-77% of internet users read blogs
-75% of bloggers have college degrees
-68% of bloggers have been blogging for at least 2 years
-72% of bloggers blog to share their expertise
-70% of bloggers use personal satisfaction as the indicator of their blog’s success
-More than 133 million blogs have been indexed since 2002
Adapted from: Phil Bradley
Learning About Blogging & RSS
I really didn’t understand how BIG blogging has become, until I read the statistics above. Blogging is an incredibly popular tool for promotion, reflection, collaboration, sharing and thinking. I have learned that the reasons people blog are varied, and the assortment of blogs out there are equally diverse. One can literally find a blog on anything they wish. Bloggers and blog readers represent people from all walks of life and from all corners of the world.
Before starting this course, my experience with blogging was limited. I was excited at the prospect of creating my first blog for this course – however I was a little shy about posting my thinking online for anyone to see. Being new to blogging I read through the chapter on Weblogs in, “Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms” and was given a good background to get me started with blogging. I took Richardson’s advice and decided to use “Blogger” – as you can tell... I found Blogger to be user-friendly and straight-forward. Many blog templates are available to users, and these templates can be customised with ease.
As I became more comfortable with Blogger, I began to explore how to enhance my blog posts by embedding images, videos and podcasts and personalizing my blog with some widgets. Having had no experience with blogging and no one to guide me through the process of adding such elements, I went to good-old Google and searched out what I needed. I was so pleased to find numerous sites with easy-to-follow information on enhancing Blogger. I found it easiest to learn these skills through video tutorials which walk you through the process screen-by-screen. Since information on blogging technology etc. is so readily available, I found myself more inclined to experiment and take risks – and I’m so happy I did!
The most challenging aspect for me as I began to blog was finding my (hopefully engaging) voice while effectively relaying my ideas. The blogs I enjoy reading most are both witty and informative – not one or the other. In my blog posts I aim to express my ideas in an interesting and engaging manner – I’m finding this is easier said than done. After reflecting on the process of my blogging experience thus far, I realise that finding your blogging voice is a process. I have noticed my blog posts have changed and evolved even in the short time I have been blogging. I appreciated this article called, “How to Find Your Blogging Voice – 8 Tips for Bloggers” as it reminded me perfection is not the goal of blogging and that your blogging voice should change and evolve over time. That being said, I am happy with my developing blogger voice and continue to experiment with it.
Blogging has required me to reflect on my own learning and thinking. Due to the fact that my blog is updated frequently I have begun to see some patterns in my thinking emerge. Reflecting on this, I see the value in regular blogging as it provides a concrete way to explore one’s thinking. Comparing my earlier posts to more recent ones I am able to see how my ideas have been confirmed, have evolved and have been challenged.
The collaborative nature of blogging has proved to be a great motivation for me. I love to see what comments others have to say about my posts. I find that once another person has commented on my blog whether in agreement or disagreement, I want to discuss more with them. Even more, their comments get me thinking, reflecting and exploring more.
Before this course I had never thought to subscribe to blogs, let alone heard of RSS. I have a good friend who blogs about fashion (link) and my sister-in-law (link) created a baby blog after the birth of her daughter. These were the only blogs I had ever purposely read. I remember searching Google for blogs to use in my Inquiry Learning course this past summer and being more than frustrated! As suggested in the course outline I got a “Google Reader” account and subscribed to the suggested blogs. I appreciate the convenience of having all the blogs I am following together in one place. In the past I had added links to blogs I want to follow on my favourites bar. There were 2 problems with this method: 1. it cluttered my favourites bar and 2. I never knew when each blog was updated. Google reader has solved these problems and allows me to go back and search out the blogs I’m following for specific terms. This search feature has been very helpful when I have been researching each of the Web 2.0 tools for this course. Google Reader has made it easy to follow multiple blogs and given me an convienent way to go back and read previous entries.
How Does it Fit In? Blogging, my Personal Life & Learning
Blogging certainly has a place in my personal life and learning and I see it having a place for the rest of my life. The blogosphere is a vast and every growing place, full of never ending possibilities. I believe the blogs that I will be reading and creating over my lifetime will change depending on where I am. Blogging is a flexible and evolving literacy I look forward to exploring in various aspects of my life.
In my personal life, I enjoy reading the blogs my friends and family create to share their passions and goings-on. As I mentioned earlier, my sister-in-law has created a baby blog where she posts pictures of my nieces and annotates them with little stories about what they’ve been up to. Her blog was created purely out of convenience, but has evolved into an online scrapbook of her kid’s lives thus far. She has every intention of continuing on with her blogging and has started to include posts on their house renovations and other non-kid related topics. A good friend of mine has started to blog about fashion and has really found her passion in doing so. After a successful first year of her blog, she has decided to go back to school to study journalism and has already gotten some freelance writing work through her blog. The journey she has taken through blogging helped her nail down her passion.
While I don’t actually know what I’ll be blogging about, I look forward to blogging in the future. The greatest blogging inspiration I have at the moment is travel. I love travelling and thus enjoy reading travel blogs. When I take my next big trip, I would love to start a travel blog. Not only do travel blogs keep those at home up to date on your adventures, they also become a keepsake from your travels. When I taught in Abu Dhabi I wrote extensive emails on my adventures and send them to my family and friends back home. These emails have become my favourite keep-sakes from my trip as they contain all of the little details of my trip that I have begun to forget. Blogging would have been a more convenient way for me to record my trip adventures. When I have children I will certainly follow my sister-in-law’s lead and blog about our family activities. Another passion of mine is cooking and I do think a cooking blog would be a lot of fun – I just don’t have the time right now!
In regards to learning, bloggers have much to teach us. I intent to keep my Google Reader account active so that I can continue to read the blogs that were suggested for us to follow for this course. This program has opened my eyes to using alternative sources when conducting research etc. Before taking my first course in this program I had never thought of using a blog as a reference. I now see how sophisticated the blogs out there are. Blogs have an advantage over traditional sources as they can be published instantly, making them some of the most up-to-date sources available. The hardest part for me will be searching out the best blogs to follow and learn from. Through Twitter searching the hashtag “#edublogs” I have been directed to a few new and interesting blogs related to education. I aim to use blogs as a source of professional development and as a resource for research as I journey through this program. The education related blogs available are vastly diverse and I have been impressed by their depth and quality.
Does it Have a Place? Blogging In Our Schools
Blogging most certainly does have a place in our schools! Creative educators are creating blogs for student, colleague and parent use. Not only that, students are creating blogs to share their ideas and showcase their learning. The fact that blogs are posted for the world to see gives students an authentic audience for their writing and allows them to make connections with others in the global community. With excellent blogging programs available for free, getting your students and colleagues blogging is easy to do.
Through blogging, school leaders can promote initiatives, professional development and school news. Teacher/TLs can create blogs to encourage collaboration and idea sharing amongst school staffs. In the article, “A School Administrators Guide to Blogging: A New Way to Connect With the Community”, author Jerrry Horgan suggests that blogging is a convenient way for administrators to share the great things that are going on in their school/school district to the greater community. While this article is written with administrators in mind, I believe the same can be said for TLs. In my local school districts, TL hours are being cut every year regardless of enrolment, and TLs are constantly trying to prove their value to the community and district administrators. Because TLs are non-enrolling, many classroom teachers, parents and administrators don’t actually understand what TLs do and can do for a school. Through blogging, TLs could illustrate the integral role they play in enhancing teaching and learning. The best example of a TLs blog I have found is Buffy Hamilton’s “The Unquiet Library” blog. Her hard work and value in the school is easy to see on any and all of her posts. Any colleagues or community members questioning the value of TLs in our schools should be sent to this blog...it’s inspiring to say the least.
Classroom blogs can be an excellent way for teachers to communicate with parents and students. In our text, Will Richardson mentions how much parents love the transparency of a class blog and suggests that parents (and older students) add the blog to an RSS feed or sign up for automatic notification so that they can keep up with their child’s school life. Classroom blogs can be used purely for informing parents of school events etc. (K-3) or can be used to post assignment and curriculum information for students and parents (gr. 3-12). Richardson also comments that having classroom blogs is a handy way for colleagues to keep up with what each other are doing with their classes – helping to promote a culture of collaboration in the school. A good example to a classroom blog is "Mrs. Verronneau’s Class Blog" (grade 4), from Cordova Bay Elementary, a school in my district.
One of the greatest criticisms of our increasing techie society is that youth are not learning how to communicate effectively, spelling in techie slang and using a max of 140 characters in each piece of writing. I believe blogging can be the bridge between our students’ desire to work with technology and our desire to teach effective writing to communicate ideas. Not only that, through blogging and reading blogs, students can practice and see examples of what meaningful and successful writing is. The BC K – 12 Language Arts curriculum outcomes for Reading & Viewing and Writing & Responding are well addressed through blogging activities:
All BC Students Grades K – 12 are expected to... | Reading & Viewing | Writing & Representing |
-Read and view to comprehend and respond to a variety of grade-appropriate texts. -Use strategies before, during and after reading and viewing to increase comprehension and fluency. -Use reading and viewing to make meaningful connections, and to improve and extend thinking. -Analyse the influence of context through reading and writing. -Use metacognition, self-assess, and set goals for improvement in reading and viewing. -Use the structures and features of text to derive meaning from texts. | -Write and represent to create a variety of meaningful personal, informational and imaginative texts. -Use strategies when writing and representing to increase success at creating meaningful texts. -Use writing and representing to express, extend and analyse thinking. -Explore multiple perspectives through writing and representing. -Use metacognition, self assess, and set goals for improvement in writing and representing. -Use features and conventions of language to enhance meaning and artistry in writing and representing. |
Why is getting our students to blog such a great idea?
1. Blogging teaches hard-to-teach curriculum outcomes.
2. Blogging engages students and gets them motivated.
3. Blogging allows students to become published writers, offering them an authentic audience for their writing.
4. Blogging provides a concrete way for students to reflect on their thinking and learning.
5. Through blogging students can connect and collaborate with others in their school, community and the world.
Most exciting for students is the prospect of creating their own blogs. In the text, Richardson refers to research by Eide and Fernette that found blogging initiates creative, intuitive and associational and reflective thinking in addition to promoting social interaction and collaborative learning. Teacher-blogger D.S. Watts writes that through blogging, “students begin to feel empowered as digital citizens when they control their personalized learning environment.” One point to be mindful of when getting students to blog, is blogging etiquette, responsibility and safety. “Tech & Learning” compiled a good list of blogging guidelines – available here.
Student blogging can take many forms, ideas include:
-E-Portfolios: Blogs can be a wonderful place for students to showcase their learning. Artifacts (images/links/videos etc.) with annotations can be stored on a blog for others to see and comment on.
-Book Reviews: Students can blog about the books they are reading, allowing other students to get ideas for new reading material. Students could include a "Shelfari" or "LibraryThing" widget on their blog as well. See an example of a book review blog created by a grade 5 student I taught here.
-Weather Reports: BC students in grade 4 are required to learn about weather patterns. Why not have them predict the weather using what they have learned and blog their forecasts? Other students can add their input to others’ predictions through blog comments. To read more click here.
-Blogging Buddies: Students in the same grade but living in different cities/countries can communicate via blogs. Teachers can coordinate curriculum to ensure that students have personal learning connections with one another – a wonderful way to expose students to those outside of their communities. (Idea adapted from “Passport To The World of Kim and Alex” blog).
-Weather Reports: BC students in grade 4 are required to learn about weather patterns. Why not have them predict the weather using what they have learned and blog their forecasts? Other students can add their input to others’ predictions through blog comments. To read more click here.
-Blogging Buddies: Students in the same grade but living in different cities/countries can communicate via blogs. Teachers can coordinate curriculum to ensure that students have personal learning connections with one another – a wonderful way to expose students to those outside of their communities. (Idea adapted from “Passport To The World of Kim and Alex” blog).
Not only can students learn through blogging, but they can also read blogs to learn. As I have stated before, there are blogs available on virtually all topics. Teachers could choose to have their students follow blogs written on curricular subjects. Another option is requiring students to find a blog they are interested in related to the area of study. Here are a few links to unique blogs related to each of the major curricular areas (appropriate for gr. 8-12):
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The blogosphere offers bloggers and blog readers infinite opportunities and possibilities. Using blogs as a way to learn and to share ideas is a wonderful way to enhance life, learning and teaching. Explore the blogosphere you never know what you might learn or who you may connect with!
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