BP2_2010011_EduUses4Blogs

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I began my search for educational uses for blogs and I did not realize just how many ways blogs could be used. Blogs can be a part of education in kindergarten to 12th grade and also play a part in higher education as well.

As a recent college graduate, I actually don’t have much experience as a blogger. I was required to blog for my Educational Technology class but I do not think that we discussed the advantages for teaching. I could see teachers using blogs to engage students in online discussions but other than that, I was unclear just how educators could use blogs in their classroom.

During my search, I found that blogs could be very useful for writing. According to Dell (2008) blogs could be used as a student writing portfolio, to showcase their best writing, to collect story starters, to practice vocabulary words, and to respond to a teacher’s post. Dell (2008) included other educational uses for blogs that had never crossed my mind before this week. She proposed that blogs be used as a reading response journal, to form an online book club, for a classroom online newspaper, and to communicate with students from different places in the world.

I can remember when I was in third grade, our class had pen pals from Ohio. I am from New Jersey and although Ohio is not very far, it was amazing to think that we could communicate with students from another state. I can only imagine using a blog to communicate with classes all over the world. The students would be extremely motivated and engaged and learning about life in a different part of the world. I think it is important for students to learn about people from different cultures. The more people know the more they can understand and the more accepting they can be.

Dell, D. (2008) Educational Uses Of Blogs and Tags. Slideshow posted to http://www.slideshare.net/sqoolmaster/educational-uses-of-blogs-and-tags-234136