The reading summaries are done by:
ENGL300-1: Brittney Hosey for 5 pts. extra credit
ENGL300-2: Katelyn Kockler for 5 pts. extra credit
The text for reading is HERE.
In the article Blogging to Learn, Anne Bartlett-Bragg examines a new technological trend known as blogging. A blog is a posted log on the internet with dated entries. Blogs include personal editing, a hyper-linked posting structure, updates, public access, and archived postings. When first introduced, blogs gained popularity from personal bloggers who shared exerts of their lives. Today, there are categories and sub-categories of blogs created by a wide range of industries and users. It is reported that there could be over 2 million blogs posted, and it has been recorded that a new blog is created ever forty seconds. Saying that the blog-o-sphere has grown is a complete understatement. Among the lawyers, journalists, librarians, designers and huge number of corporations that are creating blogs, is educators; educators make large contributions to the blog-o-sphere. Conversing with others, considering the information and giving thoughtful feedback, is a significant learning tool. This is the main reason that blogging for educational purposes is so popular. Group blogs can be used by teachers as a sort of class bulletin board where students can comment and talk to each other about material. Blogs are used to publish students writings; students are given a real audience to write to, and they receive input which can help them create a sort of professional work shop. Other types of educational blogs consist of field reports and journals, personal opinion publishing, research journals, learning journals, and so much more. Academic blogs offer a freedom of tone, interaction with diverse populations, and speedy feedback. Bragg wrote of blogging as a 5-stage process: establishment, introspect, reflective monologues, reflective dialog, knowledge artefact. These five elements teach users a great deal of life skills in subtle and obvious ways. They must recall information and learn how to express ideas; while doing this users can slowly evaluate their own experiences. Then users can become more aware of the reflexive process, considering the experience, extracting meaning, and evaluating; during this stage users usually begin writing with more thought. The audience and its feedback provide constructive criticism, and users can further consider their style and thoughts. By the end users have formed writing and reading tools; they can evaluate other blogs and write helpful comments. All of the reasons listed above are ways that blogs can help students learn. Blogging has become a popular way to educate for good reasons. I have used a class blog before this class. It took a bit of time to get comfortable with, because I am about as technologically advanced as a cave-person. I really enjoy it though. I think being able to share ideas with people all over the world, with different views, is absolutely great. Not taking advantage of such unique and readily available perspectives almost seems wrong. I am going to look into different types of blogs.
-Melanie Bloden
Blogging on the internet is becoming more and more commonplace. Blogging websites are easy to access and free. Teachers are taking the blogging websites, usually sanctioned for leisure endeavors, into the classroom for enriching pedagogical practices. Many teachers believe that blogging can enhance learning. I like the idea of blogging in classrooms. Blogs create a forum to continue education outside of the classroom. It is important to integrate technology into teaching and blogging allows teachers to do just that. Blogging in classrooms has taught me to stay on task and to think critically. It also forces me to write at least one time a day. Writing once a day is beneficial because it allows me to become accustom to typing all the time. Typing becomes second nature with blogging and this helps making writing longer length assignments a little less painful.
ReplyDeleteThere's a growing community that believes blogs are good for education and can enhance a student's learning experience, and I am inclined to agree. I think using a blog for educational purposes is fantastic, given that most blogs out there seem to be completely useless (e.g. "I went to Kohls today!"). I think that blogs, since students are certainly familiar with (and in some cases, may even rely too heavily on) technology, are a good tool for education. Blogging helps students focus on writing, typing, and thinking.
ReplyDeleteI like the way Blogging to Learn focuses on the educational benefits of blogging. I really enjoy our class blog and the use technology for learning in general. Blogging does require a lot of skills, including, reading, critical thinking, word processing, the usage grammar, and more. A lot of online classes that I have taken have used blogging, even though it wasn’t classified as blogging. For example, on Black board, my education class had to watch videos of teaching methods and then comment on the videos. Blogging is a great way to share information and to reflect on it; I learn just about as much from my fellow students’ reflections as I do from the information itself.
ReplyDeleteI found this article interesting because of the fact we are blogging right now. When blogs are used in classes, such as our class, it can help students voice their opinions while at the same time think and write. These blogs causes students to perfect their writing skills and thinking ability.
ReplyDeleteThis article stood out to me because a lot of people today do lots of blogging. That's how you get a lot of things addressed on the internet through blogging. And we are blogging in English right now which helps get our ideas and thoughts out. Blogging is a good way of expressing how you feel about something and displaying your ideas online.
ReplyDeleteIn classes such as our where blogging is used frequently; the students are able to use technology and continue to learn. Blogging is a popular way for people to express their thoughts and it is common for one to have a blog. Integrating education into ones everyday habits will only help students improve their writing skills.
ReplyDeleteBlogging is becoming more common with everything going online.We live in a world where anything you put on the internet is public record, so everything that people put on Facebook or Myspace is all public knowledge. I don't think blogging should be apart of the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI found this article reliable because part of this class has been a blog. Four of my six classes this semester are part online and part in-class. I find blogging very useful because the syllabus is outlined for every day, and students are given a structure that will not change. Personally, I've been in many classes where the professor decides to change an assignment at the last minute and everyone in the class ends up turning in a different version of what the professor assigned because no one was positive about what the correct assignment was. Blogging is efficient because it gives students structure for their assignments, while developing their computer skills.
ReplyDeleteBlogging on the internet is becoming more and more common as society becomes technologiclly advanced.Some schools require students to use blogging as part of their academic curriculum
ReplyDeleteLike our class, many other classes are using blogging as a way to connect to the technology age. Students nowadays know more about blogging and then internet then basically anything else. By utilizing a media site in which students can identify with, they are more likely, and willing, to do their assignments.
ReplyDeleteI like blogging because if I was sick for a day in class, I can go to the class blog and feel like I was still a part of the class that day. It keeps me feeling good about my grade and doesn't stress me out as much.
I think using blogging is a good way to teach students to interact with others. Not only do they have to make the answers on the online forum, they can receive feedback or give it as well to help themselves become better writers. It is a beneficial way to have students do homework because they can always keep up with the work since it is always online.
ReplyDeleteI find using blogs in an educational setting beneficial. This class was not my first time participating in a blog. I have had a few classes where assignments were open for everyone to read. I think it works better than turning in assignments by paper directly to the teacher. When a person posts an assignment on the blog he or she knows that it’s going to be seen by the whole class. This leads to thinking about what is going to be said, making sure grammar is correct, and that the thoughts make sense as a whole. I put more effort in my work because of that reason. I also enjoyed the fact that I could see what everyone else thought. If I did not fully understand something, I could see if anyone else had that same problem, and possibly figure it out by what someone else was stating.
ReplyDeleteBlogs are becoming a mainstream learning tool in college from outside of the classroom. Teachers are using Blogs as away for student to share ideas or thoughts about scholarly articles and information about different topics. I found blogging to be fun and interesting. I enjoyed reading the articles and freely voicing my opinion without the limitations of a writing prompt. Technology advances the different mediums for writing. I wonder how writing methods will advance as technology further develops in the future.
ReplyDeleteThe popularity of blogging keeps going up. Before this class I had never blogged before, although I have read some. I think that group, and educational blogging are beneficial because they are a way to make sure all students can participate. Also, blogs are more detailed because someone has time to think of his/her response. Another positive is, if a child is shy in class, a blog is a good way for that student to voice his/her opinion. Overall, I've enjoyed the blogging experience because it lets me voice my opinion outside of the classroom.
ReplyDeleteBlogging has become extremely popular and is part of our everyday lives. It definately has taken the place of many news media sources such as newspapers and t.v.I'm assuming that almost everyone uses the internet atleast five times or more a day. Most people get informed by the blogs more than they do by tv news. Internet blogging is becoming a career for many jounalist and now blog instead of writing for a newspapers. As a Radio-TV major I am now being told that it ys important to have experience in learning about internet blogging/writing in order to further my career and get a job.
ReplyDeleteBlogging is becoming popular by minute. Blogging is a way to communicate by using the World Wide Web and people of all ages are blogging. It is easy to do and many teachers are now making it a requirement in the class room. The first time I blogged was in my junior year of college. I can't see myself blogging outside of school because I feel that I have nothing that important to discuss with the world. There are many specific blogs as discussed in the reading so people have many different topics to relate to. I feel there isn't anything wrong with teachers using blogging as educational experiences.
ReplyDeleteBlogs can be good in education because they make people critically think. For example, in this class you have to read an article and come up with your own opinion. Throughout this blog I have learned and thought about many materials that otherwise, probably would have never been presented to me.
ReplyDeleteAnne Bartlett-Bragg composed an article entitled "Blogging to Learn." The article talks about the importance of students learning to blog. I agree with article especially for students who are English majors. These days blogs are becoming more and more common. Blogging is a much easier way to communicate your opinion of authors writing and show your case to large number of people. This was my first class participating in blogging and I found it to be a much more easy setting than composing a letter.
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ReplyDeleteBlogging in classes is cool with me. i believe it helps the clas move a lot smoother and adds a new element to the class. Makes you feel like your doing an college course, typing and all that good stuf. It much easier than writing or just typing an submitting. This blog also allows you to see your classmates views on the subject being taught. Majority of students including myself are shy to speak infront of others, and this allows a different approach to get your point across.
ReplyDeleteI had never experienced blogging in the classroom until this moment right now. This is my last semester at SIU and none of my other teachers have done what Dr. Voss has. Now a days, students are on the computer and internet far more than they do anything else. I think realizing this and having the ability to directly use it to motivate, inform, and teach your whole class is a smart idea.
ReplyDeleteUnless you count Blackboard, I have never blogged in a classroom before. Personally, I don't like it. I found it hard to remember to do all the blogs throughout the semester. I just wasn't used to it. It's not a bad way to teach people the difference of opinion and to accept different ideas, but it just was not for me.
ReplyDeleteI am all for blogging in the class room. I believe that blogging can be educational and if used appropriately can be a great learning tool. It is free and is a commonly used social network or website. I believe that blogging can be wonderful for learning because it allows students to open their mind and freely write their opinions. It would also allow them to write more often.
ReplyDeleteWithin the last decade, the concept of blogging has really launched, especially in America. Moreover, many are starting to believe that blogging is good for enhancing one’s learning and thus augmenting his or her education, which I have recently come to agree with after taking this course. I believe that blogging for educational purposes is a great idea, because it allows students to communicate with one another while conveying their ideas through the use of technology (which may only interest the students further). Furthermore, blogging allows students to focus more on their skills in reading, writing, computer, and critical thinking. I really enjoyed the idea of our class blogging, primarily because I had never actually blogged officially. Overall, blogging is a great way for one to share and then reflect on information and ideas.
ReplyDeleteI think that introducing blogging into the classroom is a smart move. Most students spend most of their time on the computer and the internet. This is a way for students to still do their classwork but to do what they are already doing in their free time. I had never used a blog for class before I took this course. Honestly, I could take it or leave it myself. I am not much for blogging, or really any other popular internet activities. However, I do recognize the importance of using such things because most students are very connected to the internet.
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