I have had my students work on blogs in the astronomy class and it seems to be going okay. I would like any feedback or ideas on how these blogs to be used to foster further learning. I think right now I am using them as an end in themselves and I am not sure where to go from here.
1 comment:
I think the power of blogging is to extend the conversation for your class. It allows student to continue the discussions you have in claass - or to start new discussions - that you maybe just don't have time for in class. It allows those students who maybe wouldn't talk in class because they need a longer time to think about their responses to get involved.
It also allows you to provide them an opportunity to discuss ideas that maybe you don't "have time for" in your class. Maybe you're discussing a major part of your curriculum in class and a topic comes up that some (or all) of them are obviously interested in discussing. But you know that if you spend too much time on this topic, you won't have time to "cover" the major topic. Yet you don't want to shut down their obvious interest and passion about this topic. I think blogging would be an excellent way to seize that teachable moment, without giving up the "coverage" that we're typically concerned about. (Of course "coverage" is a whole nother issue . . .).
Even if those topics don't come up on their own in class, I think you probably have a whole list of things you wished you could talk about in Astronomy, but don't have time. I think if you pick and choose some appropriate ones that are likely to have a high level of interest, and that students can explore on their own, doing it through the blog might foster further learning.
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