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.
I love the idea of students participating in class discussions via twitter. You could have a hash tag associated with you Class, or create a list of the me embers of the class. Students could post their thoughts as they have them instead of waiting until the discussion comes back around, there are lots of ways to do this.
ReplyDeleteStudents would love to use Twitter to respond to discussions! Do you think grading all the response would become overwhelming? Maybe other students could sort of 'grade' eachother using an online rubric. An obvious question is what about the students who do not have access to Twitter?
DeleteHey Katie, Just wanted you to know that I changed my blog address
ReplyDeletehttp://emanganedtc.blogspot.com/
sorry!!!!
Elizabeth
Katie, I really like the idea of getting UMUC on board with notifications. I find notifications at times to be a lifesaver. I also find myself more active and engaged when I know that I have a change or a reply to a message or the content on my page. Without notifications I seem to forget that I have an active site and need to keep it updated.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree! It seems old school not to get notifications. Plus its not very convenient to scroll through all the conferences to find your name and read responses.
DeleteI was just responding to Nelson's post about how beneficial blogs can be for discussing in the classroom, especially for shy students. Like you said, it really gives students that normally would not raise their hand in class to share some of the ideas they have. I am often times surprised in my own classroom when a student out of the ordinary joins into a conversation and goes above and beyond with their class. I want students to feel comfortable discussing, and I think that blogs can help a lot of them feel that way. I also think it is important for students to learn the skills to speak in front of their peers as well.
ReplyDelete