BP2_20100403_Educational Uses for Blogs

Blogs can be very useful in the classroom. They provide the student an alterative outlet for their writing and provide a place for interaction and feed back related to the work they are producing. They are great companions to project based learning. The students can use blogs to keep their teams updated on completed work, communication from the instructor, and feed back through all stages of their work. It can help them keep their work organized and offer them a wider audience to display their work. Blog’s also encourage students to use technology in their learning environment. Blogs are an excellent tool for teachers as well. They can use them to keep the students updated about certain assignments and projects, classroom or team expectations, communications with parents; the list goes on and on. Teachers can also use the blogs to share resources and provide students with access to topics that relate to what they are working on. It gives them an inclusive place to go for topics related to their class and what they are studying. They can also be a place to provide feedback for the work that they do. This way they, and the instructor, know if an assignment or project was well received or successful. Comments by students can help the teacher tweak the project in the future to what the students found they needed or didn’t need to help them complete the work. They can also be used as a place to write personal reflections on the topics they are studying. They can refer back to the blog for information in the future, if they find it relates to other areas they are studying.