Group work

Similar to what we are doing now, I think blogs could be beneficial with group work discussions. I would have each group utilize one blog central locationmeaning if my group members just posted on my site. For me, this keeps things organized and not overwhelming. Checking multiple locations is kind of annoying. I would probably assign a blog leader who could be in charge of flagging any comments that may be inappropriate or unclear. The rest of the group could discuss a projects details, post their progress, questions, or links. Now that I'm writing about it I'm not sure why they wouldn't just talk about in class and I don't like to assign outside work that requires computers or internet. A lot of my students are on free or reduced lunch so I doubt internet access is available. However, this could be used for students out on home and hospital, etc. They could be their own group and communicate via blogs.

Blogging in the Classroom!

Recently during one my class conferences I responded to a classmate discussing the use of Twitter.  She questioned how many students may offer more insight to book summaries, etc. if it were done via Twitter instead of aloud, in class.  While Twitter is not the same as blogger.com, she made a good point.  Students are sometimes shy or sometimes they don't have a response to what is being asked until they have time to think it through. 
Some ways that blogs could be used/are helpful in the classroom are...
-I was notified when a classmate responded to my post via email. Not only was I notified I could see the entire post.  I believe this is something UMUC should adopt because it is quite time consuming sorting through all the threads to find my name and see input- especially without any notifications. Maybe there will be a response, maybe not!
-If writing criteria is given/rubric- it can help enhance writing skills and bring a sense of ownership to the response. 
- Allows time to actually process the information. I know during faculty meetings when we have to read an article in a given time I sometimes am not finished reading and if I'm called on right away to respond it feels very forced and fake.  Blogging allows that time to process on their own time and give meaningful feedback.

First Blog!

This is the first time I have used and created a blog. I like that I was able to link it to my existing gmail account- this made it very easy to create the new blogging account. I am using one of the templates offered by blogger. To me, it is a 'clean' layout and not cluttered. It will take some time to become familiar with all the options/blog customizations but so far it seems like a great way to get ideas 'out there' and follow those who you choose.