Using blogs in the classroom

The article “Don’t Feed the Trolls: Using Blogs to Teach Civil Discourse” is an interesting read because it acknowledges that while technology is neither good nor bad, but only a tool that can be used for either, we, as educators are responsible for guiding the use of this tool in the right direction. Blogs have, in the past (and currently) been used for screeds, electioneering, personal attack and all sorts of other nefariousness. But the article gives some guidance and hope. “Blogs are particularly effective when teaching about civil discourse because unlike in face-to-face conversations, the interaction is captured online, allowing for review and reflection.” (Richardson, 2008) That’s true. Also, I have used blogs before, and one thing that I’ve made great use of is comment moderation. In this way, I, as the teacher/moderator am able to control content on the blog, but also allow a “mostly free” exchange of ideas. I am able to screen out anything that I deem inappropriate. I would imagine that kids would see that their comments weren’t included in the blog post, and would quickly understand (especially if they got a note back) why they weren’t.

Also the article talks about how teachers can be "modeling civil discourse." I could see how especially in a forum type of situation this would be a great idea. A civil, free exchange of ideas between two teachers (parallel), or just from the teacher (hierarchical) could both be beneficial. Besides parents, we will be the most stable example of adults in many, if not most, of these children's lives. We should act as such.

Moving to the concrete example of Mr. H’s blog. I find Mr. H’s example of a blog instructive in the way that he uses video. He doesn’t just put up work to do, but also goes one step further, and makes a video of himself using the blog and explaining the problem. It’s great for the kids who may not be good at reading and internalizing the instructions. Also, they can review as many times as they need to. The video of the teacher is never going to get tired, though the teacher sure seemed to look that way. This is great.

As my endorsement areas are Social Studies and Art, I think that this would be beneficial to me. I could link to history channel videos, make slideshows, post assignments, whatever! I think about how to describe how to throw a clay pot. That's difficult if you've never done it before. But you could always us an example. However, just like most things on the web, I could see how this could be a huge time suck, and would have to be managed judiciously. It’s only another tool, not the end all-be all of education.

Richardson, K. W. (2008, May). Don’t Feed the Trolls. Learning & Leading with Technology, 12-15.