Introduction to Blogger/Uses/Benefits
Blogger.com
is a website owned by Google which allows users to register for free blogs.
Registered users have the freedom to use their blog for basically whatever
purpose they wish. Many users use the blog for keeping a public journal of
their personal lives or sharing news stories, photos, links, or ideas. Most
bloggers blog because they want to share
something with other people. In the
educational realm, blogger can be used as a collaboration tool or a place for
students to host their reflections from class.
Blogger makes it very easy for users
to add photos, graphics, or documents to their posts. Users of Blogger
experience many additional benefits. The service is free and easy to use.
Blogger provides tutorial videos and a simple layout. Users have the option to
make money using ads on their blog. There is a wide assortment of available
templates and layouts. Users have the reliability that Google has to offer as
the host of Blogger. Blogger allows users to change privacy settings so that
their blog is not searchable by the general public. In other words, only the
people who are given their blog address will be able to find it.
As an educational tool, a Blogger
account could be created by the instructor and used by an entire class (if the
account information is given out to all members of the class). In this
capacity, students and instructor could all post blogs related to the class
topic and comment accordingly.
Another option Blogger provides is a
personal website where students are able to keep a “reflective journal” of
their growth in class. In this case, the student would be the only one who
knows the account information. This journal is easily accessible by the
instructor, as long as the student provides the blog’s web address to the
instructor. The instructor has the option to comment directly on the student’s
reflection post, or compose a separate assessment document to share with the
student using an alternate medium.
Weaknesses/Challenges
of the tool
One weakness of using Blogger as an
assessment tool is that when commenting on the student’s reflection, there is
no ability to use formatting of any type. In other words, if the instructor
wants the student to follow along with a rubric or if the teacher plans to use
a graph to complete the assessment, they will need to provide the assessment
outside of Blogger.
Example of
application of the tool in an online classroom
My preferred use for Blogger in the
classroom is to give each class member the sign on information and use it as a
collaborative tool. Students would take turns posting blogs with information
that relates to the topic. For example, if I was training a group of future
Baristas, I might give them an assignment (after providing an example) to find
a current article that relates to coffee and write a brief summary and analysis
of that article. The students would use the rubric to complete the summary and
analysis and comment on their classmates’ articles.
Learning objective connected to the use of the assessment tool
(Blogger)
As a
result of the readings and class activities, the student will be able to correctly identify,
summarize, analyze, and report a related article according to the rubric
guidelines.
As
a result of the reviewing the provided example, the student will respond to classmates’ articles
according to the rubric guidelines.
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