What is a blog?

When I heard I would be creating a blog I wanted to find out exactly what one is and what it is used for. I started by watching a really simple YouTube clip called Blogs in Plain English. I found this very helpful as it provided me with the basic knowledge I needed to start with. Using my new found skills, I have embedded the clip here for your viewing.

Richardson (2009) states that a blog "is an easily created, easily updateable website that allows an author (or authors) to publish instantly to the Internet from any Internet connection". I find the easy exchange of information and opinions really fascinating. People can share ideas, information and resources with an interested audience, who can in turn comment and share their opinions on the subject. For me, creating this blog is providing me with the chance to think about my learning, take it further with research and reflect. All this, I hope, will deepen my learning giving me a strong foundation of which to build upon.

Now that I have learned the basics of blogging, I can start to see the educational values. Blogging can promote critical and analytical thinking giving students the opportunity of reflection. They can also promote creativity, critical and collaborative skills as students have free reign to design and create their own content. Blogs can cover any topic and are an extension of the classroom walls where pupils can collaborate. They can also be used as an archive to record students work as they proggress through the education system. I feel this would be a useful tool to see how far you or a particular child has come. Another advantage to using blogs in school is that they can be suited to different learning styles and provide opportunity for everyone, no matter how shy, to share their ideas in writing. Finally I believe that blogs can teach children the literacies they will need in an ever expanding world of information technology.

I have provided some links to examples of different blogs.

• The High School of Dundee
• Voices of The World
• Tecnoteach

The biggest advantage of blogging for me is that it is helping me to reflect on my learning. Every time I write a new post I have to really think about what I have learned, what my thoughts are on the subject and put it into words. All this encourages deep learning.