Tech Play: 1

Let’s Set Some Goals

I have never created my own blog before so this will be a complete learning experience for me. I constantly tell me students that they must always set goals for themselves (big or small) and achieve them with that being said, my goal is to continue to get better with blogging and learn everything I possibly can with the time frame given.

Definition of a Blog

Merriam-Webster says “A web site that contains online personal reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer.”

Jaquelia says “A website that allows an individual to voice/write their opinions on various subjects for others to view.”

Of course if you want the definition of any word your best resource is the dictionary. However, I always like to translate those definitions into my own words for understanding purposes.

When starting this blog I found that I went straight to Blogger because when I do decide to read blogs Blogger is usually the site of the posting. I find blogs to be set up like a free forum, an individual may post his/her opinions and others may comment on it. With websites that is not always possible/allowed.You also are allowed to see the personality of the writer through the blog whether it comes from the font chosen, background or even the topic they choose to discuss.

Affordances

After looking at some of my classmates completed blogs I find that the blogs that seem to be more personalized and appealing to the eye are from individuals that may be more familiar with blogging. Since I have already set a goal for myself on this matter I believe that I can measure my progress with how much personalization I may have on my site as well as the ease it may take for me to post each blog entry. With other technology aspects i wouldn’t necessarily measure my progress this way. For instance, my progress for learning different excel spreadsheet functions wouldn’t be measured by the personalization i may be able to add but by the ease and accuracy of the functions.

Support Learning

Blogging can develop students writing abilities and build their self-confidence as writers. By blogging, students may take possession of their writing, become better reviewers of other students writing, and understand audience perspective better.

Any Obstacles?

The only obstacle that I may run into is that blogging won’t tie in to my curriculum. I may be able to let students blog about different career choices or goals but, other than that it doesn’t present much of a learning aspect for my students. It does help to get their feet wet just so they know how to do it and won’t be a grad student like myself and just now learning.

Well that’s a blog for the books...