Isn't it a bit late in the course to start talking about blogs? I mean, I've been working on this thing since January, and it's pretty much done - I'm happy with the content and all my readers should be too! Readers ... hmmm... wait a minute... I don't actually HAVE any followers other than the instructor and perhaps a few people who are also taking this course... and they're probably all copying my ideas anyway!!!
A blog, what is it good for?
Seriously, I can see that this IS the time to talk about Blogs because, as I am now an "experienced" publisher of content, I have come to understand that sharing knowledge and ideas via this medium helps the writer to truly understand a topic, to communicate that knowledge to a wide audience and most importantly to "ask readers to think and to respond". (Richardson, p. 18) When I first began to develop this blog, I began without a clear idea of the value of blogging, and approached the first assignment as if I were creating a static web page to be read by one person - the instructor. That approach did help me to consolidate my knowledge of photo sharing, and I did publish that knowledge to a (potentially) wide audience, but that first page is really no better than a traditional paper assignment displayed on a screen - it does not take into account the social aspect of the Internet - it does not, in Richardson's words, "demand interaction". (p. 18) Richardson would at best categorize it as a simple form of blogging (p 31).
Integration and "Social" Studies
The next step is to explore the use of social media tools in the classroom. For that purpose, I believe that the synthesis of distinct ideas and the social aspect of a blog are the two most powerful parts of this tool.
Through my own experience in LIBE 477, I have found that my posts have naturally flowed from one topic to the another, and that recently, I have begun to automatically integrate previously learned concepts into my assignments. For K-12 students, this synthesis would take the form of an online portfolio- equivalent to keeping hard copies of student work in a paper folder in the classroom (to show to parents at the end of the year), most of those items can be published online, and with each new item, the student can be asked to incorporate previous learning. The blog is a continuously updated document through which both teacher and student can do formative assessment.
The student blog not only allows teachers to assess student learning by simply reading a blog's content, but other students can also add to that learning through posting of comments, and through in-class discussion. All can gain insights from the work of others and it is easier than ever to collaborate - the social interactions with the teacher and with other readers of the blog are the key to its value. Unfortunately (on this site) my voice has dominated the content, and the social aspect has not been exploited ... yet.
As long as these tools remain available on the web, and the content remains topical, my LIBE 477 blog will indeed remain useful to teachers looking for ways to integrate technology into their teaching. My ideas are by no means brilliant or unique, but they do form a springboard to discussion about technology in education. I encourage readers to comment on any of my posts and further the dialogue on this important topic.
Feeding Time
Way back in topic #4 (podcasting) I subscribed to a Real Simple Syndication (RSS) feed of my Diigo social bookmarking account. (now THAT's integration!) At that time, I was using a program on my MacBook called Shrook which allowed me to follow a whole range of content from one place. Unfortunately, that service stopped working yesterday because the service is free for one month! Like many people, I prefer a free solution - I found it with Hootsuite - a service that I originally began to use in order to consolidate all updates on both Twitter and Facebook.
It turns out that Hootsuite also includes the ability to track RSS feeds, forwarding updates to one or more of Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare or LinkedIn. One can choose the frequency of updates (hourly to daily) and also how many updates to forward at one time. If a feed contains many updates each day, this may not be a good solution as you probably don't want your twitter feed to be filled with blog updates. However, for a weekly programme such as CBC's C'est La Vie, it allows you to stay up to date without actually visiting the website.
Conclusion
In my Vision for the Future assignment, I will be sure to discuss how my postings about technology tools have coalesced into this Blog, and that my learning will certainly continue beyond the final days of this course. To quote Richardson's closing remark in chapter 3:
"No one knows what blogs may look like in five or ten years, but I can tell you that no matter what, their impact and influence on education will be felt" (p. 54)
