Emerging Web Technologies in Higher Education•Summary & APA Citation•Quote•Personal Reflection & “A-ha!” Moments

Why Blog?•Summary & APA Citation•Quote•Personal Reflection & “A-ha!” Moments

Using Blogs to Enhance Critical Reflection and Community of Practice•Summary & APA Citation•Quote•Personal Reflection & “A-ha!” Moments

Conclusion

Emerging Web Technologies in Higher EducationSaeed, N., Yang, Y, & Sinnappan, S. (2009). Emerging Web Technologies in

Higher Education: A Case of Incorporating Blogs, Podcasts and Social Bookmarks in a Web Programming Course based on Students’ Learning Styles and Technology Preferences. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 12(4), 98-109.

Click here to read it for yourself!

According to this article, technology should be used according to the learning styles of students. If used correctly, technology can positively influence the students’ learning experiences. Blogs, wikis, instant messaging (IM), social bookmarks, podcasts, and vodcasts are a few of the technologies that encourage communication, contextual knowledge, and other important elements in learning. The authors of this article conduct an experiment to validate their hypothesis that preference of technology is determined by a student’s learning style and if appropriate technology is used, the student will benefit. Learning styles from greatest to least were as follows: Sensing-Intuitive, Sequential Global, Visual-Verbal, and Active-Reflective. The hypothesis turned out to be true.

Emerging Web Technologies in Higher Education“This transformation from traditional classrooms to web-based learning environments has changed the learning styles and interactions between

instructors and students” (98).

Emerging Web Technologies in Higher Education

Learning Style

Technology Preference

Active Social Bookmarks

Sensing E-mail

Visual Vodcast

Sequential Podcast

Reflective Podcast

Intuitive Blog

Verbal Podcast

Global Blog

Differentiated teaching is something that I value as a future teacher, and this article helped me to better understand how to incorporate technology into differentiate teaching. I found the chart on the right very interesting because it ties a technology with each learning style. As said in the quote on the previous slide, it is very important to realize that the interactions between the teacher and the student is drastically changing due to technology. I also found it very valuable to realize the impact daily web-based technology has on students. I never thought about how much a student can to learn through using a blog, for example. A student is forced to understand writing for an audience. Web-based technology has a great impact in today’s society!

Why Blog? (2005, December 1) Why Blog? Retrieved December 2, 2009, from THE journal website: http://thejournal.com/Articles/2005/12/01/Why-Blog.aspx?sc_lang=en&p=1

Click here to read it for yourself!

This article goes in depth with what the purpose of blogging is. Blogs allow anyone who has access to the internet to be an author of sorts, but it is important to make sure blogging is being done for the right reasons. As an educator, public blogs can be used to reach out to parents or to help stimulate a student’s writing abilities. An example was given of a school in California who actually set up a blog between its students and students in Maine. The two classes were able to discuss important issues and learned how to defend their own view with an audience.

In order to communicate with parental units, blogs can be used to send out important information, daily updates, and even videos. It is important to realize that blogs take time, but they are well worth it!

Why Blog? Arquillos says he started using blogs with his students because he wanted to make his classroom available beyond the classroom doors. “I like the fact that it is a living

document. Students, parents, teachers, and the community can ‘comment’ or ‘discuss’ the stories I post,” he explains. “I’ve had parents tell me that they

appreciate being able to know what their students are doing in class.”

“What makes a good blog? One that gets read. If your blog has no readers, you might as well keep a diary. Fortunately, an educator has a captive audience. Parents and

students want a steady stream of up-to-date information, and teachers need them to have it. Therefore, a well-kept blog is an ideal way to satisfy everyone.”

Why Blog?

This article was great! I really enjoyed reading it. I had never considered using a blog to communicate with my students and parental figures, but I got so much out of reading this article that I am definitely considering using one in my classroom! I thought it was interesting that the student-computer ratio in schools is better than ever and the internet connectivity is almost one hundred percent! I loved the idea of students from California blogging with students in Maine. That is a great idea for me as a future Spanish teacher. I now hope to set up a blogging experience for my students with native Spanish speakers. I also found it interesting that businesses and organizations are now using blogs to communicate their research with the community.

Using Blogs to Enhance Critical Reflection and Community of Practice

Yang, S.-H. (2009). Using Blogs to Enhance Critical Reflection and Community of Practice. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 12(2). 11-21.

Click here to read it for yourself!

Reflection is a critical part of learning, so this article focuses on the importance of student reflection through blogging. Blogs can also be used to benefit teachers. Reflection is also a vital part of being a successful teacher and by using a blog, teachers can help their peers by providing insight, new ideas, etc. Blogs are very useful in the language learning world, as well. Students can keep portfolios of their progress and have conversations with people in a language other than that of their native tongue. This way students learning another language can receive immediate feedback on their skills and learn how to say what is on their mind in the language they are learning. Teachers can also use blogging to post additional resources such as audio or visual materials.

Using Blogs to Enhance Critical Reflection and Community of Practice

“A blog seemingly transpires to be a helpful tool for teachers to establish an encouraging and nurturing discussion space that enhances students’ reflection” (12).

“To be a professional is not to have all the answers. Rather, a professional issomeone who can reflect on tentative solutions, collaborate with others on the possible avenues available, and risk making mistakes because mistakes are an

inevitable part of building new roads”

Using Blogs to Enhance Critical Reflection and Community of Practice

As a future Spanish and English as a Second Language teacher, this article particularly interested me because it partially focused on language learners. One of the great ideas this article gave me was the idea of a blog to be used as a portfolio to show the progress of the students. I found it interesting that the article described a blog as having a high sense of community because members tend to be more involved in a web-based community. I am curious as to whether this is true or not. Also, it seems that web-based learning allows students to work more at their own pace. I think this is a great way to keep all students challenged.

Blogging is an excellent way to better students’ educations, to better connect with parents, and to better teachers’ skills. Blogging can be used in a variety of ways:

•Teaching students to write for an audience•Communicating between teachers/students/parental figures•Assessing progress of learning•Communicating globally•Providing extra resources•and so much more!

These articles have helped me find a lot of new ways I can use technology in the classroom!