Assignment #1
From VHS, week two:
1. How could you use blogging in your instruction?
2. Would this practice benefit your students?
3. What hurdles might stand in the way of using blogging in your instruction?
4. What would it take to remove the hurdles?
5. Is it worth the fight?
Responses:
#1) I don’t see much of a use for blogging in my instruction other than posting content from each day’s lessons. i.e. homework assignments, notes, example problems, etc. For students’ use, I may assign an optional project where students would create their own blogs, where they might display their solution process for a variety of problems. Both of these uses are instructional in a very one-way manner.
#2) Students who have internet access at home would benefit from my online distribution of material, though it would have little effect on the majority of my students since they don’t fall into this category. The student blogs, on the other hand, would be something that would keep my more advanced students busy, and cut down on the distraction they provide to the other students.
#3) The biggest obstacle is student internet access. As I already mentioned, most of my students do not have a computer at home, and thus have very limited access to the online world. Anything that I do online has to be optional, since most of my students lack access outside of school. Thus, if it is required, I must commit a fair amount of classroom instructional time to its completion.
#4 & 5) Removing this “hurdle” is not really within my power. I personally believe that access to the internet should be a public right, and unfortunately we are not there yet. In the mean time, I must make the internet available in school, and use some of my instructional time in helping my students get acclimated to the online scene.
