I've been following a number of discussions around the educational uses of weblogs. The latest entry at Weblogg-Ed, despite a dreary title ('EduBlogs as "Slow Motion Distributed Car Wreck"'), shows both sides of the story. A couple of the positive quotes:
And I have a handful of teachers who are interested too because their students are showing signs of learning more effectively with the use of Weblogs. They articulate argument in writing, they synthesize what they have read and discussed, and they research more effectively when they are asked to annotate sources and information. Not that any of that can't be done with a Weblog, and not that it's happening across the board.
"The building of a community through weblogs is exhilarating. It's truly the best way to learn." And that's the thing. For Anne, and for me, this has become one of our greatest learning experiences. And that in itself is motivation enough to keep looking at ways to make this work in the classroom. Will it work for enough teachers and students to make it worth continuing our collective efforts? I guess we'll see.
I've long thought that weblogs might have a positive impact in the classroom. But, it isn't going to be a magic bullet.
I've had a number of conversations with some really smart ed tech folks in the past few days. I've been asking about the types of online tools that could be useful for students or teachers. One of the more astute comments was: "it isn't the tool that matters; its how you use the tool." This clearly applies to weblogs as well.
Posted by Karl
May 26, 2004 08:45 PM