Reflection
I have previously worked with blogs before, so I am drawing on my previous experience to create this reflection.
Write an entry for your course weblog about your experience here (on your “Home” page and posting a new entry).
How labour intensive was the process?
Setting up blogs as an individual was quite effortless. The step-by-steps were easy to follow and I had a very smooth ride throughout the setting up process. When I introduced the blogs to my class and had the students to set up blogs, it was rather difficult. When you have a class of students setting up blogs at the same time, the internet connection becomes congested and the blogger system thinks it is getting a lot of spam accounts. The process becomes much more difficult. However, once it is set up, it is quite user friendly.
What worked well?
Blogger worked really well for all grades and for all courses. The medium was flexible enough for an English course and useful for a Social Studies course. The students had a place to store their assignments and it was very convenient for student to access their work and their past achievements. Students who were absent found it extremely helpful to use my homework blog site as a place of reference. The blogs were able to connect students from different grades and create communication between diverse groups of students. Since the blogs were used for documenting their writing, a lot of the students gained peer feedback automatically. This created a genuine audience and a true sense of writing for an audience.
What was challenging?
It is currently still a challenge. The freedom to express opinions in Beijing is still really difficult. The censorship of blogger and wordpress makes it really difficult for students to rely on this medium. In the middle of a course where blogs were at the heart of the course, censorship really prevented the class from accessing their work. Although the blogs are currently censored, there are still ways to get around the firewall, but as an educator, how can one teach students to go under or above the law the community goes by. This is still a challenge for me as an educator today. It does truly make a point to the students regarding the political situation they are caught in.
What surprised you?
It surprised me how my students had never used English blogs before and they were very skilled at creating Chinese blogs. There prior knowledge with an Asian culture created a really interesting dynamic when we were working with Blogger.
When i was personally working with blogger, I was surprised about how easy it was to set up an account and post right away. It was also very easy to customize and feel a sense of ownership about the page because you could decide the theme. The comments and the security were easy to set up. The power of a genuine audience cannot be underestimated. Since the students have been checking the homework site, it has become routine for me to update the site with pictures of what we do in class that day as well. It becomes an online documentary of my day to day teaching.
Side Note about WordPress
Since creating this blog for the ETEC 565, I am finding Word Press extremely user friendly once you get the hang of it. there are so many options on creating a wordpress blog. There are so many features once can add to the page. I am excited to keep on playing with this.
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