lariope

This new social software, blogging, has been around since early 2001. I feel strongly that blogging adheres to a Democratic philosophy that anyone who has an opinion about anything can post it on the web without fear of censorship that governs our texts, media, TV and radio today. Blogging is essentially a diary that someone posts and allows others freedom to read and post comments as they see fit. The article "Personal Blogging and Education" was quite unsettling for me. Will Richardson who advocates for the use of web blogging feels that educators should experiment with this new software and post homework and student work and handouts and allow students to freely communicate through this new medium. As an educator I am slower to pick up this new software, be it that I am technology teacher, but with this software comes many new lessons for students. Online bullying, dangers of online chatting/discussion groups/forums, etiquette while posting online, and so on. What is more important in the classroom? The ability for students to be subject to new software in a safe environment or for students to learn about the software and ways to utilize it effectively? I am not sure that students at young ages should experiment with software that has potential dangers when not under a watchful eye.

An example of blogging that really bothers me the most is myspace.com My own personal students are utilizing this software as a way to post pictures of themselves, reveal their identity, likes/dislike, daily routines, school information, etc. Anyone who is anyone can read their personal info and diaries and find out a lot about them...and my students are 11-14 years old. A little bit scary if you ask me.

I am not sure if I will ever get into blogging...

~~Molly

Well this makes me mad...I just wrote an entire summary for this article and lost it all because my curiosity got to me and clicked on "TAGS" without updating my journal. So here, is an abbreviated summary

This article couldn't be more true. As one of the primary technology teachers in my school it is one of my jobs to help students understand that they must validate every site that they find and potentially want to use for any research purposes. Learning to work with the Internet is going to take time. Students are able to access the internet more freely at home and without direct parent supervision. Without the know-how students are tempted to believe what they read on-line.

The idea behind teaching students about the three main categories of evaluating websites based on purpose, author and meta-web information are valid points; although, not appropriate for all age groups. For middle school students it is imperative that students understand the purpose of a website. If a student is unable to grasp the main ideas (perhaps through the GRASP method) then the webpage shouldn't be utilized. All students should also be aware of the author. I would take this one further and state that students need to be able to identify the web-page, web-site and URL extension. If students are aware of the following, they will be on the road to learning to constructively looking at websites and not just at face value. As for the meta-web information, I feel that at the middle school level this may be too much information for students. Students will not be able to delineate what groups are being displayed based on the links of an author.

The best approach is for students to spend time in the library first giving them a healthy background into their topic and then allowing them to utilize the web. Asking students if it is fact or opinion will also be beneficial

~~Molly

After a very long week of hospital visits and such I finally visited my site after creating it about two weeks ago. I always knew that I was not one for keeping a diary. When I was younger I was given a diary on multiple occasions. I was good with writing in it for all of about three days and then I would just put it off to the side and forget about it. When I was given this assignment I dreaded the thought of having to keep a diary of my thoughts...and with good reason. So, here I have my thoughts about each article written down on paper, but nothing transferred to the web. Over the course of tonight and tomorrow you will see I will fight my ill-will towards diaries and write in my journal of my thoughts about blogging and the article.

Molly

Every once in a while you hear the word "blogging." I remember sitting at a meeting with all the computer teachers and the librarian and we began talking about what students are doing today. The librarian kept talking about blogging and how students should be prevented from doing this on school grounds and parents should be keeping a watchful eye on their children when they blog. So, of course, I went home that day totally confused. When I got home, a magazine was delivered from the National Business Education Association and what do you know...the topic that month was Blogging. Well, I sat down and realized that Blogging is a very powerful tool and when utilized properly can open up a web community that is rich with the sharing of ideas.

So, with this, I must begin writing my paper.

~Molly