A blog would be a beneficial
tool to be used within my teaching environment. This Web 2.0 tool can be used
to enhance my lessons, as it would allow me to post resources and content
relating to the subject that I teach and also add links to other websites. Thereby
allowing my students to have access to the learning resources and also interact
and share their views and opinions outside of the regular classroom. Richardson (2010) states that weblogs can be
used to gather and organize internet resources, (Richardson, 2010, p.51).
Therefore incorporating blogging within my teaching environment will allow my
students to become discovery learners, as I could have them use the blog to conduct
research so as to gain additional information relating to concepts taught
within the classroom.
I am a teacher of Information Technology and I am
currently teaching grades 10 and 11. Blogs are an essential web 2.0 tools to
use within my classroom, according to Richardson (2010), having a space to
publish course curriculum, syllabus and homework assignments makes weblogs a
powerful course management tool (Richardson, 2010, p.34).
Richardson also states, that weblogs expands the walls of the classroom and
allows for collaboration to be more diverse and accessible. The syllabus for Information
Technology, is lengthy, hence I believe using weblogs in my classroom would
benefit me and my students greatly as it provides an avenue for not only collaboration
for students but also for teacher to manage students’ course materials.
According to
the International Society for Technology in Education ISTE (2008) one Standard
for teachers that may be met by blogging, is that blogging allows the teacher
to be a leader, in that the teacher seeks out opportunities for student
empowerment and success, as the teacher is now seen as an advocate for
equitable access for educational technology to meet the needs of diverse
students. Another standard that is met by blogging is the teacher being a
facilitator of learning with technology by managing the use of technology and
student learning strategies in digital platforms.
The International
Society for Technology in Education ISTE (2016) Standards for students is that
the student will now become a global communicator that use collaborative technologies
to work with others in that they are able to use the web platforms to share
their views and interact with others on a given topic virtually. The students
should also become empowered learners that uses technology to seek feedback and
to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways.
References
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms ( 3rd
ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
International Society for Technology in Education
(ISTE). (2016). Standards for students. Retrieved from from http://www.iste.org/standards/standards/for-students-2016
International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).
(2008). Standards for teachers. Retrieved from from http://www.iste.org/standards/standards/standards-for-teachers
