To hear from students' points of view about blogging in the classrom, view this YouTube video.
Which of the reasons mentioned in the video, do you agree with? Which do you disgree with?
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2 comments:
I agree with many of the students' comments in this video, exept for the first interviewee. His reasoned that teachers should use blogs in class because students "don't like books". He commented that students at his school pretend to be reading during their silent sustained reading period, and blogs are much more appealing to them. This worries me. Are we heading towards an era in which students rely on new technology more often because it's more entertaining than reading a book? It concerns me that technology has become so appealing to adolescents because of the enterntainment factor. Many of them may be losing the value of reading a great novel.
On the flip side, I thought several students brought up valid points regarding the issue. I do agree that blogs encourage all students to participate since there is no face-to-face interaction. Shy students will be more inclined to share a comment in writing rather than orally in class. I also agree that using blogs would be helpful for students who are absent from class. Catching up on missed work would be convenient and quick.
Blogs could definitely be beneficial in the classroom- but not as a substitute to traditional education. Students still need to be exposed to the value of reading books. We can't lose sight of the basics in education.
I love blogs. I agree with the students who said that blogs are environmentally friendly and I like one student's comment that we should "walk with the world" as technology continues to change the world around us. A blog is a great way to extend classroom discussion. There is never enough time to get all students to participate and engage on a topic during class, and when you finally get a great conversation going, the bell rings...a blog could extend that conversation further and motivate students to learn more on the topic or find people who share the same thoughts and energy for a particular topic. I think students should be graded on their on-line particiation. I can see the value of this in high school where many students think it is not cool to participate in class or they are too intimidated to do so, but they have opinions and thoughts that they would like to share. They might find it easier to participate on-line, especially if it is required by the teacher. Maybe students will even discover that an academic discussion can be fun and stimulating...they may enjoy sharing their thoughts and ideas on a topic. My memory of high school is that teachers were only interested in getting the "right answers" to questions during class and they did not necessarily encourage students to share their thoughts or opinions on topics covered in class. Today's classroom encourages a more personal connection to educational material and the internet provides a great medium to share those personal thoughts. People often think that technology is distancing people from one another but I think in many ways it brings people closer because they share more intimate thoughts on-line than they would ever do in person. MB
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