Using Blogs in Education:

Today, new information and communication technology is promising to ignite student learning and foster an unprecedented degree of creativity. One exceptionally significant new kind of technology is blogging.
With the advent of blogs educators can enhance their pedagogy and engage 21st century learners with a resource that provides a plethora of benefits and is best of all, free.

There are numerous websites that document specific uses for blogs and the benefits that students and teachers alike are experiencing. Many also provide ideas for correctly implementing them into curricula. A recurring theme among these sources is that students in various grade levels are improving their reading and writing skills. They are being tasked with writing their own blogs related to classroom content and curriculum, then reading, reflecting, and posting to those of their peers and teachers.
Another topic present on many of these sites is the possibility for extending the classroom beyond the school campus to a global community of classrooms, students, and virtually anyone who stumbles upon them. When a student creates a blog, it provides a contribution to the real world. It gives them the feeling that they are doing something that matters and that is not merely a class assignment.
Finally, it is apparent that blogs are being used to generate student excitement and enthusiasm for learning.
Anyone interested in delving further into blogging in education and examining some popular uses and discussions of this powerful tool, as well as the sources for the above information, may visit the following sites:

http://books.google.com/books?id=sR1Asxd0JcAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Will+Richardson+BLOGS
Although this link is for a book, a preview of almost the entire published version is viewable. The author, Will Richardson, has prepared an extremely comprehensive overview of the educational uses for blogs in chapter two of this text. Also found in this chapter are approximately fifty suggestions for using blogs effectively.

http://chronicle.com/free/v55/i38/38blogcms.htm
This is a recent article published to “The Chronicle of Higher Education” online on June 1st, 2009. Jim Groom, an instructional technologist at the University of Mary Washington, addressed the administration of City University of New York
and discussed blogs as a possible tool to replace costly and unreliable online class content management software such as blackboard. In his view, blogs can be used in education to house most of the content for an online course.

Groom asserts, “the approach can save colleges money, …professors can open their students' work to the public”
He also claims that open-source blog software can provide professors with additional customizing capabilities not offered by fixed classroom content management software.

http://pjgalien.wordpress.com/2008/10/29/using-blogs-with-students/
This is a blog entry from Patricia Galien who is a High School teacher. She provides an example of how she used blogs with her writing students to facilitate an assignment dealing with different high school experiences. She also provides an invaluable PowerPoint presentation on the educational uses and benefits of blogs that is available for download at the following link: http://online.morainevalley.edu/websupported/PatriciaGalien/documents/BlogPowerPoint.ppt
Outside links to videos and other resources for starting up a blog in an educational setting are also provided in the presentation.

http://www.editlib.org/INDEX.CFM?fuseaction=Reader.ViewFullText&paper_id=5680
This is a link to a paper that was written by David Huffaker from Georgetown University.
He discusses how weblogs can be used for storytelling to promote student literacy.

Huffaker writes that blogs “resemble personal journals or diaries and provide an online venue where self-expression and creativity is encouraged and online communities are built.” He maintains that they are “an excellent tool where storytelling and literacy advance for both individual expressions and collaborative learning.”

http://www.edutopia.org/whats-next-2007-classroom-blog-setup
This is an edutopia article that discusses many educational uses of blogs and provides examples. Here are a few that are outlined:
1-For basic classroom management such as posting assignments, handouts, etc.
2-As a journal for students to reflect on what they have learned
3-As an outlet for an ongoing class discussion
4-For personal student expression

http://thanhnguyen75.blogspot.com/2006/11/use-of-blogs-in-education_14.html
This is a blog that discusses the benefits and specific uses of blogs in education.
Of specific mention are the opportunities for students to read and write, the collaborative discussions, and increased student motivation. Four basic ways to use blogs are identified as follows: for classroom management, collaboration, discussion, and portfolios of class work.