The Role of Blogging in Education

I liked what Vicki Davis http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com said about blogging in education, and think that she made very good points about how it should and should not be used. Blogging is a good way for students to become more engaged in the subject material and share their thoughts and opinions. If students think their ideas on the subjects being taught to them matter both to the teacher and to other students, they will be more likely to participate.

I didn’t realize that teachers used blogs as a way of turning in papers. I guess that makes sense, but it probably shouldn’t replace turning assignments in either on paper or through email. The thing that bugs me is the lack of privacy in blogging. From what I gather (and I’m far from an avid blogger), everyone can see what you post on a blog, and if a student isn’t confident in his or her writing ability, he or she might be embarrassed to post a paper for everyone to see. Also, there are times when the subject matter of a paper might be personal or private. I have had teachers assign papers before that I wouldn’t want to share with the entire class, due to a sensitive or controversial topic.

I think blogs should definitely be used in education to help facilitate interaction and conversation, but only on a voluntary basis. Students should be asked to post their thoughts and responses to questions that they are willing to share with the whole group. But, like Vicki Davis said, blogs should be kept free of negative remarks. I noticed that even on her blog, the people who commented didn’t exactly have the nicest things to say about her ideas. That is basically why I don’t blog, or have My Space, Facebook, or any of that other stuff. People have a tendency to pick things apart, and I don’t like putting myself out there to be publicly eviscerated. I’m not saying that I think these things are bad, rather that I don’t have the guts to use them.