Week 2 - Reflection

I enjoy using a blog. In my undergraduate students, I had a couple of classes in which we had to use the blog as a discussion tool, also. It is a great way for students to communicate with each other, especially in the situation where we are participating in an online course. I find it interesting to read other people’s reflections. Actually, it seems as though it is more polite than the traditional classroom because students’ cannot interrupt each other. I did have difficulty with my first post. It took a long time for it to go through; therefore, I thought it didn’t and posted it a second time. Both posts then ended up on Marilyn’s blog.

If I were given the opportunity for more access to technology in my school, I would definitely use blogs in my classroom. These could be used for students to complete their journals on and have other students respond to journals. They would also be great for an online discussion, much like we do, for novels or other forms of literature. My students love technology and seldom get to use it for education. I would love to expose them to this form, and I think they would enjoy it immensely.

In regards to RSS Readers, I was amazed by how much information one can accumulate in just a few hours. Especially on a Thursday afternoon when a plane crashes into the Hudson River. Within just a few hours, I accumulated almost 400 different pieces of information. I would find the RSS Reader useful, especially when there are specific types of information I am looking for.

Categorizing what level of Dale’s cone RSS Readers and blogs fall into was difficult. The use of each comes into play as to what category I would assign each one to. For instance, if a student is using an RSS Reader for doing research and getting up-to-the minute/day information, this is a more hands on application than if events happened in the past where the student is more removed from an actual memory of the event. I may classify this scenario to Demonstrations or Educational Television depending on the information. The categories are broad in this sense. The blog was also difficult to categorize. Many students could taking blog responses to a very abstract level depending on the topic and those that they are having a discussion with. If a blog were to be used for presentation of photos, video, or audio, then classification would be much simpler. The cone level would be towards the top – possibly Recordings, Radio, Still Pictures.

As mentioned earlier, I believe a blog could be used for a journal and response tool. Another possibility for a blog is using it as a story builder. This is when each student would take turns adding a specified amount to a given prompt. I used these before in the paper form, and I believe it would be fun for students to utilize the computer to compile their stories. Using a blog would allow all students could watch it develop, envision the different directions the story will go, and find out if they were thinking as other students do. In regards to Siegel’s concept, a RSS Reader could be used for research of information.

Postman would probably consider the blog to diminish the use of writing along with socializing with one’s peers. An RSS Reader, in Postman’s view, may deplete a student’s ability to develop sound research skills because information will be to readily at hand.

Personally, I can see the benefit for both of these applications in an educational setting. However, I do think that students need to conduct many forms of research; one of them could definitely utilize the RSS Reader.