Positives of Social Constructivism
- Tasks that are relevant to the students increases engagement - the world around them is used to engage, build and extend knowledge
- Peer scaffolding
- Teach in the students' ZPD to build and extend on their existing knowledge
Web 2.0 is engaging and allows for students to be collaborative learners as they are able to access and interact with a world of information. Using Web 2.0 in Education enables teachers and students to interact with and contribute to the knowledge that currently exists.
There are numerous ways that blogs can be used in education. They can be used privately within the classroom to record information. For example, if the students were involved in a project on collecting daily data on the weather, they could record the information in the blog, makes notes and present a summary at the end of the time that had been allocated for the data collection. They can also be used to publish their work to an external network and also read and comment on other people's blogs around the world.
You've made some good suggestions on how blogs can be used in the classroom. What do you think about the benefits of individual as opposed to class blogs?
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I am not really sure yet. I have been thinking about it a lot so I will start looking into some readings to try and get more information.
ReplyDeleteI think it depends on what the teacher is trying to achieve - if each student in the class has a blog, are they going to look and read at all of the others? If not, where does the role of peer scaffolding come in. I think if each student has a blog but nothing really gets done with that blog, then what is the point of it? It becomes an electronic diary.
I suppose that's where the teacher can come in and highlight different points, summarise and generate discussion about what has been posted.
In cases where students maintain individual blogs, the teacher normally sets up a structure in which students are required to comment on others' blogs at least a couple of times a week ... it can take a while to get that system off the ground, but once it's up and running, it can work extremely well. Each student then has his or her own space, but peers are invited in to comment from time to time.
ReplyDeleteI like your ideas for a shared blog! I agree, web 2.0 has transformed the way students learn and allowed collaborative learning on a huge scale! There are so many ways teachers can creatively integrate web 2.0 to boost the effectiveness of their teaching. For instance, programs such as Google Earth can be used to teach students about the world and historical landmarks etc.
ReplyDelete