-What are your early
impressions of using a blog and what was your experience using an RSS Reader
this week? Any surprises, pleasant or otherwise?
The blog was easy to set up and easy to add information. I feel that it
could be a useful tool for communication with my special education students’
families. That being said, it would be an easy way for me to get the
information out there, but I’m not sure how easy it would be for them to access
it. I know that there are many obstacles for the parents of my students that
may be in the way of them accessing the blog. Some of these include lack of
access to a computer, busy schedules at home and looking up the blog may take
longer than pulling a note out of their child’s folder, lack of knowledge about
how to use a computer, and parents’ own disabilities making reading difficult.
The RSS reader was also simple to set up. I’d never heard of or tried
this tool before. I don’t read a lot of blogs on a regular basis, so I’m not
sure how useful it would be in my daily life and I’m not sure it’s something I
would really use with my students or parents either. I could see this tool
possibly being useful for those who work with older students. Perhaps, the
teacher could create an assignment where students use Feedly to follow current
events or receive updates in certain subjects they are studying.
-Which part(s) of Dale’s
Cone do you think each tool (Blog, RSS) lends itself best to and why?
Since there are many different
uses for blogs and so many options to consider while creating one, there is a
range on the cone where different blogs could best fit. Most uses fall in the more abstract zones. Some
blogs may contain only written information. These blogs would be on the very
top of the cone. Other blogs may include words and diagrams and fall into the
second section to the top. This could be
a teacher’s blog that writes information about reading lessons and attaches
pictures of diagrams that could be used to help children with comprehension
(i.e. Venn diagrams). Many if not most blogs probably fall into the next two
sections, “recordings, and radio, and still pictures” or “motion pictures.” Most
blogs offer many visual images to go along with the information. This could
include a teacher’s blog who shows pictures of classroom activities or a family
blog with family photos. Some blogs may include video recordings of lessons or
family moments. Although most blogs probably end at this level, I think there
is potential to use them at higher levels on the cone. For example, a teacher
could link a demonstration of a science experiment that students could repeat
at home.
Since the RSS links to blogs, I
believe that they both would be on the same level on the cone. The RSS simply
creates access to the information in the blog and doesn’t offer any information
on it’s own.
-Considering Siegel’s
concept of “computer imagination”, what do you think would be at least one
“imaginative” educational use of each tool (blog, RSS) that takes advantage of
each tool’s inherent strengths? That is, what do you think you and/or your
students could use these tools for that they might not be able to do with other
more simple or low-tech tools? Or, as Postman might ask, what is a problem to
which each of these tools is an answer?
I could use Siegel’s concept of
“computer imagination” to create a blog that gives information to my students’
parents. I could use some of the web’s
strengths listed in the article such as integrating multimedia into the blog. I
could do this by linking a voice recording of the notes I send home for parents
who have difficulty reading. I could create a link to google translator for my
Spanish speaking families. I could
create videos of some of my classroom lessons to show parents things we are
working on in class in order to help them also work on them at home. I could
create community by posting information about parent support groups and other
school activities. The blog could be made interactive by having parents answer
questions on an online survey to specific questions that would guide them to
the best resources to help their child or family. The blog could be easily
updated with the most up-to-date classroom calendars and newsletters. Postman might say that this tool could solve
the problem of communicating with parents who have limited time, limited
reading skills, or who don’t speak English.
Since I wouldn’t likely use feedly
with my young students, I could use on my own to stay in touch with old
friends. I could create links to blogs of people I went to college or high
school with. This would be a good use of
the tool because of the time it would save and the greater access I would have
to information about people I wouldn’t otherwise be able to stay in touch
with. To answer Postman’s question, this
tool may solve the problem of keeping up to date with many individuals in a
limited amount of time.
No comments:
Post a Comment