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.