Reflection Task 2: Reflection on Blogs, Wikis and Websites

Reflection Task 2:



Many weblogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog). This technology of blogging has become very popular since the early 2000's and it is possible to find a blog online on almost any subject you are interested in. It is simple to keep up to date with this technology also as users have the ability to 'follow' their favourite blogs. Blogging is a simplistic and creative way to share information on the internet and would be considered very useful in educational settings.

The settings of this technology allow the author to edit the: title, description, privacy, blog address, blog authors and blog readers components of the blog. Other components that can be modified about the blog are the template, desktop layout, mobile layout, languages, formatting, advertising and links to other blogs and/or social networking sites.

It is possible to attain more than one author for a blog by adding more administrative accounts through the settings preferences of the blog. This is very divergent to the function and process of something such as a wiki. Although authors can be created/added via the settings of each blog, a wiki enables any user with access to edit and contribute information at any time given that another user is not accessing the same wiki at the same time.

Being administrator of the blog grants you the ability to make your blog public, private to blog authors, or private to readers. This means that the author has the capacity to expose/publish your blog to anyone who wishes to view it; the capacity to enable only the administrative accounts (authors) to view and edit the blog; or the capacity to enable specific readers to access and view your blog, respectively. However, viewers can easily respond and post comments which engages dialog/conversation between another person or many people including the author.

To be able to successfully operate a blog there is little technological experience required. By configuring a corresponding e-mail address to your blog and by having a play with the customisation settings such as the layout and format of your blog it is very simple to construct a very entertaining or interesting blog. Blogger makes it obvious for any user to locate and use the different available features such as adding an image, video, or link to your blog postings.

It is made very easy to customise and modify a blog. Within the settings of the blog: layout, mobile layout, and template are accessible to be customised at will with many different specifications to be changed. There are many blogging websites that are free and simple to use such as Blogger. It is very easy to navigate around Blogger and it has a very attractive layout and format that appeals to its audience.

The use of a blog in educational settings is a very productive and efficient strategy of improving student skills. For example, if a student were to complete their homework on their individual school blog it may help enhance their writing skill, writing passion, keyboard skill and expand their thoughts and their knowledge and understanding of the technology. This form of learning is a very useful and effective scheme that enables students and teachers to incorporate technology into their lives which is becoming/has become very important in daily life.

A blog is a very creative and effective way in which students can learn and complete their homework and even assessment tasks. By initiating the use of a blog in pedagogy, teachers and parents can both interact and track/monitor student learning progress, development and completion of work. This information would be very easily accessible by teachers or parents as it is only a website URL away. I have created an example blog (Mr. McDonald's Yr11 Geography) to portray a more in depth understanding of what a blog would look like/consist of if it were to be used in education. To access this 'example blog' please click here.

The example blog that I have created is a student's individual school blog which is being utilised to complete homework tasks and eventually assessment tasks. It is evident that on each date (01/06/15 and 04/06/15) the student has completed their homework for this subject (Mr. McDonald's Year 11 Geography). The teacher (Lachlan McDonald) has made a comment on one of the student's blog posts with feedback regarding his effort in the homework tasks. This is just one way in which the use of blogs in education can be made very effective.

Another way to involve the notion of a blog in educational settings is to incorporate readings, assessment tasks, class work, key terms and ideas, and teacher and student input. For example, in the example blog I have created I have made a comment as a teacher in secondary education. This could work with either a teacher or student. If a teacher were to provide feedback to a student this would be a very simple and logical method of doing so. If a teacher were to provide a blog with readings, worksheets/questions or general class work it would be very easy for the students to access these components. Within the 'comments section' of the blog post the students are able to write their individual responses.

The SAMR Model has allowed me to constructively analyse and improve upon the ways in which I could incorporate blogs into education and specifically Senior Geography. A YouTube video explaining the SAMR Model is available below:

Substitution Level: The technology would appear as an alternative to a workbook thus only substituting a blog for physical material such as exercise books and writing implements.

Augmentation Level: An example of the augmentation level in SAMR would be a class blog. Through this blog the teacher could connect to the students and their parents on a technological level and post information in regards to what and how the class is learning whilst also acquiring feedback and/or questions via comments from both parents and students.

Modification Level: At this stage in the SAMR process students would be looking at a more hands-on situation. The blogs would be in control of the students and homework tasks or class work would have to be completed in these blogs and assessed or read over by the teacher.

Redefinition Level: This is the last level of the SAMR Model. To successfully fulfill the requirements to reach the redefinition level of the SAMR Model students would need to access their individual blogs and complete subject assessment and other forms of formative assessment in order to completely utilise the technology of blogging in education.