Blogging: Blogging is like online journaling that is open to comments from other users. Blogs are hosted by providers like blogspot..com, blogger.com and kidsblog.com
One of the ways that teachers use blogs in a classroom is to provide an “authentic audience” for student work. Depending on the blog settings, the blogs can be seen by parents, students in the classroom, or other students in other classrooms. When one class comments on another class’ blogs, the other class generally reciprocates and communication between the two classes results. Also, it makes the students and teachers more responsible and open to parents. Both of these scenarios result in an audience for student work, which seems to motivate students to do better work and to write even when there is no assignment.
Teachers are also using blogs as a sort of online newsletter/calendar/information center for both students and parents. These sorts of blogs often host content that helps students review for exams and quizzes as well as information for parents about what the class is up to and what assignments are due when. Schools are finding blogs are a useful tool for keeping parents involved in the day-to-day activities in the classroom.
One of the interesting debates going on about classroom blogs right now is whether teachers are better served to maintain a website or a blog. Proponents of blogs argue that they often appear more professional than the standard teacher webpage does, that they are less static and that teachers are more likely to update them. Proponents of webpages argue that because a lot of teachers do not update, class webpages that provide basic information may be more suitable for most teachers.
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