EduBlog Insights

The “ups”……..

• offers a writing space full of possibilities

• gives us an audience much wider than our classrooms

• empowers many voices, not just a few

• provides ownership

• creates an element of anticipation and excitement

• allows for sharing and growth of thoughts and ideas

• adds new voices to the mix throughout the process 

• builds a strong sense of community

• makes publishing to the web easy and fast

The “downs”……

• it is time-consuming

• takes a while before the benefit is realized

• issues of privacy

• constraints of public education

• state of technology in many of our classrooms hampers its best use

I am sure there are more of the “ups” and “downs” but that’s just a quick list.  Interesting though, to see how many more ups there are than downs!  Maybe some of you could add to the list!

Now the “ups” as relates to students are not going to happen unless we have educators willing to take the time to make sure that weblogs are used to make authentic and exciting connections to the “established curriculum in schools.”  Maybe one day formal learning will take a turn where time for students to reflect, think, talk, make connections and yes WRITE about what they are learning will be considered absolutely crucial but for now our tightly packed curriculum agendas and testing regime don’t foster that. I know I’m probably in a dream world but wouldn’t it be nice if we as educators were asked to use a tool such a weblogs to foster a love of learning? Think of creative ways to do just that. Then maybe even be given the time to nurture the process. One can always hope…..

Why we should hang in there…..

• gives a voice to students and educators

• fosters needed change in education

• opens up communication flowing in many directions rather than top to bottom

• makes technology relevant and applicable to the twenty-first century

• empowers educators  and students to speak out on things they care about 

And no, I don’t think blogging will save the world of education but I do see it as a way that education could be affected in oh so many good ways. All innovation comes from people willing to take risks, try new things, think outside the box. We also need to take the time to teach students wise and appropriate use of their voices.  Talk to them about how they are representatives of their school and yes, even the world. Weblogs in education can be many different things to each of us but oh the possbilities we can explore.  The potential is huge.  Let’s hang in there!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 4th, 2004 at 2:11 pm and is filed under About Weblogs, Imported. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.