Ok, so I have finally managed to get my first class blog posted. To say this assignment has been challenging is an understatement. Until this week I have never blogged, nor have I ever read a blog. So it's amazing to me how much time I've spent over the last few days just looking, reading and deciding what is relevant and what is not. This week was a reminder to me how much I have to learn when it comes instructional design, online learning, and the scope of technology available.
After a few days of searching, I ended up choosing three blogs with different themes. One related specifically to online learning, one with a focus on the impact of social media and education, and finally an education blog which offered a variety of blogs in different areas of education. I felt by casting a wide net into the blogosphere it would help paint a clearer picture of blogs in general as well as introducing me to the varied topics and tools that I will encounter as an instructional designer.
1. E-Learning Queen
http://elearnqueen.blogspot.com/
The first blog I choose is called E-Learning Queen. This blog is an all purpose online education/instructional design blog that offers some practical applications for those both immersed in instructional design as well as those just beginning. One pro of the blog is the e-learning series in which the blog facilitator Susan Smith Nash interviews various players within the fields of online education and or instructional design. A drawback for me was the incredible amount of information presented and at times I felt completely lost as I struggled to keep up with the language in the blog.
2. The Center for Learning & Performance Technologies: C4LPT blog
http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/blog/
This year I have had the pleasure of watching one of my colleagues use a social media in her classroom as a whole new way to get them to collaborate. She set up a "faux twitter" format for her students to update on everything from homework assignments, debates, and presentations. Her work made me do some thinking about social media and the impact it is currently having on our students as well as the impact if will have on education. The author of this blog Jane Hart offers some interesting articles and videos on social media as well as her favorites for emerging and existing technology. One part of the blog that interested me was her reading list for April 2011 that included a list of her reader's top 100 tools for learning in 2011.
3. Edutopia Blogs
The school where I teach is part of a collaboration with the Pubic Education and Business Coalition (PEBC). I mention this, because I am part of a peer lab group of teachers that works collaboratively with each other and with PEBC to improve our teaching practices. I found the Edutopia site to be very interesting. I like the philosophy of collaboration I found on the website. I choose to include the Edutopia blog in this list because its blog page offers a wide variety of education related blogs. Topics covered by blog contributors include elementary and secondary education as well as charter schools, and innovation in education. One blog contributor I did browse was that of author Milton Chen and some of his postings in education innovation. He had some thought provoking ideas for improving education, the drawback being his latest post was 5 months old. There is much more to explore within these blogs, and I was only able to scratch the surface. More information to come on this web site, and the blogs.
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