Education and the Blog

In my first reference, Academics Give Lessons on Blogs, Esther Maccallum-Stewart, a Sussex University historian states, “The weblog meant a place to store ideas, links and references." Blogging is a valuable tool for students to use. Whether it is sharing ideas, organizing thoughts, asking for feedback, or sharing information, blogs do all of this using a very personal format. It’s like writing a journal that can be read by the public.

Here are 5 references that discuss using blogs in an educational setting:

Academics Give Lessons on Blogs
This article on the BBC News website talks about how blogs are increasingly being used by students, how blogging is helping students to share information and work together on projects, and how blogs might be a problem if bloggers rush their work and include faulty information.

Blogging? It’s Elementary My Dear Watson!
On the Education World website, this informative article makes a case for using blogging as a learning tool for elementary education students. It talks about what subjects a class can blog about and it has links to web-based blogging sites that kids can use. Also, this article also goes over some ideas for safety when using blogs in the classroom.

Creating a Writing Course Utilizing Class and Student Blogs
This article created by Andrew Johnson is a little more in depth than the previous two. It gives the reader a step-by-step process on how to introduce and use blogs with students. The article then goes on to talk about the advantages of blogs for teachers and students.

Blogger’s Legal Guide: Student Bloggers
The Electronic Frontier Foundation made this interesting report about frequently asked questions on student blogging addressing legal issues. Some of the topic questions are:

-Can Public College Administrators Censor My School-Hosted Blog?
-Can Public Schools Censor or Punish Students' On-Campus Speech?
-Do I Have More Protections for a Personal Blog?
-So Can I Criticize Teachers on My Blog?

Wikis, blogs and podcasts: a new generation of Web-based tools for virtual collaborative clinical practice and education
This is a formal discussion about wikis, blogs, and podcasts and how they are influencing teaching practices and student work in the 21st century. Discussions are about the ease of use of these web 2.0 tools, the increase of better and cheaper personal technology, and the increasing mobility of students. Other topics include advantages, disadvantages, and remedies of wikis, blogs, and podcasts and research and development agenda of these tools.