I have to admit that before this class I hadn’t thought a lot about blogging as a part of the instructional program; mostly thinking my teachers aren’t ready for this and what are the benefits? I must say that my uninformed opinion has changed drastically in the last several weeks as a result of both using blogs as a student in a class and reading Will Richardson’s article, “Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts & Other Powerful Tools for Classrooms, pp. 27-44 on The Pedagogy of Weblogs”. From Will’s article it is obvious that in his opinion there is no shortage on the instructional benefits of weblogs in literacy as well as across the curriculum. I have included some of the highlights from Will’s article along with some of my own thoughts.
Will Richardson describes weblogs as truly a constructivist tool for learning. The basic benefits he sees to weblogs are:1) Weblogs are a student motivator – I think, blogging can answer that question every student has asked all of their teachers a thousand times (at least) – “Why do we have to do this?” With blogging, they are no longer writing something that only their teacher may or may not read. Their work has meaning. For a student realizing that anyone can read what they have to say, makes a big difference in the level of effort they put into their work.2) Weblogs provide many opportunities for collaboration - Once students start blogging the collaboration from outside the classroom can completely change the scope of the discussions. Their classmates, peers, parents and experts may be reading what they have written and sharing their opinions and thoughts about what they have to say. The students are learning a key skill; they are learning collaboration. Knowing that all of these people may be reading their writing, students start to think more about what they are saying.3) Weblogs are organized, searchable and shareable – Now, not only have students said something of value to be shared; now it is saved and searchable.4) Weblogs provide differentiation - Blogging supports different learning styles; everyone has a voice; every student is heard equally, hopefully leading to increased participation.5) Weblogs can enhance expertise – Blogging allows to students to continue to build their expertise on specific topics, creating their own database of information, while learning from others. 6) Weblogs teach literacy – Blogging significantly supports the literacy skills our students will need to function in our IT world. The skills required to analyze and manage weblogs goes a long way in teaching such skills as research, organization and synthesis of ideas.
Richardson recognizes that there isn’t yet research to support weblogs in the K-12 curriculum, but he does refer to blogging as a new writing genre, “Connective Writing”, requiring careful and critical, reading and writing skills. He summarizes the benefits as: “students at all levels show more interest in their work, and their ability to locate and reflect upon their work is greatly enhanced, as are the opportunities for collaborative learning.”
Richardson provides several examples of how weblogs are being used. He looks specifically at how weblogs support literacy; how they meet the “Standards for the Language Arts”, written by the National council of Teachers of English. He also shares examples of how weblogs are being used in all areas of the curriculum; enhancing not only literacy skills, but critical reading and writing skills and information management skills across the curriculum.
Students who are “true bloggers”, as described by Will in his article are reaching the highest levels of Bloom’s taxonomy; using their critical thinking skills - synthesis and evaluation. The 2007 National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for Students is summarized as stating, “What students should know and be able to do to learn effectively and live productively in an increasingly digital world …” This is followed by a more detailed list of skills students should be taught; most all of these skills are used by “true bloggers”. Elementary students may not be ready for true blogging, but they do need to be building the necessary technology and literacy skills.
