A short Reflection, on the use of blogging as a tool
for learning and teaching.
Blogging
combines aspects of thinking-writing with aspects of presentation writing
and
it adds in the conversation as well. Whenever we write on a blog we are aware
that we have audience, who are going to read whatever we write or comment. Therefore
we try to write our thoughts a little bit more clearly than we would have written
on a journal that no one will see but ourselves.
We cannot
write a blog without reading other blogs as it would be, well said by someone
clapping with one hand. So when we read, it helps us in our thinking as we share
ideas, research done by others and comment on each other’s findings. Thus when we write, we write with an awareness that other may disagree or comment on what we have written.
The
key thing in guiding students to become bloggers is giving them opportunities to
blog. Not all students like to go and work on blog outside the class room, so
the best way is to make them work on computers in the class may be in the last
10 min of the lesson or give them homework task to write 10 points on the discussion or
learning taken place that day in the lesson. We can also ask them to comment on the
writing of the other classmate. The teacher should read it in the class the
next day , thereby motivating them to use blog to improve their reading and
writing.
Using
blogging in teaching can foster strong individual writing as well as a solid
networked discussion between students.
