Saturday, October 11, 2008
Journal 7: Blogging
I chose the tool of blogging. Blogging is essentially an online journal or resource for the public to view. The name "blog" came from shortening "web log." The thread that I was following was about setting up a class blog without requiring students to have an e-mail address. From what I gathered, most blog hosts require the user to have an e-mail address, which can present come controversy within schools where parents do not want their children to have unsupervised online usage. A couple of the posters suggested making fake e-mails after the teacher has created the blog, which each student can use only for the blog. Also, another poster suggested using the teacher's e-mail to set it up, and then creating a slightly different e-mail for each student. For example, my e-mail is Brookieca88@aol.com. If I were the teacher, I could create Sarah an account by making her Brookieca88+Sarah@aol.com. A lot of teachers were discussing their frustrations with this process, and that all the hassle discourages them from using blogs within the classroom. It seems that the preferred blogging host is Blogger on gMail, due to the creativity is allows compared to other hosts. There is also such a thing as a "10 Minute E-mail" that allows you access to the e-mail address for 10 minutes, which will allow each student to create an account on the blog. Personally, I think this is the best idea, because then the e-mail address will be deleted, so there are no worries for the parents.
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12 comments:
I did not know where the term blogging came from. I also really liked the ideas that you talked about for ways to do blogging because especially in high school it can be a big issue, so it is good to know how you want to set it up it you were to use a blog
Like Aimee said it is interesting to hear where the term blog came from. Blogs seem like great tool especially for the high school classroom. Hopefully over time there will be an easier way to bring these into the classroom and incorporate them into lessons.
Prof Heil discussed in class the stigma or should I say lack of discussion that is out there regarding children and computers- in this case blogging. It we don't address the situation, children are going to do it anyway. If we do address the situation the elephant is out of the room and we can move forward in trying to find solutions to creating a safe technological environment.
I completely agree. I think it is so important to discuss the issues of the internet and email usage in classrooms, probably as early as elementary school. I really like the idea of the 10-minute email for blogging. I think it's a great idea to incorporate the use of blogging in a classroom while also not upsetting parents. It would teach students so many things, such as using an email account, navigating the web for classroom purposes, and cooperative learning.
Blogging is becoming a great way to collaborate via email. Incorporating technology into the classroom and creating a safe environment obviously opposed a problem in the experience you mention, but communicating and teaching students about the situation will help.
The concerns from the parents are rightfully justified, considering how crazy this world can get! There is something, however, that I do not quite understand about the 10-minute email accounts. Couldn't the students just keep creating 10-minute email accounts? I mean, I know how irritating and inconvenient that would be, but if they really wanted to continue dialoguing or what have you, essentially this could be done right? It's complicated because there is a "high risk" for the abuse of this tool, but this is potentially a great tool for expressing and learning ideas, and it would be a shame to not utilize such a great communication device (especially for students who feel uncomfortable expressing ideas in front of a whole class).
That's interesting where the word 'blog' came from, I wasn't aware of that. I, too, think blogging is a very interesting new tool teachers can use in their classrooms. It is true, however, that we have to be aware of the worries of parents which are sure to come along with giving students access to the web.
It was interesting to here you talk about the negatives of using this in classrooms. I didn't think parents would mind their kids having email adresses. I can understand it in younger students, but not for the high school kids.
I have never heard of the "10 minute email address." That's a great idea, especially for the purposes of accessing a class blog. It's a great alternative for parents who are skeptical about allowing their child unlimited access to the Internet. I am excited to see how I can bring class blogging into my own classroom.
I think that the 10 minute e-mail idea is a great one! I never truly thought of how difficult it would be to have to create e-mail accounts for each and every student, especially if parents did not want their children to be using it in the first place. Thanks for reviewing blogs for me! It truly brought up some great points!
It was really interesting to read about the 10 minute e-mail. I agree and think that would be the best decision for the teacher seeing how it would eliminate the parents worry for their child having an e-mail address. But would also let them participate in blogging still.
I really like this idea as a way of social networking among my class. I'm glad that people are concerned about unsupervised usage and that steps are being taken to protect students. I had no idea where the term "blog" came from; this would make a good trivia question!
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