Blogs
I think blogs are a terrific tool for communicating
information in a relaxed, casual way. I
have some favorite blogs that I frequently check and I always enjoy seeing
what’s new. I have found them to be
fairly easy to set-up and work with, though I do get frustrated sometimes when
I can’t seem to get one post to look like another in terms of font, font size,
etc. I think, with more practice, that
it would only get easier. I can see
myself as a teacher using a blog to communicate with parents. I could update as often as I wanted, could
include pictures and link to a classroom newsletter.
When thinking of a blog within Dale’s Cone of Experience, I
had a hard time narrowing it down. I
think blogs definitely fall into the category of “direct purposeful
experiences” because we have direct responsibility for our blogs, we are
learning by doing. I think a blog could
also be considered in the category of “exhibits” because of what we can do with
a blog. For example, we can fill them
with pictures of our students working in the classroom for others to view.
After reading Siegel’s article on “computer imagination” I
immediately thought of a blog as an instant publisher of sorts. Once you write on your blog and click “publish,”
your information is out there for anyone to see. When teaching writing, I think it would be fun to get student’s
writing out there as soon as possible.
You could have them publish before traditionally reaching that
step. I think it would be beneficial in
that students could get instant feedback along the way. You could hook your elementary students up
with a class of older kids who have an interested in the subject or being a
tutor of sorts.
When I first read the week’s assignment, I was very curious
about RSS. I had never heard that term
before. Now, after making and playing
around with one, I am a fan! I love
being able to put my favorite blogs and websites all in one place. I think just bookmarking can get tedious and
bog down a tool bar. It is frustrating
to have to go to a site and scroll through, looking for new information. Now, with my reader, I can see what is new
immediately and decide if I want to continue on and read it or come back to it
later. I like the different sorting
options and am motivated to organize my list better and create some
folders. What a great way to organize
all sorts of information. I feel like
you can keep personal interests and professional interests easily in one place. This is definitely a tool that I will tell
others about!
As far as Dale’s Cone of Experience, I think a RSS Reader
would be in the categories of “visual symbols, exhibits, and contrived
experiences.” A Reader helps you store
information in an organized way that allows you to see what is available on an
ongoing basis.
I think it would be beneficial to get your students started
with a reader when they are doing some research. If they are researching a current event, for example the upcoming
elections, they could manage news feeds from numerous sites with a reader. I am not sure how “imaginative” this is, but
I do think it would solve the problem of managing so much information at
once. Especially information that might
be continuously updated or even changed.
Using my wiki page was a little harder for me than my
blog and my reader. The more I worked
with it, the better it felt, but I definitely think there is a little bit more
of a learning curve. I am sure I will
get more comfortable with practice. In
a classroom, I can see a wiki page being very beneficial for student
groups. If I were teaching Language
Arts, I would set up literature circles and give each group a different novel
to read. Each group would have certain
pages to read weekly and each student would have a different job involving
those pages. Each group could set up a
wiki page and they could report their work on there. For example, the person in charge of writing discussion questions
could post them on a wiki, and then the others could add their responses. I could view the page as well and keep up
with what they are doing, how they are interacting, etc.
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