The Power of Blogging
A great question from Pam really got me thinking about why blogging (along with other web 2.0 tools) is so powerful for our students, so I thought I’d share some of the many resources I’ve collected over the years here.
Although the conversation is currently about the tool (blogs), I think the bigger issues to address are:
- How do we believe students learn?
- What role does engagement, motivation and real-world application play in student learning?
- What are the skills required for the 21st century?
- How do we, as a school, ensure that our students are experiencing and understanding learning in a 21st century environment?
What this means is that we’re really discussing our beliefs about teaching and learning, and how technology can enhance that experience.
OK, back to the resources:
Here are a few of my favorite books. Please feel free to stop by EdTech any time and pick them up! I would highly recommend:
- Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms by Will Richardson (also available in the Main Library)
- Redefining Literacy for the 21st Century by David Warlick
- Web 2.0 New Tools New Schools by Gwen Solomon and Lynn Schrum
- Reinventing Project Based Learning: Your Field Guide to Real-World Projects in the Digital Age by Suzie Boss and Jane Krauss
And, some that are not “official” favorites, but also address the question of new literacies in the classroom and research about technology and it’s impact on student learning:
- How Teachers Learn Technology Best by Jamie McKenzie
- Raw Materials for the Mind: A Teacher’s Guide to Digital Literacy by David Warlick
- Teaching With Technology: Creating Student-Centered Classrooms by Judith Haymore Sandholts, Cathy Ringstaff and David C. Dwyer
- Learning to Solve Problems with Technology: A Constructivist Perspective by David Jonassen and Jane Howland
- Handbook of Research on New Literacies edited by Julie Coiro, Michele Knobel, Colin Lankshear, Donald J. Leu
And a few favorites about how technology is changing society (with obvious impacts on education):
- The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman
- Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirkey
- The Long Tail by Chris Anderson
- Everything is Miscellaneous by David Weinberger
- A Whole New Mind by Dan Pink
And a few favorite articles (most are direct .pdf downloads):
- Reading and Writing Differently: An Informational Overview produced by the National Council of Teachers of English (the NCTE just released all sorts of info on digital literacy and how critical it is for students).
- The Joy of Blogging by Anne Davis published in ASCD’s Ed Leadership issue on Literacy 2.0 in March 2009 (The entire issue of ASCD’s Ed Leadership in March 2009 is focused on Literacy 2.0 – the curriculum office should have a copy of the magazine, but I have all the articles on my computer if you want them – this would be a great one to take on the plane.)
- 2009 Horizon Report - the report is developed by the New Media Consortium in the US and looks at the future of technology and it’s impact on learning. I was a member of the Advisory Committee for this K12 Education of the report.
- 21st Century Skills: Education and Competitiveness Guide from the Partnership for 21st Century Skills
- Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project
- A Day in the Life of Web 2.0 by David Warlick
- The New Face of Learning by Will Richardson
More online resources:
Two active researchers, specifically working on blogging in education are Anne Davis (in Georgia) and Konrad Glogowski (in Canada).
- The resources for one of Anne’s 2007 sessions at the National Educational Computing Conference which highlights the results of her research here.
- One of Anne’s 2006 o blog posts gives a great overview of her research as well: Blogs and Pedagogy
- Konrad’s blog: Teach and Learn
Other web-based articles:
- The entire issue of ASCD’s Ed Leadership in March 2009 is focused on Literacy 2.0.
- There are some great TED talks about this topic too. This one by Dan Pink about motivation is perfect (replace the business framework with education and you get to the heart of this discussion).
- HOT Blogging: Blogging to Promote Higher Order Thinking Skills:
- A quick overview of current research at Stanford about New Literacies from Wired magazine
- The Brain of a Blogger:
- Will Richardson’s wiki on new literacies
- David Warlick’s wiki on new literacies
- CITE Journal: Preparing Tomorrow’s English Language Arts Teachers Today: Principles and Practices for Infusing Technology
- EDUCASE article by Stephen Downes: Educational Blogging
- Blogging as Pedagogic Practice Across the Curriculum
- Benefits of Student Blogging
- Edutopia: Blogging is History
A few general websites about 21st century learning which address the issues above:
- Project New Media Literacies at MIT
- The Partnership for 21st Century Skills
- Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow Today
- Blogs for Learning from Michigan State University
And, finally, the resources I’ve bookmarked on Diigo:
Please feel free to suggest other resources - this is just to get us started.
