Relating to my blog entry "Blogging Monks in the News," I found another real world application of blogging.
This time the blog news comes from FOXNews.com, the article is "Official State Department Blog Reveals Diplomat Character, Invites Public Discourse." This article introduced me to the U.S. State Department's official blog "Dipnote." The article is a place where US diplomats overseas can post and reflect on what serving abroad means to them. It also gives these people the ability to share what they do as diplomats. I really liked the article and the blog.
It gave me the idea that blogs would be good for a free form feedback tool. Have your class (corporate or k-12) build a blog at the beginning of their tenure and have each student post impressions and improvement ideas. I know this sounds somewhat similar to what we are doing here but have the students keep the same blog site and post for every class once a week. Each teacher would subscribe to the blogs. Students could express themselves in a environment they create and are somewhat comfortable in. Teachers would be able to get an impression of the student by examining past blogs. I'm certain the US state department is trying to get as much information out of their blog as they can, at the very least the "Dipnote" blog gives feedback on a basic level. In both my classes this semester we have discussed using the tools of educators in their best possible use. I think this might be a good use for blogs.
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4 comments:
I like the parallel you draw from the Diatribe site and our blogging uses.
You're right - blogging can be a valuable form of feedback on a project - not just random individual thoughts.
And I still can relate to your comments about blogging generally - still searching for that value that relates to your practice.
As I read everyone's blogs, and see some who have found some really valuable stuff, and shared it. Others are putting up cool videos from another class. Some of us though are trying to connect and relate the tool to our real interests and passions.
Hang in there - you're learning from this process, even if you haven't found the holy grail!
After reading Will Richardson's book, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms last fall, it occurred to me that blogs would be great for students to use for research journals. It would be so easy to subscribe to the RSS feeds and read them all in an aggregator. Unfortunately, I haven't taught ENG 122 at Red Rocks since then, so I can try it.
These are some good ideas to use blogging in the classroom. I still have difficulties though requiring students to do things online, when they don't have any access. This is just one of the problems that we have to deal with as teachers.
в итоге: восхитительно!! а82ч
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