Using Blogging In The Classroom

Using blogs is a great way of integrating technology in the classroom in today’s society. Great sources of information such as classroom best practices as well as personal opinions; Blogs monitor the heartbeat of new trends in education and the commenting back and forth leads to many great ideas and relationships. Blogs are set-up like conventional web sites, with navigation links, and other standard web site features.

Blogs have one standard characteristic and that’s posting. Blog postings are text entries, similar to a diary or journal, which include a posting date and may include comments by people other than the author, photos, links, or other digital media.

Postings are often short and frequently updated. They appear in reverse chronological order and can include archived entries. Blogs work well for students because they can be worked on at virtually any time, in any place with an internet-enabled computer. Also, they can be used by computer savvy teachers to create a classroom that extends beyond the boundaries of the school yard.

Educational Benefits of Blogs

In addition to providing teachers with an excellent tool for communicating with students, there are numerous educational benefits of blogs. Blogs are:

·         Highly motivating to students, especially those who otherwise might not become participants in the classroom.

·         Excellent opportunities for students to read and write.

·         Effective forums for collaboration and discussion.

·         Powerful tools to enable learning or mentoring to occur.