As someone who always been big into technology and
the unlimited capabilities that is provides, I find blogging to be one of my
most favorite concepts- especially for education. The countless opportunities
offered to student and educators through blogging is unheard of prior to the
development of this concept; students and educators are able to communicate
with experts and experience a more well-rounded education through the broader worldview
offered by blogging. “The combination of social interaction and
meeting an expert in a subject provides avenues for deep learning,” and for
years school systems have been utilizing field trips for this type of
interactive learning (Johnson, Levine, Smith, & Smythe, 2009). In the face of budgetary issues, field trips
have become fewer and far between, but alas technology can fill this gap,
especially the use of blogs. As experts
many more experts are blogging these days, it is much easier for students to interact
with them; reading their blogs and commenting, watching podcasts or other
audio/video clips that are relevant to the topic. Blogging does not only benefit students, it
is also a way for educators to share their knowledge, solicit ideas from other
educators, and discuss current hot topics with their peers and colleagues (Hargadon,
2009, p. 2).
The concept of Twittering is something I never truly
bought into, but now really see the interest and potential of it. I can see the benefits of being able to share
a link to a research study, communicate important messages to parents, and
connect with mentors quickly and easily. Other benefits include that Twitter is pretty user
friendly, and could be easily used as a way for students to communicate with
teachers, each other, and people around the world, which offers another way to
enhance well-rounded education (Rosenthal Tolisano, 2011). One of
the best ideas I have seen in the literature in support of the use of Twitter
is the concept of facilitating a discussion by posing a question; the limited
characters keeps it short, sweet, and to the point, so it would be an asset in
facilitating a direct discussion. After
reading the articles and watching the lectures, Twittering is something that I
will explore more, and because a lot of my students are already using it, it
would be a simple communication tool to implement for them. On my Twitter, I decided to follow the Toledo Blade
because I really enjoy keeping up with the latest news stories and I like the short
descriptions with links to the longer story. It makes it very convenient to
read what I want to read and bypass what I do not.
References
Hargadon, St. (2009). Educational
networking: The important role web 2.0 will play in education. http://audio.edtechlive.com/lc/EducationalSocialNetworkingWhitepaper.pdf
Johnson, L., Levine, A.,
Smith, R., and Smythe, T. (2009). The 2009 Horizon Report: K-12 Edition. Austin,
Texas: The New Media Consortium.
Rosenthal Tolisano, Silvia
(2011). Twitter in the K-8 classroom Globally Connected Learning. http://www.scribd.com/doc/63331406/Twitter-in-K-8-Classroom-Globally-Connected-Learning
First of all, I am envious that you are "into technology and the unlimited capabilities!" I am not a huge fan. I think I am just afraid because I am very unfamiliar with all of it. It seems crazy, but this class has already tested my limits several times. I am very thankful that during my years in school, middle school and high school, I was required to take some computer classes. I learned enough to be comfortable with typing, excel, PowerPoint, and Word. Things I take for granted after seeing how little my students know. I am glad I am taking this class so I can force myself to learn all of these stuff and apply it to my teaching as well.
ReplyDeleteBefore this assignment, did you follow any blogs or have a blog of your own? I would like to find a worthwhile blog to follow. Something where I can actually see the benefits of blogging and interacting. I think this would be the best way for me to really get into it and find out for myself what all I can do to utilize it as a learning tool.
Twitter is something I am learning as well. I really do want to make it a habit to follow and tweet out thought provoking messages. I would love it if my students could follow me on Twitter. Where do you teach? Our district does not allow the staff to be linked to any of our students on any type of social media. I understand why, there are always the idiot "professionals" that ruin it for all of us. I would love nothing more than to keep in touch with students and see where their lives go after they have been in my classroom. I know how often I think of my teachers and mentors from the past.
I also wonder how familiar you were with hashtags before this assignment. My friends often laugh at me for my incorrect hashtags. I just didn't get it. I think I am catching on though. It is such a silly and entertaining concept to me. It all just makes me chuckle.
Also, sorry for posting on my own blog so late. I am having a heck of a time with my new computer (I never owned one before this class!) and with the creating all these new accounts! :0)