Journal #1

As a first time blogger, I have tried to make myself more
familiar with the practice of "blogging" in the classroom. Looking
through different class blogs I have realized there lots of pros and cons of
having classroom blogs. Below is a list of pros and cons for incorporating
blogs into the classroom:



Pros

• Very easy for teachers to create and update


• Accessible at home or library


• It's something new and different for students, therefore it's a good motivator for students


• Provides opportunities for students to read and write more


• Blogs provide opportunities for discussion and collaboration


• Teachers are able to inform students of class requirements


• Teachers can post homework assignments


• Teachers can post hand-outs


• Teachers can post school notices


• Blogs create digital student portfolios where assignments can be automatically archived


• Blogs are incentives for students to write better because more people will be reading their works.


• Teachers can create lessons that students can answer questions at their own leisure and navigate through different hyperlinks; constructing knowledge as they good.

Cons

• Not all students have a computer at home to access blogs from


• Teachers need to make sure that they adhere to their school districts guidelines about student work being publically published.


• Teachers need to make sure and enforce school technology agreements about appropriate and safe online etiquette.


• Students may post hurtful criticism about other students' work.


• Teachers need to take additional time out of their instruction to teach students how to create and use blogs.

As you can see, I have come to find out there are more pros
than cons for having classroom blogs. However, the cons have very high
penalties if not followed properly within each school and school district.



Overall, I think using blogs in the classroom is a revolutionary idea. I think
it works great for college students (whom most likely will have a personal
computer), but unfortunately, not many high schools are lucky enough to have
unlimited computer access in the classroom. Most schools have computers labs
that teachers are forced to share with other faculty members, causing
"blogging" to be a little more difficult.