Blogs

Objective – Students will become familiar with blogs and determine their effectiveness.

Objective- Students will determine the usefulness of blogs in their classroom for teaching students

Introduction – A Blog is a new addition to the ever changing world of technology and communication. A Blog is a personal journal entry for anyone on the web to view. It’s a place for someone to vent frustration, seek advice, or just express themselves. It is what ever the person wants it to be. There has been some controversy surrounding the authentic nature of the information contained in a blog. There are several sites that explain what a blog is, how to use it, how to set one up, and the advantages and disadvantages to their usefulness.

Activities – Visit the sites listed below to understand the purpose of a blog and the advantages and disadvantages to using it.

Assignment- After reading the sites below, explain what a blog is. List 5 advantages and 5 disadvantages to blogging. Also include some ideas of how you might use blogs in your classroom.

Submit as a word document and send an email with the attachment to your instructor.

What is a blog?

http://www.blogger.com/tour_start.g a tutorial explaining what bloggging is and how to use it.

http://www.bloggingsecrets.com/ This site explains blogging and how you can make money off of your webpage.

http://www.eduinternetstrategies.com/blogs.html the benefit of a blog and what blogging means

http://www.readysetblog.com/ Understanding blogs and how to get started

What does a blog site look like?

http://slate.msn.com/id/2114177/?sg Sample of a blog site.

http://blog.jamesmaduk.com/ another blog sample page

Who knew blogs could cause trouble?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34153-2004Sep19.html Read an article from the Washington Post about how a blog began a controversy over President Bush’s Air National Guard Service.

Advantages and disadvantages

www.gerrymcgovern.com/nt/2004/nt_2004_08_23_blogging.htm An article written by Gerry McGovern and his opinion on blogging

http://weblogs.about.com/cs/interviews/a/bloggermoms_3.htm Get feedback from moms who blog and find out what they feel are advantages and disadvantages.

Rubric

	1	2	3
Content	Appropriate number of advantages and disadvantages not provided	Appropriate number of advantages and disadvantages provided	Appropriate number of advantages and disadvantages provided and is well developed
Instructional ideas	Instructional ideas not provided	One instructional idea provided	More than one instructional idea provided