Digital Tool 1 - Blogs for Learning Reflection

This week we were asked to reflect on a few digital tools we have set up and played around with in hope to see how they could be used in an educational environment.

Since we have been posting our assessments and reflections in this blog, I have quite enjoyed it. Creating the blog was not hard. I found everything from design to navigating pretty standard and easy to use. Blogs are one of the most easy Digital Tools where you can express and present your personality with flair.

Although blogs are not all that common in the classroom today,  I can definitely see the potential blogs can have in an educational sense. They can be used to upload videos, pictures and add links to other websites and allow for students to engage and interact in a unique way. They also allow for flexible learning. For instance, students are able to access their own blog from home outside school hours (24 hour access). It also allows the teachers to access and view students' blogs outside school hours. Working on their own outside the classroom encourages the student to progress into their Zone Proximal Development (explained by Vygotsky).

For an example of blogging in schools, I could use a blog in my Business Studies classroom for studying Occupational Health and Safety. I could post pictures of potential safety hazards and students would have to comment on why it is a safety hazard. I could also upload YouTube videos on fire safety where students can view and note how to deal with such situations in the workplace. Another example could be posting a link to a practice OH&S test where students can see whether their knowledge of workplace safety is at standard to be a potential workplace health and safety officer. Students could also create a blog for themselves where they can reflect on their own learning experiences after each lesson or in this case share their results, links and comments on fellow students.

In education, the use of blogs should not be the main focus of any classroom lesson. I would suggest only the use of blogs in conjunction with lesson plans.  You can't rely on one tool for the majority of the class as students can get bored very easily. If the class is Business and Communication Studies, it maybe wise to be proficient in using a number of digital tools to encourage yourself and students to learn efficiently.

Using a blog in the classroom can have its positive and negatives, hence why I have included a PMI chart (Plus, Minus, Implications) to demonstrate my analysis.

Plus	Minus	Implications
·      Control of information and content ·      You as the teacher are the only author ·      Get feedback and comments (engaging) ·      Show personality in design on blog ·      Flexibility of content ·      uploading ·      Digital tool – wider audience ·      Can increase communication ·      Outside classroom learning	·      Can’t control student interaction/feedback ·      Structured ·      Blog not protected ·      Can be time consuming ·      Anyone can get access ·      Inappropriate comments from students	·      Students engaging outside school hours ·      Connectivism (Internet)

 
If you can think of anything to add to the above, please comment below.

For an explanation of the PMI chart, click here.