The Use of Blogs in Every Day Life and the Teaching Profession

Since I am currently living in Hunenberg, Switzerland and recently moved here in August, I wanted a place to record my thoughts about cultural differences I see, my experiences as an ex-pat, as well as record milestones of my children for family and friends back in the United States.  I first started blogging when my son was about 6 months old.  If any of you are interested in checking out my blogs, they are positioned to the right under My Blog List which includes The Life of the Bieter Family, Destination Imagination, Media and the Holocaust, Poetry Jam, and Flowers for Algernon.

From a purely educational standpoint, the blogs I have created help students stay connected with one another, give them a voice and a medium where they can be creative, give them a place to publish their ideas and their work, and a new way to learn from one another.  I feel by implementing blogs into your coursework and student evaluations, it is not only meaningful for the reasons above, but also saves time.  By students being able to log on and respond to a few blogs from people in the class and give feedback is fast and efficient.  Likewise, as a teacher, it is a fast and easy way to access student knowledge and see their work without lugging a bunch of paperwork home with me each night.

Some ways that I think digital writing such as blogs can be a hinderance, is that it can take away from the personal aspect of talking to someone on a one to one basis, and I guess is less personal.  In my opinion, however, the benefits outweigh the negatives.

More specifically,  I would like to learn in this class how to better and more effectively create and use podcasts in the classroom and any digital medium for that matter, and utilize these new tools to enhance the work I have already begun.