Wednesday, December 2, 2009
A blogtastic semester
This semester three of my five classes have been using blogs as an interactive learning tool. It has been very interesting and unique.But was it effective? In those classes it was not, lack of clarity, information overload and ambiguous task led to the detriment of those blogs. However, the difference between management 3120 and those classes was that this blog was created by me. It was manage by me; I was in control of its content. The information that was being displayed was my thoughts. This blog has added value to the educational process. You are able to obtain a diversity of view from others. Although sometimes it could be a bit annoying, it did add value to the learning process.
Potential of Blogs as an Educational Tool:
“Serves as an online journal encouraging personal reflection, and as a means of encouraging collaboration through the sharing of links to resources and up-to-date information (Oravec, 2002)."
“Offers a unique voice for students, empowering them, and encouraging them to become more critically analytical in their thinking because others can critique, comment, and interpret a blog (if it is public) and therefore a student has to stand by one's opinions“ (Oravec, 2002).
Taken From http://mason.gmu.edu/~ndabbagh/using-blogs.ppt%23259,6,Potential%20of%20Blogs%20as%20an%20Educational%20Tool
It does provide a way for students to learn about and from each other. I have learnt many things about my group member from their blog or from their comments to my blog. It has provided a medium for us to share our opinion; not everyone is comfortable speaking in class. I think if more communication online was encourage it would enhance the effectiveness of the blog. It definitely got me thinking about the activities that were done in class. By having to blog about the activities, we are encourage to be apart of the experience, to observe and be aware of the derivatives of our role in these activities. Not only did it encourage analysis but in also encourage involvement. By relating our experience we learn or reinforce important management concepts that the exercise displayed. I do feel there was little introduction of outside matter. While the introduction of outside material not directly related to the course of study might be interesting ( it was, loved the post on 11/14/09 on Krupis’ blog) having too much information creates a situation where blogging becomes information overload. I would love to see more media on the Prof’s blogs, when you visit his blog you could feel overwhelmed by the amount of words and lack of interactive media. The bonus of the blog is that it offers a way to control 20% of your grade, that was great. It provides an incentive to get online, talk, share, and get involve with the process. You feel that unlike the quizzes, you are able to control what is said. Your opinion becomes of values to your grade. Whether I continue using the blog is still in the air. However, I have linked by blog to my FaceBook page so all can read. It is my opinion that the blog should remain apart of the course. It would be more interactive and fun if there was more dialogue between classmates.
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I agree the blogs are pretty awesome and serve as a medium where students can informally speak and really express themselves without feeling pressured. And its really great that our opinions are worth 20 percent of our grade. I also agree that having this blog should remain apart of this course. Its also a good way to remain intune with the class because its hard to participate in such a large class.
ReplyDeleteYes the blog experience was great. I was an excellent tool for students to express themselves, especially for those who don't speack much in class. I would definitly say it added value to the learning processs. I would like to know what part of it you found annoying? Was it the other blogs you read or the dead line?
ReplyDeleteYea its not that easy for everyone to voice their opinions in class and the blogs definitely help people get their voices heard in greater detail than in class. I agree that the blogs help us reinforce what we learned in class as I found myself writing terms that we learned without noticing until I was about to post the blog. I hope you continue to write your blog, its been a fun and interesting read throughout the semester.
ReplyDeleteCollis you are so right in your assesstment of this class. It is very hard to get involve in bloggin when you do not have control of the context. It encourages you when the opportunity is there to present your ideas and thoughts. Now that we are living in the technology century this is great way to get student involve in discussion in and outside of class. Secondly all the manangement concepts that we discussed in class that has a blog assignment associated with it stands out more that the others. I really believe that professor should have more blogging assignments with more topics.
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