Blogs
Blogs are personal online journals that are frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. Often used as a form of reflective learning, you can use blogs for a graded assignment or to gain a glimpse into student thinking and views without assigning a grade. In the course environment, only enrolled users can view or comment on blogs.
Blogs generally consist of two elements: 1) blog entries (text, images, links, multimedia, mashups, and attachments added by course members open for comments), and 2) comments (remarks or responses to blog entries made by other course members, including the instructor).
You can choose to allow students to participate in blogs in three ways:
Course Blogs: You can create a course blog and determine the topic to be addressed. All course members can add blog entries and comments.
Individual Blogs: You can create a blog for individual course members to use and others to view and comment on.
Group Blogs: Group members can add blog entries and make comments on blog entries, building upon one another.
Pros
Reflective learning. Blogs encourage students to clearly express their ideas in writing. They are a helpful tool for having students respond to readings and begin to formulate their views on issues.
Collaborative learning. Blogs are also an effective way for students to share knowledge and materials they have collected.
Social learning. Although not as interactive as some other communication tools, students can comment one each other’s blogs
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