Week 10

Wow! I am – again – overwhelmed. There are so many tools out there, and the uses are endless. Okay, I think there are absolutely some advantages to having a class blog. This can serve as the main class forum for students to come to for discussions, and it will create community for our class. However, if the sponsor school already has tools like BlackBoard or Moodle for our use, adding on more sites for students to log in to can absolutely make it even more so complicated than need be.  Then there’s the “my personal stuff” effect. I remember reading a post when an instructor mentioned that her students didn’t want to use Facebook for educational purposes since this is their personal space. Is it possible that a blog might not be or seem “academic” enough for student? I am just wondering. And if we have student blogs  for the class, I can’t imagine how much creative and critical thinking skills that would stimulate.  However, this is more work as the students  and instructor now would not only have to create but read and respond to blogs. Of course, anything worthwhile or meaningful takes effort.