascal, P/L I, among others. In the fourth generation, we saw the explosion of personal computer companies (IBM, Apple, Tandy, Commodore, Atari, and TI, to name a few). Depending on what the public was looking for, some of these fell flat on their faces, while others were embraced and survived.

Today, we see the same explosion with Web 2.0 tools. Some tools are solidly embedded at the present (such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter) while others are seeing their 15 minutes of fame disappear (such as MySpace and AOL). To date in this course, I am completely overwhelmed with the number and types of Web 2.0 tools. One will hope that within five years or so, many of these tools will also fade into oblivion. In my classes at NYIT, a teacher showed the criticism towards a new tool brought into the classroom. The criticism was of the blackboard and was written in the 1850’s.

This particular paper focuses on Blogs. After reading the four assignments, the authors would astoundingly agree that blogs are necessary. It reminds me of a cartoon I once saw. A new mother is on her computer in one room. In the next room, you see a baby feverously typing on a computer in its crib. The message on the mother’s computer is “Wah-wah-wah” @ baby.com. I was afraid that this avocation of blogs may reach into kindergarten.

I believe a blog can be useful. We are currently using one now in class. It gives us a voice to share with the class. Solomon and Schrum cite this as one of the reasons to use microblogs in Chapter 2 of Web 2.0. They also point out that it allows the user to think about what they’re about to type. These microblogs have constraints that blogs don’t have: they typically have a maximum word count.

All of the readings extol the uses of blogs on a personal and professional level for the instructor. With regard to students, you would be entering their world (appealing to their “Digital Nativeness”).  Students who seem not to care may participate and get more out of a topic or class. It would allow them a voice they may not have (or wish to have) in the traditional school setting.

The need for professional development remains a top priority for all teachers. In these fiscally tight days, the ability to go away for a three day conference may not be feasible. Following a blog gives a teacher the opportunity to share ideas, learn new techniques, or to see what other teachers are doing in their classes.

Since I am new to blogging, I don’t feel I am qualified to identify an “excellent blog.” So, what I did was to find the following blogs. I have a sampling of different types of blogs to that show blogs in different light:

Blog
Type
Use
Personal and Professional Blog
Sharing ideas
Educational Technology Blog
Sharing ideas
Class Blog
Implementation for class use.
Student Blog
Example of a student blog.
School Blog
Example of a school blog from school leaders
Educational Technology Blog
Sharing Ideas

 
No idea we look at in this course should be considered “a waste of time.” However, one has to keep in mind the old adage, “The right tool for the right job.”

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