Blog Reflection

Firstly, I would like to share that I have never set up a blog or commented on a blog until today. The only time I had heard of blogging, before I started this course, was on the news when the entertainment correspondent reports on a celebrities updated blog. I didn't realise how useful blogs could be in an educational setting.

The Functionality of a Blog

The meaning of a blog stated by Dictionary.com (2010) is 'an online diary; a personal chronological log of thoughts published on a web page.' A blog is typically maintained by an individual entering regular journal logs that may include text, videos or graphics. Blogging allows people the opportunity to share and exchange points of view with the wider community, even the rest of the world, rather than just their immediate surroundings.

Blogging is 'a trend that is sweeping the world of online learning' (Downes, 2004, p. 14). Blogs are a useful tool in the classroom to enhance learning. The pedagogical advances of blogging in a classroom environment include:

• being able to communicate with and recieve knowledge and information from the wider community,
• allowing students to take their time to gather their thoughts and reflect on how they will comment,
• writing on a public forum, helps students to become increasingly aware of their grammar,
• a student becomes aware of what information is appropriate to put on the internet,
• catering for a wide range of learning styles. As blogs can include grapics and videos for visual learners and the professional text helps linguistic learners.

I have found, just by reading other CQUniversity students' blogs for Managing E-Learning, that I have already learnt a great deal. Although we all have the same assignment, all our blogs are very different. This shows how important a tool such as blogging is. It helps people connect and relate all over the world.

References:

Dictionary.com. (2010). Dictionary.com:Blog. Retrieved on 19 July, 2010 from www.dictionary/reference/browse/blog.com

Downes, S. (2004). Educational blogging. New Brunswick, Canada: Educause Review