Blogging: Why Aren't You Doing It?

Last week on Twitter, someone had asked what Web 2.0 tools were the most beneficial to classrooms. For me, there was only one answer: Blogging. What is so great about blogging, you ask? There are numerous educational benefits to blogging, both for students and teachers. In fact, the very first blog post that I wrote was about classroom blogging.

Blogging is about literacy, something as teachers we strive to impart on our students. As teachers we should also be modelling literacy so students have an example of where they should be heading.

Taking this idea further, blogging can be a way for students to demonstrate their learning by creating a product. For example, if students are learning about Japanese culture, they could create a series of blog posts demonstrating what they've learned. Within these posts could be not only text, but weblinks, images, videos, and slideshows that the students have created or found. Once the posts are published, other students, teachers and parents could then leave comments or feedback for them. The online conversation, post-publication, is where learning occurs on a larger scale. Readers have the opportunity to analyze and synthesize the information from the post and consider the viewpoints of others.

As a teacher, blogging can be used as not only an instructional tool, but also as a reflective tool. Teachers could create blog posts with their thoughts and feelings towards an idea, for example the Libya situation, and ask students to respond with their feelings. They could use a blog as a way to reflect on their teaching practice with other colleagues, by seeking their input and feedback.

Here are a number of links with ideas for utilizing blogs in your classroom:
33 Ways to Use Blogs in an Educational Setting
10 Great Ways to Use Blogs in the Classroom
Blogs in Education
Ways to use Weblogs in Education
Blogging Rules
10 Ways to Motivate Students to Blog

As for which blogging service to use, there are a number of different providers that I would recommend. First, with students I would recommend starting with edublogs.org. You can sign up as a teacher and create student accounts underneath you. It has very easy settings to change who can view and comment on your blog, depending on your comfort levels. For teachers, I would recommend using either Blogger (which this blog is created on) or Wordpress. Both of these services are fairly easy to set up and maintain, however, I believe that Wordpress is more geared towards advanced users (don't quote me on that one though).


Here is a video created by students who are sharing the reasons that they like to use blogs as an educational tool.

Posterous: Blogging by Email

It's a blog, website, and an efficient vehicle for publishing material to multiple sites in one quick step.

Besides using Posterous as your own blog or website, there are some great applications for the classroom. A Posterous site could be used as a class blog or website to highlight or archive classroom activities.

It would also be a great way for students to share their creations. By adding student email addresses to the Posterous site (creating a collaborative blog), students can quickly share their learning with the public.

The sign up process is extremely quick, you can customize the look of your page, and posting is incredibly easy. You simply send an email! If you want to include a youtube video, simply add the video URL into the email, and Posterous will recognize it. For any other file types (pictures or mp3s) just attach them to the email and it will be added to your post.

Here is a link to my Posterous site where I created and published this post.

Learn through Blogging.

We know that blogging can be a very effective tool when used in the classroom. But, it can also be a great tool for developing your PLN. In fact, it's probably the easiest way to get started. You can easily find thousands of blogs relevant to your area of interest or expertise on the internet through a quick search using Googleblogs, Ask.com or Technorati.


Once you've found a blog, begin by reading some of the posts. The most current post will be on the first page you see. There is generally an area where you can navigate to previous blog postings (For instance, on the right hand side of this page you can access all blog postings from the past). Take a quick browse through to see if there are any titles or blog posts that interest you. You will quickly be able to judge whether or not that blog is a site that will be valuable for you.


Your next step should be to start contributing to the conversation. Topics and ideas presented on blogs will get you thinking. Ask questions, answer questions or tell others what you think. The whole idea is to have a conversation to deepen your understanding of a topic.


The final step is to create your own blog and express your beliefs and knowledge with others.


In the meantime, here are some of my favourites that deal with technology:


Free Technology for Teachers
My 2 Cents
ICT in Education
The Whiteboard Blog
Weblogg-ed

Why should I blog in my classroom?

What is the big deal about blogs? You've probably heard about blogging and possibly even read hundreds of blogs over the past few years without realizing it. Blogs are becoming more and more popular over time, especially in classrooms.

The question is how can a blog have a positive impact in my classroom? Firstly, blogs are not something that will revolutionize classrooms. They are, however, a new avenue for communication and feedback - one which students are more accustomed to seeing and using on a regular basis. Like a classroom discussion, blogs allow students to react to and comment on a topic through the internet. The end of a 55 minute period does not have to signal the end of a great discussion. Blogs allow the continuation of conversation where students can not only comment on the topic, but comment on the comments left by other students. Students who wouldn't normally voice their opinions during class time now have another avenue for expressing themselves.

Blogs can also be a fantastic reflection and feedback tool for teachers. If a teacher were to blog about a particular lesson or activity, including comments about how they felt it went, students would then be able to let the teacher know how the lesson went from their point of view. Other teachers could also weigh in on certain subjects, whether they were present during the lesson or not.

Watch this video for more:

Update: Oct. 29/09

Having just witnessed bloggin in a classroom, I am now sold more than ever on the positive benefits blogging can have on student engagement. In a 35+ minute class where students were given the choice of three different articles to comment on, I witnessed something fantastic. Students reading, writing and discussing a real life issue! Without being prompted or told to do so. Only one single student in that entire class was asked to get back on task - ONCE! The teacher had also enabled the option to approve each and every comment, to try and minimize childish or inappropriate comments. Only one comment was declined during that entire class, interestingly enough from the one student who was off task. This is engagement.