Blog #3

Bibliography 3

Robelen, E. W. (2009). Obama Plays Cheerleading Role for STEM Education. Education Week, 30, 10.  Retrieved October 30, 2010 from http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/10/29/10stem_ep.h30.html?tkn=SSSF%2B9MLHW0JtHk6e3KD%2FZGF8x%2BoJOVaRc6x&cmp=clp-edweek

This Journal Article is about President Obama giving praising and support to children in the STEM (scientific, technology, engineering, and mathematics) program.  Obama was watching children in the State Dining Room, who where showing off their projects.  Obama was there to give support to the kids for their hard work and effort they put into their projects.  President Obama mentioned that many children should to be inspired to join the STEM field. He encourages students to consider career in science, mathematics and engineering.

The article also stated that in Obama’s early term, he was going to provide funding for scientific research and the STEM education.  However the programs have not yet received funding.  The article states, that analysts say it remains to be seen if the funding will occur.

I think this article needs more sources.  I am unsure of how reliable this journal article is because it does not mention who the analyst are that dictate if the funding has occurred or not.  There are no dates or information on when the funding will or will not occur, and what are the reasons for not funding.

Blog #2

Bibliography 2

Rhode J. F. (2009).   Interaction Equivalency in Self-Paced Online Learning Environments:  An Exploration of Learner Preferences [Electronic version].  International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning 10, 1, 1-23.  Retrieved October 30, 2010, from http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com.libproxy.chapman.edu/hww/results/external_link_maincontentframe.jhtml?_DARGS=/hww/results/results_common.jhtml.43

This is a peer-reviewed article that is research based on the use of blogs by adult learners.

The article states that, students have to learn via student-teacher interaction, student-student interaction, and student-content interaction.  However, one of the interactions can be substituted for the other without limiting the educational experience (Rhoade 2009, 4).  Some students will not work with peers and instead prefer working directly with their instructor.  Others prefer interacting with their peers and the content itself.  Furthermore, many students prefer to be self-taught or self-paced by taking online courses.

The article suggests that students learn via engagement and interaction.  However, a specific learner may not value all types of interaction.  This article focuses on the interaction preferences of self-paced online learners.  Many of the participants of this study, used bogging, tagging of resources, e-portfolios, and discussions boards as a means of communicating with classmate.  During the study, the participants had to answer a survey that listed the various communication tools that they used.  The participants hand to answer which tools they actually used, and which tools were most effective to them.  The article found that many of its participants prefer to use blogs as a form of interaction.  These students were able to collaborate with other classmates and build networks of communication via the blogs.

Blog #1

Bibliography 1:

Ray, J. (2006). Welcome to the Blogosphere; The Educational Use of Blogs (aka Edublogs). Kappa Delta Pi Record, 42, 4, 175-177.  http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com.libproxy.chapman.edu/hww/results/results_single_fulltext.jhtml;hwwilsonid=IKMHDHG0FPAZLQA3DIMCFGGADUNGIIV0

This is a peer-reviewed article.  The author of this article is Jan Ray.  She is an Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator for Instructional Design and Technology at West Texas A&M University. 

The article focused on informing teachers of the many positives that come along with use of blogs in the classroom.  The article suggests that blogs could be use as a means of communication amongst the teacher and students.  The teacher can post announcements for their students and students can ask their teacher questions in the form of a blog.  Furthermore, students can interact with each other in the blog by texting each other and sharing photos.  According to the article, blogs can be used in the classroom as an instructional resource. The teacher can post schedules and lectures on the site for their students.  In the article, there was an example of a teacher, Cristinia Runkles (Ray 2006, 176) who posted various interactive websites on her blog for students to brows.  She then gave an assessment on the site.  The teacher was able to gain meaningful information from her students’ results.  I personally think that giving an assessment in the form of a blog is a tool that all teachers should use because students can take their test and the results are made available for the teacher quickly.  Nonetheless, the teacher can then provide immediate feedback to the students.  The article also states that blogs can be used as a collaborative tool.  Students can work on various projects together.  Furthermore, teachers can use the blogs to collaborate on curriculum with other teachers.  Lastly, the article mentioned that blogs could be used as a showcase for student projects.  Students can post their photos, audio and video media into the blogs to share with other classmates.

In addition to the positive use of blogs in the classroom, the article also mentioned two downfalls to the use of blogs for our students: accessibility and student safety.  The author mentioned that many students do not have access to a computer at home; therefore these students are unable to complete assignments that require the use of a blog at home.  Also, teachers have to be careful when assigning work on blogs because students can be harassed by online predators and bulling (Ray 2006, 177).  The author also mentioned that students may come up with excuses as to why they cannot access the blog at home.   The article states many students may say, “my computer crashed” or “the dog ate my wireless receiver” (Ray 2006, 176).  To eliminate this problem, I personally would only assign my students work to complete on a blog, during classroom time.  Therefore, students will be allowed allotted time to complete their assignment.