Thing 2

Until very recently I have been mostly ignorant about blogging. I had heard of blogging but without any personal experience with blogs I discounted them as playgrounds for the narcissistic. After starting a blog myself and reading some of the required blogs for this assignment my mind is changing. I am beginning to appreciate blogging as a useful way to share ideas and engage in productive conversations.
Since I am not an experienced reader of blogs I cannot comment on the world of blogging in general. However, I can comment on my initial impressions of the good things that can come out of blogging based on the few required blogs that I have read.
In Anne Davis’ blog A Rational for Educational Blogging She writes

Blogging affords us the opportunity to teach responsible public writing. Students can learn about the power of the published word and the responsibilities involved with public writing.

Blogging may be the easiest way to get writing in front of a public audience. Blogging, if comments are made, can become a conversation of sorts. It allows a free exchange of ideas and joint problem solving. So far the few blogs that I have read have been thoughtfully written and thought provoking.
Another example of a thought provoking blog that I read as a required reading for this course was Karl Fisch’s Is It Okay To Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher? he states about the new technology tools,

In order to teach it, we have to do it. How can we teach this to kids, how can we model it, if we aren’t literate ourselves? You need to experience this, you need to explore right along with your students. You need to experience the tools they’ll be using in the 21st century, developing your own networks in parallel with your students. You need to demonstrate continual learning, lifelong learning – for your students, or you will continue to teach your students how to be successful in an age that no longer exists.

Teachers who are truly preparing students to be successful in the 21st Century will have to have a level of comfortable with technology that allows them to use it, teach it and model its use for students. These tools must become as second nature as blackboards and overheads when I went to school.
As I stated above prior to reading the required blogs for this assignment my misinformed view of blogging was not very positive. I still think that blogging can be used in some very negative ways and students should be taught how to use blogging appropriately. Information in blogs that are the opinions of the author should be presented as such as factual information or references to other sources should be cited responsibly. This does not come naturally because I think that blogging is more closely associated with conversations among friends or diary writing than writing for publication. Students will need to be taught how to think about and filter blogs critically. Another concern that I have about blogs form a personal point of view is finding time to read or even peruse blogs of interest to me on a regular basis. I will need to learn how to organize my blog reading in a way that is efficient or I could spend all day reading and reflecting on blogs if they are all of the quality that I read today.