First post

This is the second blog that I have created, so although not a beginner I haven't really explored all the functions that a blog can provide.

I set up a blog (using blogger) for my Year 13 English class early this year as a medium to post homework, links, notes ... for my students. For privacy reasons I decided to only let the students from my class access the blog. I may re-evaluate this decision at the end of the year, as nothing posted on the blog really puts the students' privacy at risk.

The blog has also given me an opportunity to post questions and comments to facilitate discussion. The students then post replies and they can read each others' comments and learn from them. They also have author rights so the idea was for them to take turns posting notes from class and their own discussion topics and comments. However, due to restrictions on our access to computers at school, it has been difficult to maintain regular access for the students (taking into account the fact that not all the students in the class have access to the internet at home). I believe that for a blog to really support student learning, the students themselves have to be a part of the authoring process and have the opportunity to set up their own blogs on which to publish their own work and get feedback from other students and teachers.

One of my goals for this year was also to set up a wiki for my Year 10 class and then compare the wiki and the blog as to which supports my students' learning most effectively. However, I have recently joined a guided inquiry ning and I am now thinking that perhaps a ning might be the way to go. If anyone has any experience with wikis or nings I would like to hear what they think.

The first reading, Holmes and Gardner's "e-learning: Concepts and practice", gave me a lot to think about. I know many teachers (myself included, at times) are wary about the extent to which technology could overtake face to face learning within schools and I guess the traditional role of the teacher, but the concept of "blended learning" seems to give students and teachers the best of both worlds. Certainly, this reading gave much food for thought about e-learning resources. The scope seems endless. The benefits of e-learning also fits nicely into the New Zealand Curriculum and its vision for our students: