During this semester, we are blogging about our teaching and the role of technology. This activity is meant to encourage reflection on what we are doing in class, what we are reading, and what you are experiencing in your own classes. It is directly related to the course goal about reflection.
Is blogging an activity that you might assign to your students? Think about the goals in the courses you teach - could blogging help your students reach any of those goals?
>>Sherry
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Q.Is blogging an activity that you might assign to your students?
ReplyDeleteA. May be YES! I could take this an opportunity to peek into what the students think about a particular lecture or topic i taught in the class. How it can be improved or different opinions on it, which they were shy to speak of in the class. Also, I could use this platform for a continuous feedback for my lectures and improve my classes/teaching dynamically rather than wait for the end of the semester to get a feedback, which anyways will not help the current batch of students!
In short, yes! I would like to assign the blogging activity for my students. It's a completely a different issue when I have to read 40-45 blogs every day/week :)
Good idea! It's true, though, that it can be difficult to keep up with. Just make sure the expectations are clear for how often you will read/post. You might consider breaking the class down into groups, too. Then the groups could report summaries to you.
ReplyDeleteSherry, I think this could be a good way to have students self reflect on issues in the class, especially when there are controversial topics in class. But, how is this much different than the discussion board on ELC? Sometimes, I'll start discussion boards and just let them run with students discussing. I think sometimes blogging can become one dimensional and egotistical. In Sociology classes I find a dialogue to be more important than a monologue (also my motto for not lecturing!). Nonetheless, I could see it going like this: On the topic of equal gender pay someone could go on and on about women shouldn't make as much as men because they are always at risk of getting pregnant and stepping out of the workforce...blah blah... but if other students don't read it (and only I read it) then it's not as helpful for the class. Moreover, then I will be commenting on the blog and doing so in class. It's like a double whammy for the student - who then never expresses his/her (often a him) real opinion anywhere. I know that's outlandish but even the comments in class startle me from time to time and I would be reluctant to send them down that road, for fear of it getting out of control.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think blogging could be an activity or assignment in a leadership course; we are all about reflection and making connections between course content and each student's personal life! Thus, blogging would enable every student to be able to share those connections and reflection on the content discussed. However, I also think some 'old-fashioned' class discussion could facilitate the same dialogue (maybe use them in tandem...class discussion with the encouragement to follow-up with a discussion board thread on the day's topic).
ReplyDeleteI think this kind of reflection could be very useful for both controversial topics and when critical thinking is particularly important - for example, when trying to get students to integrate theory and classroom content knowledge with social work practice. Reflection is key in social work, so in this respect, it could definitely provide a forum to promote this process.
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