Laura’s Blog

The article by Downes (2004) goes through the development of weblogs which is really interesting. However, in terms of its educational relevance, the article goes through how weblogs can be used in the classroom and the benefits of using weblogs for education. Some suggestions for weblogs educational use are:

• Used as a way to communicate with parents
• Used as a personal journal a s a way for reflection
• A way to interact with students on e.g. class times, assignments, rules etc.
• A way to create a community of learners which can share ideas about topics etc.
• A way for all students to voice their opinion in a non-threatening way.

Ref. Downes, S. (2004). Educational Blogging. EDUCAUSE Review. 39 (5), pp.14-26.

I have just read an article by:

 Du, H. S. & Wagner, C. (2007). Learning with weblogs: Enhancing coginitive and social knowledge construction. IEEE Transactions on professional communication. 50 (1), pp.1-16.

This article was really interesting because it mainly talks about using weblogs in the form of a learning log. Much like we are using it at the the moment. The article offers benefits for using weblogs in this manner, namely the fact that it allows the user to “reflect and publish their thoughts and understanding” (Du & Wagner, 2007, p.4) and thus to “actively construct meaning” (Du & Wagner, 2007, p.4). As well as this Du & Wagner (2007) comment that “weblogs’ linking, replying, storing, and tracking features enable the users to better exchange knowledge and information, and hence, collectively construct meaning” (p.2).

 Therefore, this article was really interesting because it discussed the benefits of using weblogs in the way that we are using them. However, through reading this article I have also been able to gain ideas for using weblogs in the primary classroom. As what the article also mentions is that “individuls and groups can communicate in a way that is simple and easier to follow than emails or discussion forums” (Du & Wagner, 2007, p.2). Therefore, this presents exciting opportunities for primary school children to easily link and share their ideas with other students around the world through the medium of a class blog or their own individual blog.