Blogging Reflection

The experience of having and maintaining a blog for this class was an interesting and valuable lesson. I had never had a blog of my own or even posted a comment to a blog prior to this class, so for me it was quite a learning opportunity. As well, Task 1, in which we got to explore Blogging more generally, was eye opening for me since I had looked at very few blogs in the past. I have found that this experience affected me in several ways. For one thing, I now sometimes just search blog content when Googling a topic (through Google Blogsearch). Also, I find that I am much more aware of blogs as a genre of the Web. Another affect this has had on me is that when I was building a new website for the Canton High School library, I was comfortable including a blog as one of the links and teaching the TL how to use the blog.

More specifically, through blogging and posting to classmates’ blogs, I have learned quite a bit about the technologies we each were assigned. I really had very little familiarity with computer based concept maps (my first technology) before the class started, and I had not even heard of Filamentality (my second technology). I believe that the medium of blogging allowed us to share in a way we might not have if we had simply been assigned to discuss these topics in a group space on WebCT. Blog postings have a more easygoing, laidback style to them than posting on our class bulletin board. Perhaps it was because of this that many people in my group ended up using material posted on YouTube to help explore their assigned topics. These videos ended up being great ways to learn about the various technologies.

After using, posting to and replying to blogs, I can now imagine using blogs in many different scenarios and would be comfortable recommending their use to teachers. If, for instance, several teachers had just attended a workshop to learn how to use a new technology, I could imagine setting up a blog for them, which they could use to keep each other posted on their progress since the workshop.

I think my own blogging could be improved if I used tags (called Labels by Blogger). As my blog became longer, this would help make it easier to find posts on various topics. Also, keeping a list of “Related Resources” would make it easier for people visiting my blog to explore links related to the topics I cover.

Now that I have had the opportunity to explore, create and use blogs, I would be comfortable with using them again in the future. This comfort with technology is perhaps the most important outcome of the experience.