Hayley’s Blog

When I first started the e-learning course I wasn’t sure how a blog could benefit a student but after reading the article “Educational Blogging” by Stephen Downes I have learnt that there are many uses for blogging in the primary classroom. The article describes the student’s blog as a place for students to publish their work and express their thoughts and feelings which as a teacher is hard to find out without expressive outlets such as these. One of my lecturers mentioned that a maths journal is an excellent way for a student to review what they have learnt, as well as a good way for teachers to tap into students thoughts, but they also mentioned that this is so time consuming that most teachers are not able to allow their students to keep this kind of journal. After reading Downes’ article I believe that introducing an electronic blog into the classroom is the 21st century way of keeping a journal, it allows students to practice their typing and general computer skills as well as reflect on their learning.

Moreover an educational blog allows students to get to know each other in a non-invasive environment as the article states it gives the more shy pupils the same opportunity as the louder students to voice their opinion. I believe that Blogs give students the opportunity to use computers in a creative way and are an excellent way for students to express their inner-most feelings and thoughts on their school work which gives a teacher insight into how they can improve their lesson structure and material.

Stephen Downes(2004). Educational Blogging. EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 39, no. 5 (September/October 2004): 14–26.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 10th, 2008 at 2:22 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.