Assignment 2: Internet Integration Research Patrice O.

Toulson Georgia Southern University

2 Blogs are websites that allow individuals to create personal webpages of text, pictures, graphics, videos, and other multimedia with the same ease as creating a word processing document. Blogs provide a space where people can post comments and participate in online conversations. (Boling, 2008) I chose to research blogging in education because I have been interested in incorporating them into my classes for my 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students in the Business and Computer Science classes that I teach as well as my reading class. The articles that I researched gave me some valuable information and things to consider before I get started. Paul Boutin believed that blogs were simply too big, too impersonal, and too devoid of intimacy. (Johnson, 2010, pg 172) So, he advised against launching blogs. Fortunately for our students, not a lot of people listened to him. Students today enjoy going online to stay in touch with friends through social networks but that is not the only reason they use the internet. A number of students use those networks to explore interests or find information beyond what they have access to at school or in their community. Blogging is about persuading, organizing, and debating rather just writing for their teacher. (Johnson, 2010) When a student blogs, their audience is the world. This large audience tends to motivate the students to think more and write better due to the audience that may see their writing. Being motivated to blog helps the students enjoy writing more. Some students even expressed having fun. Blogging is simple to use and can extend the walls of a classroom to wherever the internet is accessible. Blogging creates more opportunities to write, encourage self reflection and critical thinking, collaboration and differentiated instruction by using multiple learning styles. (Sawmiller, 2010) Blogging can be used across the curriculum. No matter what class you are in, blogging can be included.

3 Throughout the articles that I read, all the teachers mentioned that actual classroom names were changed to a pseudonym name. I felt this was done so that no one in the class knew who was writing the blog. Im sure it was also used in order to protect the identity of students when sharing was done with an audience other than their classmates. Across all of the articles it was discussed that students who dont usually express an interests in writing at school became passionate writers through blogging. Cassandra was a teenager who never got into writing at school but her parents disclosed to the teacher that she is constantly writing on the internet. Cassandra stated, Any teenager in the world with a computer will continue to become part of the global society, with or without guidance from schools and teachers, by using blogs to share writing with the world. (Witte, 2007, pg 96) Numerous articles discussed how struggling and reluctant readers who had experience in using the internet often initiated the flow of information in a blog. The articles also expressed how blogging gave normally quiet students a voice. They felt comfortable expressing their thoughts in a blog while they would not have felt as comfortable having a discussion with classmates in the classroom. Blogging provides students the chance to connect safely with real audiences while learning about different places and cultural differences. (Boling, 2008) One article took into account the feelings of students who are involved in blogging. While there are some students who feel isolated, alienated and frustrated, the use of blogs helped prevent this feeling in the majority of students of distance learners. It is believed that there are strategies that can be used that will help connect learners and decrease feelings of distancing. (Dickey, 2004)

4 Blogging can be useful in the classroom in so many different ways. In reading my articles, I found many practical ways that blogging is already used in the classrooms. One teacher is using authors blogging in the language arts classroom that he teaches. An authors blog is simply a blog that is created by the author of a book. An authors blog can be more personal and provide more insightful information into the life of the author as well as the book. Johnson states (2010), Using authors blogging in a language arts class can result in establishing an authentic learning environment that creates powerful connections, collaborations, and creativity that promotes learning and challenges thinking (pg 174). A third grade teacher lets her students write blog responses to their classroom mascot, Jefferson Bear. She uses the blogs in order for the students to blog on different topics such as asking the children for help in saving his endangered friends to how individuals may respond when being teased. A fourth grade teacher instructs her students to read a short literary piece and then gets them to blog about strikes (something that stands out) and wonders (a question that they may have) after reading the literary work. Then, the blogs are shared with people who live far away from them. (Boling, 2008) A sixth grade writing teacher created Youth Radio so that young writers and voices can connect with news stories about their communities, their schools, and their interests via audio casting. (Boling, 2008) This teacher got one of his students to take a picture of a snowy day in Massachusetts and post it to the blog. Other students recorded audio commentary about the snowy day picture. When posted, it got a response from a child in the Philippines. The child from the Philippines expressed gratitude for allowing her to experience what snow is like from reading it on the blog. (Boling, 2008) Other ways that it has been used in education is through students publishing their own

5 writings, discussing group assignments, peer reviews, collaborating on projects, posting reflections, sharing ideas, featuring artifacts, and distributing notes, slides, and other material used in the class. A specific teacher discussed that she saw blogging as a means by which she could provide reflections to address emerging issues relevant to students learning. (Churchill, 2009, pg 182) My first hand experience at using blogs has proven to be enjoyable and productive. One way that I have used it is by creating my portfolio for my masters degree in Instructional Technology through Georgia Southern University. Another way is through the Blackboard Learning System. I guess this could be considered a blog. We post our reflections and then respond to classmates. Blogging through my classes has helped me in the way that I discuss issues. If I were in a classroom setting, I would not be responding the way that I do through my blogs. I would not feel as comfortable to speak out if we were in a classroom setting. However, in these classes, no one knows me and I am more open to discuss my thoughts through blogging. I have participated through blogging when I am looking to purchase a new product. I will Google and find a blog where individuals have posted their comments on the specific product that I am interested in and ask questions when I deem it necessary to further my knowledge about the product. I have never used blogging in my classroom but have had the desire of wanting to incorporate it into my classroom lesson plans. I have wanted to use it in my reading class. I have often thought how I could do this. I have thought about using it as we read books together and posting a discussion question for the students to respond to and post their reflections on the book. I have also thought about using it as my students read their AR books. When they read each book, they could share on the blog what the

6 book was about and their personal response to the book. This upcoming year, my administrator is pushing reading and writing across the curriculum. I have been thinking how I could do this in the Business and Computer Science classes that I teach. I have been thinking that for my entrepreneurship standard, I could get the students to read about a young entrepreneur and then reflect on the blog concerning the article. For the marketing standard, I could get students to read advertisements and then blog about the ad. I asked my children if they have had to use blogs in any of their classes. My daughter said in her senior year of high school, she had a teacher who would post articles and the class would have to read the articles and then post a discussion about what they read. I asked my daughter how she felt about doing this. Her response was that she liked posting on the blog better than having to write a response using pencil and paper. She said it was easier to type a lot more and it didnt seem as though she typed that much; whereas if she had used pencil and paper, it would have taken longer and she would have struggled to write as much as she typed. She said the typing went so much faster than it would have taken for her to write. (Personal Interview, June 20, 2011) After reading the articles that I chose for this assignment, I found that there are numerous merits to using blogs in a classroom. Johnson states (2010), blogging is a reciprocal process; it requires reading as much as writing, listening as much as speaking. Blogs allow students to link to and connect ideas, make their thinking about ideas transparent, and have others link to their posts (pg 179). While blogging in the classroom, the teacher can create a mood that makes the students feel they are important and their opinions are being heard and recognized. (Churchill, 2009) A lot of the students discussed in the articles how they felt enjoyment from blogging. They stated

7 that it was fun. Blogging also is not formal. Through blogging a persons individual personality can show through. (West, 2008) I think it lowers the stress level of some students because a teacher is not standing over their shoulder watching what they write/type. The students are more relaxed. One teacher stated that while her students are blogging in the classroom, she is blogging at her computer in response to one of her students. By using blogs in education, it can develop a students digital fluency while also strengthening their traditional literacy skills. (Witte, 2007) Numerous students stated that online writing is not boring like school writing. I think my daughter would agree with this statement. She said it didnt seem like she was typing as much as she did so there was obviously a fun factor built into it for her as well. Blogging can be worldwide and is not limited to the classroom. In one article that I read, a teacher had their students reading novels and then they would blog about their questions and reflections about the novels. One of the students fathers was stationed in Iraq. He contacted the teacher and asked if he could be a part of his sons literature circle and be a part of the book discussions. She packed up a copy of each book that they were to read and sent them to him and he began responding to the comments on the blog. (Witte, 2007) One item of information that I found interesting that was a common factor in each of these articles was when blogging was used in the classroom, students used a pseudonym name. This helped once reticent readers and writers to share ideas and literature responses. (Boling, 2008, pg 504) I can see how using a made up name would help someone who is not comfortable speaking out in public have more confidence in their postings. Their fellow students dont know who they are talking to. Only the teacher knows which alias names goes with the correct student. With blogging, you

8 immediately publish the results online for a world wide audience to see. This will increase the motivational level in most students and will cause them to take more ownership in what they write. (Sawmiller, 2010) In the traditional classroom setting, the majority of the time, the teacher is the only one who sees your writing. However, with blogs, the number of people that may see it is endless. Most students will want to think through what they are going to write before they hit the send button. They will not want to sound unintelligent through their writing. Another positive thing about blogging is it can be used to meet different learning styles. A teacher can alter the activities that each student does with blogging based on their learning styles. In reading the articles on blogging in education, I found that the pros definitely outweigh the negatives. Most of the articles did not include any barriers for blogging. However, there were a few that need to be mentioned. One teacher discussed that it takes a lot of patience in getting a blog launched with a group. Once it takes off, things run pretty smoothly. Another teacher discussed that it was very time consuming due to having to follow up on all the blogs individually and to keep up with new posts in a timely manner. This teacher realized that an RSS Feed would help her in keeping up with the latest post in a timely manner. (Churchill, 2009) Being able to blog in the classroom depends on whether the computers and internet are working on that day and whether the teacher has access to enough computers for all the students. You also need to consider the filtering system used by your county. A lot of the blog sites may be blocked due to safety reasons. When expecting students to blog from home, a teacher has to realize that not all students have internet access at home. Students may also have to deal with paranoia from administrators in some incidences. In the article mentioned

9 above where the father stationed in Iraq asked to be a part of the book discussions, one student that was using a different name made mention of the state where he lived. This made administration uneasy that someone may be able to locate the student and made the group stop blogging and go back to pen/paper. One student wrote, Its like weve gone back to using leeches instead of nuclear medicine. (Witte, 2007, pg 94) In one study, over a span of two years, 30-40 % of students commented that they felt a sense of isolation and/or alienation from classmates, the teachers, or both when they were blogging in an online class. (Dickey, 2004,) I can see how one could form an alliance with certain students and then post more to their blogs than others in the group. Sometimes you feel more comfortable posting to certain people versus others in the group. In some of my classes, there have been certain people that I feel more comfortable posting comments to. Sometimes I read peoples post that I dont normally comment to. They post very intelligently but sometimes I feel that my response may not be as intelligent sounding as their post was. So, as you can see, there are some obstacles that we need to look at when deciding if we are going to include blogging in our classroom setting. However, I believe the negative aspects can be dealt with versus not using blogs at all. I believe that blogging is part of the future in education. Students today possess so much knowledge about the Internet and digital technology. We as teachers may have to realize that the students may know more than us in some instances in the classroom when dealing with technology. Teachers may have to be taught about technology by the students. Teachers have got to learn that we have got to change our teaching method in the near future in order to connect with our students. (Boling, 2008) Blogging provides

10 the students with collaborating and sharing with so many people that they couldnt reach in a normal classroom setting. Johnson states (2008), If we want students to not only survive but also thrive in a globally connected, transparent world, then teachers can no longer be seen as the sole sources of information in the classroom. We must teach students how to search for the liveliest communities and most engaging conversations, in which deliberation and thoughtful involvement have real meaning and consequences for their learning (pg 180). In the school where I teach, at the end of the students eighth grade year, they have to take a technology assessment on the computer. The state feels that every student should be technology literate by this age. In order for these students to become technologically literate, we, as teachers, must move students toward the literacy of technology and use technology such as blogging to help us do this. Prensky refers to the students of today as digital natives because they were born into a digital world. Digital Natives view technology as a foundation in the classroom, not a tool. So, we have got to bridge this gap and jump on this technology kick that our students are on. (Sawmiller, 2010) Blogging is creative and is helping to change the way that school systems are viewing what is acceptable in school. One teacher said, there is a feeling of enjoyment sometimes it was like the students felt they were getting away with something when they were writing about their reading. This is paramount to why I will continue to use weblogs in my classroom. (West, 2008, pg 597) I agree with this teacher. I will begin using blogging in my classroom because I feel that it offers so much to a student that they can not get in a traditional classroom with a teacher standing in front of the class lecturing.

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References

Boling, E., Castek, J., Zawilinski, L., Barton, K., & Nierlich, T. (2008). Collaborative Literacy: Blogs and Internet Projects. Reading Teacher, 61(6), 504-506. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Churchill, D. (2009). Educational applications of Web 2.0: Using blogs to support teaching and learning. British Journal of Educational Technology, 40(1), 179183. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2008.00865.x Dickey, M. (2004). The impact of web-logs (blogs) on student perceptions of isolation and alienation in a web-based distance-learning environment. Open Learning, 19(3), 279-291. doi:10.1080/0268051042000280138 Huay Lit, W., & Qiyun, W. (2009). Using Weblog to Promote Critical Thinking - An Exploratory Study. Proceedings of World Academy of Science: Engineering & Technology, 49431-439. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Johnson, D. (2010). Teaching With Authors' Blogs: Connections, Collaboration, Creativity. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 54(3), 172-180. doi:10.1598/JAAL.54.3.2 Sawmiller, A. (2010). Classroom Blogging: What is the Role in Science Learning?. Clearing House, 83(2), 44-48. doi:10.1080/00098650903505456 West, K. C. (2008). Weblogs and literary response: Socially situated identities and hybrid social languages in English class blogs. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 51(7), 588-598. doi:10.1598/JAAL.51.7.6 Witte, S. (2007). "That's online writing, not boring school writing": Writing with blogs and the Talkback Project. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 51(2), 92-96. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.