Blogging is a new kind of digital literacy that is sweeping through schools. This is a Teachers TV programme that serves as a short introduction to blogging is a helpful starting point for those wanting to find out more about what blogging is, and what the potential educational benefits of blogging might be for their pupils. Having watched the film, there are some very helpful resources for those who want to find out more.
What the resource is:
This 15 minute video introduces the practice of blogging and illustrates the educational potential at the work of one junior school in the south of England.
The aims of the resource:
The resource aims to give a simple definition of blogging and show how easy it is for all pupils to engage in the process of publishing their writing and artwork online.
Key findings or focus:
The key findings of the film are clear. Blogging is an inclusive, engaging and motivating activity for all pupils. When placed within an appropriate and wider context of teaching, blogging can work as a method to link together subjects in a holistic manner. Blogging needs to be taught, developed and celebrated throughout the life of the school. In the junior school highlighted in the film, blogging started as an after school club but quickly moved into the mainstream activities of the school. The school even holds fortnightly assemblies that feature blogs that pupils have written and celebrates particularly successful blogs through awards.
The quality, authority and credibility of the resource:
The film is an interesting ‘educational take’ on an established Web 2.0 practice. Presenter Stephen O’Hear, self-proclaimed digital evangelist, is keen to highlight some of the limitations of school-based blogging, where schools, because of worries about internet security and protecting pupil identities, can run the danger of become a fortress, isolated from the outside virtual world. One-way communication, of the type presented here, is only part of the true phenomenon of blogging which, at its best, relies on a multiplicity of voices. The school’s response to this is, at best, a little weak and, one suspects, unmanageable in the longer term.
The implications for ITE tutors/mentors and the relevance to ITE students:
ITE students, tutors and mentors need to be aware of, and conversant with, the range of new approaches to writing and publishing that are being developed through the Internet. This programme is a good and simple guide to blogging. It only tells part of the story, but the educational potential of this practice is clearly illustrated. The pupils in the film are stimulated by the work, engaging in a sophisticated range of ICT skills and enthusiastic about their work. Everyone involved in ITE should be skilled in blogging and other Web 2.0 applications in order to build on their own pupils’ latent interests in new technologies and their use as educational tools.
Reviewed by:
Jonathan Savage