Final Blog

Blogging is a useful tool for self-motivated students. 

It may help develop their study skills and their research skills. I have noticed this from the research projects students undertake in stage 4. They blog about the project as they are doing it. I also observed value in blogging at the Young Scientist award . With the project was a diary, of what they are doing. A lot of schools are doing this in a blog format.  

Blogging is writing in the public domain. This can encourage networking,( by having to comment on each other's blogs), commitment to goals and development of confidence in writing. At the same time, blogging facilitates critical and reflective thinking skills.

A blog can be a store for resources and ideas, and over the semester, I have looked back at our ACU blogs at different times. 

Blogs can also be a public platform for the synthesis of ideas. What I liked was having an online community with the same academic interest. Resources can be shared (e.g. our Slowmations). 

Blogging can also support the development of key study and research skills, such as time management, academic writing and communication. 

 I need to stress that for blogging to be effective, the  students need to use the right tools, and in this case, blogger.com didn't let us down. I mean, who can forget March 29th, 2012? 

The memories of that night lingered for a while.

All our EDST543 science class at the same time on Leo's blogging system, trying to discuss teaching and ideas about topics that were still somewhat foreign, only to find that only one person can blog at any one time, and the rest of us had to wait. So we waited...  and waited...  and waited.... Rosie was first and then Siran , and they had a good night's sleep. Most of us didn't know what was even happening with the server, and we spent the night emailing each other back and forth. A few students just left . LEO failed us as a blogging system. It was not user friendly, was slow, and most of us  didn't know what to expect. The worst part was that if the person finished their blog, and went to make a cup of tea without closing LEO, we would have to wait, and wait and wait!

So, for a blog to be effective, the blogging site needs to be efficient, quick to access, user-friendly, reliable, and allows access to everyone. Having the right tools is essential, otherwise it would only end with frustration and anxiety. In a senior biology classroom, there is no room for error. Setting out a task like this, and students struggling with the IT aspect of it is not a good image. 

The other point to emphasise is that blogging is an expression of thoughts and ideas, and there is nothing worse than coming home late at night to 'blog'. Luckily for our biology class, Margaret is understanding and is more flexible than most (Thank you Margaret!) . 

But in a senior biology class, when students have to deal with the stress of the HSC and so many assessment tasks, rich and traditional, they may not be as enthusiastic about blogging. Therefore, teachers need to make blogging  a task the student can enjoy doing, and relate it to the outcomes. 

From a personal point of view,  blogging this semester has been a  good experience. I like that it can be less formal than a written report, and I love reading other blogs before mine. I learn a lot too.  Blogger.com is easy to use, and as it's clearly set up with all our addresses on Google Docs, students can begin to enjoy what it's about. 

By having to comment on each other's posts, we have learnt so much more about the entire syllabus, and also about each other.

I like it. 

As a link, I am adding the slowmation that Daniel did. It is a perfect example of what a blog is all about. He shared this amazing resource with me by posting it on my blog (in the comment section). Now I can find it and refer to it whenever I want. By sharing it online we can see that he has confidence in being online, in communicating and sharing ideas, and he is proud of his work. He has a presence. By watching the slowmation, you (the reader), might add a comment on how good it is. We may start a conversation about it, and it might lead to a debate about his use of colour, choice of music (ONE DIRECTION? ) and so on...