Blogging in Education

At our school staff meeting on Monday I suggested that staff might like to have a go at blogging, largely because it is an easy way to have a regular web presence. I see three main reasons why you might want to have a blog:

1. To communicate. Examples of this include

• my blog, which currently is mostly about my reading but can be used for anything I feel like talking about
• Kim's blog that she made over the summer when travelling, using Internet cafes in the main. I did not teach her how to do pictures before she left, so hers is text only.
• Rosa's blog, also made when travelling. Note that Rosa has great pictures on her blog but the file sizes are large so it is slow to load and I wouldn't even try on dial-up.

2. To reflect. Educational research suggests that reflecting on our teaching practice is an essential part of refining our technique. An example is Kay's blog, which she is using to reflect on her appraisal goals. You will also find here links to lots of cool ICT tools and ideas that you may wish to try out.

3. To summarise. A class could be rostered to summarise the activities and main points of each day's lesson in a blog, which would be a great exercise for them and a great resource for the class.

To make a blog, you could start at www.blogger.com

One of the features of blogs is that people can comment on each posting - try adding a comment to a blog that you find of interest.