Bittersweet Thoughts on Blogging and other Tech

Technology has provided new and exciting opportunities in the classroom. Projects that were unthinkable a few years ago are now possible with the help of new digital tools.  They have brought innovation and engagement. However, they also brought challenges, obstacles, and dilemmas. In the elementary classroom, we are encouraged and expected to incorporate technology into our daily lessons. Videos, podcasts, blogs, and wikis are all forms of technology that have a place in education, though not all necessarily in the elementary world.

In the era of global communication, one of the most valuable tools seems to be blogs. They provide the opportunity for students to write for an audience and get authentic feedback, collaborate and learn from other "bloggers" and generate a conversation that will benefit future readers.  Authors like Will Richardson argue that blogs, when used in the right way, can increase motivation, critical thinking and promote collaboration.

Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and videos can all play an instrumental role in the classroom. They open your classroom up to the world outside. Don’t expect your children to come in knowing how to you these tools. It’s important to take the time to probably teach your students exactly how they are to be used. Teachers need to take the time to set clear rules and expectations.

We have been using videos for years, though we must remember to use them actively. We can not simply press play and expect our students to passively absorb all of the information. Giving students a purpose for watching, such as focus questions, as well pressing pause and stopping to have a conversation about what was just watched, help students process information in a much more active way. Having students create videos is an even more active way to interact with the visual media. The video itself may not be graded, but the script and background information can certainly be used to show understanding of a concept. The cooperative work required to put a video together could also be evaluated,

Podcasts can be incorporated in a similar way in elementary school. Listening to podcasts can be a great way to learn new, current information, but how much more interactive is using learned information and creating a podcast script? The students are excited about the idea of recording their own voices for a podcast! Podcasts would be the most beneficial at the elementary level and any grade level could either create or listen. Students would need to develop a script and with support from the teacher record their podcast. It would be a very engaging tool to use at the elementary level.

All of these tools can enhance the classroom. While videos and podcasts are easy to incorporate right now, blogs and wikis may be a bit more challenging.  True blogging, where students post, link to other posts or articles, and then get responses from others, would be difficult in lower elementary ages. Students are still learning how to interact and type, let alone comment appropriately. There are many content affordances for using blogs in the classroom. It facilitates many language arts objectives in an authentic situation, but it is done digitally and the software skill that is required for efficiency is typing. Elementary students cannot type! This skill is learned in 6th grade and a whole semester class is devoted to learn this skill. Knowing this, in elementary, we can develop the process and thinking skills that are needed for blogging. This way, in middle school, the students will have developed the process, thinking, and software skills to blog authentically.

Finding that "right way" to introduce or incorporate technology can be challenging. One of the mistakes educators make is to introduce blogs just to add a digital layer to their classroom. Not taking into account the implications behind this tool and forcing students to blog without meaning takes away the benefits it might bring. Blogs then become written assignments missing the opportunity to share, generate a conversation and get peer feedback. Teachers can also assume students have equal access to the resources and means to blog from home or independently, this can turn blogging from an engaging activity to a burden for some learners. Other teachers, in their eagerness to use technology, might overestimate their students' ability to interact with the tool. Previous knowledge and typing skills need to be considered before joining the blogging adventure.

Pushing blogs and wikis into our classrooms just to say we’re blogging or using wikis is not a good idea. If you want to teach your students about posting, commenting, linking, and other blogging skills, try using Google Classroom or other discussion tool to teach these skills first. These are all teaching points that we can share along the way as students become more prepared for blogging in the future.  Are the blogs and wikis just to say your students are blogging? Think of the true outcomes you are trying to accomplish.

Overall, we agree that videos and podcasts should be incorporated in elementary education. Blogs and wikis would be much more challenging for these students to use and create an a meaningful way. When thinking about the 3 frameworks for integrating technology TPACK, SAMR, and T3 framework, the bottom line is having a pedagogical purpose for using a certain technology and considering the affordances. When teachers are willing to consider all the elements that blogging involves and design their lessons with a purpose blogs become a powerful tool that can enrich the learning experience.  Educators who are willing to take on the challenge will be able to see their students become critical writers and active members of the global society. However, if you were to take the pedagogical purposes for why you are incorporating these types of technology into the classroom, there may be better programs and apps that exist to accomplish your goals.