Assessment One: Embedded Task Two - Reflection On The Practical Uses Of... Blogs.

Embedded Task Two - Reflection On The Practical Uses of Blogs.

    Unless you are enumerating 240 different types of tobacco ash (243!)or depicting the adventures of a sociopathic yet charming mad man, blogs are not a type of technology you would commonly use in everyday life. In fact, numerous people are under the assumption that a blog is similar to a online diary shared with anyone who wishes to read it.

    I must admit, before this course, I was under the same assumption. Who could possibly want an online diary that anyone could read? I had not considered the possibilities beyond an online diary. But after using the technology, I'm discovering a world of alternate possibilities.

    Blogs, being part of Web 2.0 technology as they are, contain the ability to be more than just the simple static text and inserted pictures of a website. Customisable to a point with a few, simple easy clicks -and even further with a few more complicated ones - blogs can become as personal or impersonal as you would like. In fact, this week I did just that - my background is now purple!

    Of course, just like the websites of Web 1.0, you can insert static images, like the one below:

 



(Retrieved from samandfuzzy.deviantart.com)

     Multimedia becomes a tool at your fingertips with a blogs instead of a hindrance: videos, GIFS, links and even inserted quotes - the possibilities become endless with a little creativity.

          "Creativity Is Intelligence Having Fun."  ~ Albert Einstein. 

     Of course, blogs do have their limits, as nothing is infallible. Upfront is the restriction of it being a single author platform. Of course, multiple people could run it together, but therein lies the difficulty. Privacy settings allow only the account holder to edit, but everyone to read, comment and follow. With a touch more navigation, you can restrict search options.

     Another limitation is the commenting system. There is only the ability to comment on the post, with no discussion threads to have. If you were conducting the blog as we do in the course, having one person post content, then others comment upon it, the system would be sound - to have debates, move somewhere else!

     This is not to say that the technology could not be enhanced through pedagogy. Using SAMR, for example, could boost the abilities of the blogging technology. Instead of being a static blog, you could use embedded links, videos and pictures to aid and assist learning, scaffold tasks and assessment, and set students on the right research track.

     But does that mean it should be integrated into my classroom and my lesson plans? After all, the adjustment and set up with this blog was easy enough, after I found which button to press! If a 19 year old who grew up with a block of a cell phone and a Nintendo 64 (I know, a bit behind the times!) could figure it out, a tech savvy student should find it a breeze!

     Funnily enough, I ended up with a picture in class that asked me how you would upgrade your usage of a blog in the setting of a classroom. Call it fate or luck... but it made me think. Obviously, substituting it into the lesson plan in place of something else would be easy - but getting it to the M and R levels of SAMR would be much harder.

     After a good ponder, and a bit of old-school scribbling on paper, I decided a blog of the M and R levels would have to have the following:

• Multiple readers
• An ability to interact with the creator and vice verse.
• A wide feedback response
• Multimedia - audio, video, games, links, pictures, GIFS etc.
• Be a communication hub

    Of course, the only question then was what did that look like in a real life classroom? Obviously more than my feeble first attempt! Firstly, I would have to determine my students' technology level - how many grew up with their finger glued to the keyboard, and how many were like me and preferred mud to computer games. In other words - the technology savvy and the stragglers.

    Perhaps this would then turn the first lesson into a pure technology lesson - how to create and use a blog. Therefore, it would become not one lesson, but a series of lessons using the technology. Creating wikis might be the next step, as the two are a well linked pair. Of course, then, we would need activities! As a history teacher, I might ask them to keep a blog series on topics learnt over the year, or ask them to role-play a blog post as one of the historical figures they are learning about - posting and commenting in character of course! Video technology certainly would come in handy there.

    Really, the plans would have to change depending on my students though. I'm sure there would be a mischievous student - like I once was - who would take the role-play task and have a bit too much fun with it...

(CUE my "I-am-Death" rant as I lay on the floor in English after reading The Book Thief.)

     Overall, the blog in itself is a useful if slightly restricted piece of technology with a world full of possible outcomes. I will leave you with one last thought. This link.