Embedded Task 2

Hi all,

This week I was able to explore the vast number of uses for blogs, websites and wikis.
However for this task I chose to further my understanding of blogs and how they can be useful to teachers in the 21st century.

There are a number of different ways that I have observed in incorporating the use of blogs into classroom curriculums. Blogs can allow teachers to post questions, ideas, strategies etc. And have other teachers post comments and read each others ideas and teaching methods. There is also a range of settings present which can help to add features to your blog, as well as a variety of settings to make your blog safe but popular at the same time. There is also an opportunity to post a multi author blog which could allow for a group of teachers to post about various techniques for engaging learners. To aid with confidentiality and copyright there are also a number of privacy settings present. You can also customise the blog and change its title etc. It is also important to consider just what information that is in your blog as it has the potential to be viewed by people across the world, and to ensure that blog entries are easy to read and follow. I found the blogger website relatively easy to use, and it only takes a small amount of time to get used to the features of the website. Experience is not really needed to operate this site, however it would be helpful.

By using blogs in the classroom, it can give the students the opportunity to read each others work, however the privacy settings would need to be in place to avoid plagiarism for example. Blogs can also work on improving students educational outcomes as people can comment and provide tips and suggestions in order to improve their work. In my opinion this is a great way to share and learn new perspectives that might not have been at the forefront of your own learning. The use of blogs could potentially be used to support activities such as online collaboration between two classes studying the same unit of work, as the students would share study techniques as well as different ways to learn and construct suitable answers and ideas on the content.

To incorporate these learning activities into my classroom there are a few methods that I could use. The most straight forward method would be thaw when my students are studying anatomy in health and physical education. By using blogs the students could share diagrams and answer questions that I have proposed to them on their blog. This particular activity resembles the SAMR model  of redefinition, modification, augmentation and substitution. At the augmentation phase a series of small tests could be presented to the students for completion, then I could myself provide each student some private feedback on their blog. At the substitution level the blog could contain sources and forms of information that the students will need to answer a series of questions. To modify this task the students would have to provide an overview for the class about each of the body systems. Lastly to redefine the task I could have the students draw diagrams and label them correctly for a different class to use and also for their own private study. Through the use of blogs it would hopefully allow my students to become creative learners. Through the use of modern technology in classrooms it gives teachers and students an unlimited number of ways to further their learning as well as allowing teachers to engage in their students learning.

I hope this provides for interesting reading
James