In chapter 2, Will Richardson takes a look at Weblogs (a.k.a. blogs) in greater detail and their power for enveloping students in digital learning. Two key points that Richardson starts off with are 1) the ease with which Weblogs can be created and maintained, and 2) their demand for interaction. With today's generation requiring more interaction and an ever shrinking attention span, resources that demand students to sit up and pay attention to them can be valuable tools in the classroom.
As the book discusses different ways that Weblogs can be employed in schools, one aspect that really stood out for me was that Weblogs are searchable. Using this tool for students to file or document their work (can you say e-portfolios?) means that conducting searches for specific artifacts or items later on is so much easier and efficient. However, the success of this feature requires some knowledge of using tags and keywords to label posts and attachments.
In managing over 400 devices as part of the MLTI 1-to-1 laptop program, I process many repair dispatches and replacement part requests each year. When bills come due and the secretary needs confirmation or additional information in order to issue payment, it is so unbelievably easy to find the correct documentation because it is digitally searchable. This is also why, in my 6th grade computer literacy class, I stress with students to use logical names when saving their documents and projects. "Saving your Pages document as 'Untitled' or your GarageBand project as 'My Song 2' are NOT good choices."
Richardson also talks about the new genre that Weblogs has created: connective writing. Publishing blog posts is not just about sharing your writing, but is also about asking others to comment on your writing to help facilitate personal reflection and gain insight from peers that reside beyond the classroom. In fact, some are saying that the line between reading and writing online has become blurred and that the two are constantly swirling about users in a never-ending vortex of information, opinions and reflections.
Finally, with the number of blogs increasing exponentially Richardson looks at how we can use blogs as resources for today's research. The challenge to verify the trustworthiness of a digital source has increased with the introduction of Weblogs, "…there are no longer many free passes when it comes to assessing the reliability of a source." (Richardson, 2010) This connects nicely with the lesson that our school librarian and I co-teach on Internet Credibility. In this activity, students try to determine if the information on a site is trustworthy or a bunch of "hooey" by going through a checklist to look for such things as the author's name, date(s) when information was last updated, whether or not images appear real or "photoshop'd" and more. In the end, students need to know how to label the content they find online and where to use it in their learning journey.
Diigo: Book link list
I really like your activity that you do with students to determine whether or not a site is credible. Teachers talk about this a lot in my district. It seems that some students just believe everything they read and fail to verify its credibility. Your lesson really makes that point. I found recently when doing my research for the paper we wrote in the last class that I had to put those skills to work. As I research ideas and links for my webquest I am constantly evaluating and reevaluating sites. I tell teachers all the time to just model what it is they want their students to do. That's one of the best teaching tools we have!
ReplyDeleteI hear you. I've started making sure that I include a bibliography with all of my Keynote presentations for the course and I make sure they see the slide before moving on. It's a pain to do sometimes, but how can we expect students to follow through if we don't do the same?
ReplyDeleteI too really enjoyed the website publishing the owner of the site license, that is an incredibly helpful tool for students and teachers alike. I think that you hit upon the two most important features that Richardson discusses, and those two number among the reasons why blogs are still not utilized everywhere. They are exceptionally easy to create, but teachers must know they exist. Second, and the true reason is the need for use, a blog can not just sit there, it has to be acted upon. Great points!
ReplyDeleteI noticed the Diigo List you are creating from the book. What a great way to keep track of the sites. Thanks for sharing your lessons and mentioning tagging. This is something that I need to talk about on our second weekend.
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