Blogging in Education

The continual and unrelenting in-flux of 21^st Century Technologies into our realm of communicating, sharing and obtaining information, has influenced the type of Literacy Skills that students need. As a result, it has never been more important for students to learn how to critically analyse and integrate new digital literacies into learning. This includes the use of texts, multimedia, and other forms of social media. Active use of blogging helps to tie in important information that has been salient for us, and allows us to integrated it into our own previous learning. When we add our reflections, and post, it opens up networks for collaboration, communication, thoughtful inquiry and as a result it consolidates new knowledge bases for us.

With this in mind, let’s consider the practice of implementing blogging into our pedagogy.

4 Benefits of Integrating Blogging into Pedagogy

1. Blogging can be a beneficial way for educators to promote participation and collaboration of knowledge and skills. There are a myriad of resources available on the internet that can help students become creators, and not merely consumers of different texts and bodies of knowledge.

2. Blogs promote global communication and collaboration. Teachers can facilitate interactions with diverse cultures, ethnicities, and religions, and social contexts. Students can be helped to challenging their thinking by considering other viewpoints.

3. Promotes critical analysis of pedagogy.

4. Creates an interactive space for authentic exchanges. Strategies including reading logs, book reviews, parental communication, encouraging reading and writing and responding around a particular theme or focus.

Considerations for Educators:

1. Ensure that how we integrate technology into the classroom is not merely fostering superficial learning, or ‘busy work’.

2. Ensure that you are not overwhelming some, or all of your students before they are ready. This is a year-long process, that should be taught, modelled, and prompted throughout each term.

3. Ensure that classroom blogging is a ‘shared’ commitment among students.

4. Ensure that you are continually helping students to raise important issues for critical awareness.

5. Ensure that you are allowing students to critically evaluate, compare and contrast, varying types of texts throughout your programming, including internet, video, social media, and not merely textbooks.

6. Work with students to continually create success criteria, create rubrics that outline specific details, and allow students to engage in self-assessment and peer-assessments.

7. Always question what you are doing, and whether it is working for your students. Make changes as often as necessary!

8. Technology may or may not be used within the home, so use this form of communication with caution. We must use it in ways that support our families and students, not alienate them.

If you are considering adding a blog to your practice, feel free to get in touch! Let’s collaborate!

Deborah McCallum

© Deborah McCallum and Big Ideas in Education, 2012-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Deborah McCallum and Big Ideas in Education with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.