Blog Juice for Educational Technology

“When I think of blogs, I think primarily of what this technology enables my students to accomplish. When I look forward to reading their entries and comments I am really looking forward to thoughts made visible. And so, when they write, I don’t want the journey to end with me as it inevitably does when the teacher is the audience. I want to be part of the collective journey.�

I too have seen a pleasing development in class blogging. My students are thinking about their writing voices and experiencing the pleasure that I get from blogging. Recently some of Clarence Fisher’s students have been interacting with students in one of my writing classes. It certainly adds to the pleasure and excitement of writing. Students are experiencing a sense of place, a sense that that their place is different to places where other students live. Tiffany says

“It’s the long weekend for everyone living here in Melbourne. I wonder what everyone is getting up to. I’m playing netball, working and doing a lot of homework.�

We are seeing a sense of writing for an audience wider than just their class-mates. Tiffany goes on:

“Melbourne is a pretty big city if you think about it…around 4 million people living in it. Comparing to a town in central Canada - Snow Lake who only have around 1600 people. I’d like to say hi to those students who have been replying to my blogs, thanks it’s wonderful to hear what you have to say.�

Breaking news: On Friday night James Farmer announced that he is offering a place teachers can get free blogs for their students.



And here is a fascinating post by Joan Vinall-Cox on the genre of blogs.