Blogging In School

The Demo Blog is a learning blog. We teach each other about blogging and I hope to use our blog in workshops early next year. We then are concerned with education.

Yesterday Lou wrote a post called Blogging at School that I found interesting. It reminded me of a post about education blogs I had written. One of the links was to the profile of Ms. Fitterman. She and her students are using Blogger. I mentioned the teacher to Lou and we thought that it would be interesting and beneficial to contact her. I left a comment in one of the blogs directed to the teacher.

One of the reasons I decided to contact the teacher was to share ideas about teaching blogging. In our group we have used tutorials, and direct teaching using instant messaging. We are interacting and building community. We have two very active blogs and a series of test blogs. We came together because people needed help and others wanted to help.

Another reason I want contact with other learning groups is our diversity. When I tell people about our group they are often amazed. We range in age from 14 to 61 and cover 3 countries and 2 continents. We have a variety of skills and experience. I hope we can serve as an example of something that works and that people are interested in what we have to say.

Finally I want to promote blogging as a useful tool for education. Lou's comment about 'no blogging' makes me think somebody is missing the point. I read somewhere that 'you don't have to be a good writer to blog, but if you keep writing you will become one.' I have seen blogs that started out full of slang and typos become better written and more grammatical. My friend Laura – Jane's blog is a good example. (See this example and this one.)

Blogging is a combination of writing and cybersocial interaction. We write for ourselves and hopefully please our readers. When we comment in other blogs we begin to interact with people all over the world. Our peer group expands dramatically. Blogging is a way for us to interact and keep challenging ourselves. Why shouldn't it be a part of the curriculum?

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Notes:

1. Our comments are set to members only. Guests may use the guestbook in the sidebar.


2. My Truefresco Referrer picked up one of the student blogs after someone popped into Firemind. I followed the link back to Ms. Fitters profile.