Reaction to Richardson Text- Week 2

I found Chapter 2 in "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms" by William Richardson to be more insightful than Chapter 3. Chapter 2 highlights the benefits and uses of Weblogs in the educational setting. This chapter helped to answer some of the initial questions that I had about blogging such as why should I incorporate this into my teaching and how exactly could a blog be used for educational purposes? Chapter 3 wasn't as helpful because I have already begun experimenting with blogging. This information may have proven to be beneficial as a reading requirement before the start of class.

Richardson provides an argument in support of the use of Weblogs in Chapter 2. He states that "Weblogs truly expand the walls of the classroom" (p. 27). I can see how blogging might be an effective way for my students to work with other dental hygiene students from around the state, country, or even the world. The internet really does allow people in every geographic corner of the globe to share what they think and know with others. Another point that Richardson emphasizes is that "blogs archive the learning that teachers and students do, facilitating all sorts of reflection and metacognitive analysis" (p. 27). Reflection is a higher-order thinking skill that I, as a college instructor, feel is very important. I agree that blogging may be a useful application for reflective writing that I could use with my students.

In Richardson's "Scaffolding Blogging" subsection of Chapter 2 he shares how younger students can begin to use blogs and how older students can do more with blogging. Being that I teach adult learners (college students) I see that there are many ways that blogging can be incorporated in my teaching. Also, with practice my students may be capable of "complex blogging" which incorporates higher-order thinking processes (p. 31) due to their age and experience with technology.

In conclusion, I feel that there may be ways for me to use Weblogs with my students. I think that the most important and beneficial activity that my students could use blogs for would be self-analysis and reflection.


Reference: Richardson, W. (2010) Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin.