Week 10 – Blog; Sites and Foreign Language
Saturday, November 24th, 20121. What might be the advantages and disadvantages of using a class blog or student blogs for your class?
Reading Ko and Rossen and listening to Lisa’s slidecast made me very jealous. I want to teach history or literature, art or writing! Blog is definitely a very effective format for sharing and showcasing students’ writings; looks like one can do incredible things with this tool and make the class interactive, fun and student centered.
Since I do not teach any of the mentioned subjects, and the case studies presented in the book do not apply to what I teach, I will write about what I can use in my foreign language classes. I have some experience with my students in my F2F classes using blogs and discussion board in blackboard. I usually teach the first or the second level of Spanish. Students are not required to write more than 200 words 5 or 6 times per semester. One of these compositions is posted on the discussion board in Bb. By the way, following Pilar’s idea, I sent every student a voice email with my comments and feedback about the compositions… they loved it! The next writing assignment is for the students to read 3 classmates’ compositions and write comments. Sometimes I do not understand a word they say to each other… but they do! And that IS communication 🙂
I cannot ask students to analyze material or do peer review at the level I teach; however, I can use the idea of a “guest speaker” using YouTube videos or iTunes podcasts of distinguished Spanish speakers for listening and comprehension activities.
Using the web
I agree with Ko and Rosen in that students might spend a lot more time of what they have just clicking and looking for material on the web; it could be frustrating and distracting. I would definitely consider giving them the specific place where they should go. I did experiment with this on the lab where students have to go to a big clothing store in Spain and buy products with certain amount of money. I also use Spanish online magazines and news sources in my classes and can definitely find the way to use them in an online class.
I loved the rubric… but needs a lot of work adapting it to my subject.
2. Engrade looks very friendly to use and could be a very good tool. In my case, with all the resources provided by Miracosta and Blackboard, I do not see the need in my classes.
3. Could a Google Site or web page make a good welcome for students?
Yes, I think it is a great idea to have it public so students can see it before the class starts. I did put all the important documents this semester on Google Drive and give the students the QR code and the short url the first day of classes. Those with smart phone left the class with all the important documents with them. Students loved it and I saved a lot of paper to the university!!
Here is the Google Site I made:
