Blogs for Learning and a look at Websites...

So adding to my posting ‘Making it clearer to myself’ I have found some other valuable information about blogs. 

A blog is a web 2.0 tool which have various uses.  Blogs are owned by the authors and for this reason they are a great tool for my teaching context (the primary classroom).   The authors of these blogs are usually a single person but they can be groups.   Ferdig and Trammell (2004) suggest that blogs are a way to provide a sophisticated environment that allows for learners to establish their online artifacts.  This tool can become a collaborative learning tool as people can add comments to other peoples posts.  This does lead to conversation however  the blog becoming a chat line like when text messaging or emailing.   Blogs they say appear chronologically however I would agree with the fact that they actually appear reverse chronologically! 

The way that a blog could be used in a primary school teaching context is by having the learners complete a journal activity either daily or at the end of the week to reflect on anything new that they learnt, or something that they found interesting through their learning that they did not know before, or even something that they would like to find out more about. Students could even do homework activities on a blog and assignments and teachers would be able to view them whenever it is convenient rather than having to wait for the hard copy to be handed in.  This is ways that students could use a blog but how could a teacher use a blog?  They may use this tool to display students work that has been completed and they feel that other students could learn from.  They may even use it to post information to parents.   

Image retrieved from http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_aNUZkAGS0hw/SP8upN1nxaI/AAAAAAAAAgQ/5TAcU8EtWY0/s1600-h/conversationpng.png

This website allowed for a deeper understanding of how blogs are being used in the primary classroom context.

Department of Education Western Australia. (2011). Resourcing the curriculum. Retrieved from http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/cmis/eval/curriculum/ict/weblogs/


Web Sites are referred to as Web 1.0 tools.  This means that these tools can only be edited by the owner.  No other information can be added nor can it be altered.  I have completed a SWOT analysis of a Web Site and this can be view at http://elearningcqu.weebly.com
I have previously created an interactive WebQuest for a previous course at University, however not realising I deleted it from my Weebly account.  At first this was a really challenging assessment for me however once I realised what was required I quite enjoyed the task and was surprised how much of what to do I remember for this task.  Working with in my study group it was bought to my attention that their is another site http://www.wix.com/    I have not explored it completely however it is also has free access and one that I will put in my bag of tricks for later reference.

Ferdig, R., Trammell K. (2004). Content Delivery in the 'Blogosphere'.  Retrieved from https://www.sbg.ac.at/zfl/eTeaching_Skills/eTeaching_Weblogs/the_pedagogy_behind_blogs.html