Blogs: the good, the bad and the ugly…
In my search to find more information about the pros and cons of blogging I stumbled upon the article by Gerry McGovern “Blogs and blogging: advantages and disadvantages” and he points out that a myriad of the revolutions we have seen in the last few decades have had to do with writing and ‘blogging’ is no exception! From emailing to webpages to texting we have certainly changed the way we communicate. He calls bloggers ‘people with attitude’ and says that there is ‘a book inside everybody’. Who let this ‘book’ out? Blogs did! With blogs, we are now exposed to a myriad of perspectives and are bombarded with information.
The good….
• enable knowledge building, creates a community
• enable a forum for feedback, interaction with peers and teachers
• develops talent, keeps students informed
• fosters confidence and enables think time before response must be written
• encourage a ‘best effort’ by students due to peer scrutiny
• exposure to other viewpoints and opinions
• enables parents to see what their children are ‘learning’ about
• makes it ‘real’ for students since their work is out their for everyone and anyone to review
The bad….
• blabla bla- blog writing isn’t always quality or pertinent to the topic
• exposes learners to critism, exclusion of classmates, popularity contests continue online
• safety concerns- stranger danger!
• easy to start but hard to maintain! –organization!
• Time-consuming
• Inability for so many of us to ‘K.I.S.S.’
The ugly….
How does a blog cater for those learners who are more visual learners? (I say that all students need to write sometimes and the blog that you use with your students can encapsulate that required writing time! Students need literacy practice whether they like it or not!)
How do we keep parents onside? Keep them informed, give responsibility to students (student-parent-teacher contracts) etc.
And a variety of other ideas that have already been discussed at length!