Educational blogs can be an easy and time efficient way to update and maintain contact with students. They can also offer the reader quick access to additional information if the writer links the article to other sources. What I like about the linking within a blog is that when used properly, it can be a very nice demonstration of critical thinking skills for the author and help the reader learn to link the material and search outside of the original article.
Educational blogs will now apply to my course planning by implementation into my courses . I teach a class in child maltreatment and I could see how a blog could be a very nice way to provide additional support in the educational setting. The topic of child maltreatment is very complex and we often run out of class discussion time. I could see how a blog could be a great way to continue class discussion or even be a gathering point for information (though I think a wiki might be a better tool for the information gathering). Further, I could see the benefit using the blog creation as a great tool for the students to learn from just by creating their own blogs. The downside to this is that my student’s sometimes lack the necessary “verbal filter” that would be needed when writing to a global audience, so I would need to make sure I provide them with guidelines regarding what would be appropriate for their personal blogs.
Tammy, verbal filtering is a 21st century skill needed for global communication which will certainly be a base for most careers - especially in the future. Glad you have the chance to teach it and that the students have the chance to practice appropriateness. ~ Datta Kaur
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