Tech Playtesting Assignment 1: Blogs

Blogs, or web logs, are online sites that users can customize in order to share thoughts, opinions and responses in a journal-like experience. Similar to journals or diaries shared publicly, blogs are single sites created by a user with the capability to share text-based entries, called blog posts, with titles, text and more enhancements including images, videos and hyperlinks. Blogs allow users to share their thoughts on a variety of subjects and can be organized into different categories for ease of search; blog posts are often automatically displayed by date with the most recent blogs showing first. Blogs have a comment feature where other online users can provide feedback, praise and commentary on each individual post for the blog owner to read and respond to, creating two-way online communication. Compared to static websites which feature content that doesn't often change, blogs are expected to be updated regularly with information shared on a constant basis, affording change of thoughts and evolution of ideas. Compared to a classroom website or blog that a teacher may update with content for students and parents, student blogs are owned by the user and therefore put the power of display and relay of information and ideas in the student's hands. 

A main affordance of blogs is that they are live on the internet for people all over the world to see and find which distinguishes them from other types of common classroom writing and reflection which is often just for the teacher or a small group to see. Certain blogging sites for younger students, like Kidblog.org have privacy and safety features but the main idea within a blog context, is that the text is published for other people to find, read and potentially comment, allowing a dialogue. The blog post is the main piece of content and comments (which can be hidden or deleted by the main user) are directly related to each individual post. This affordance means that the owner of the blog is the main voice and is the intended reason why people come to read the blog; all comments are supporting or refuting the content in the blog by way of commenting on individual posts but are not held with much lesser weight compared to the actual blog posts. 

Blogging platforms I explored this week to arrive at my definition of blogs include Wordpress, Blogger, Weebly and Wix. I had previously used most of these platforms (some more than a decade ago) for college projects and other uses during my career in public relations and marketing for larger companies with blogs and websites. WordPress is the site I am most familiar with and Weebly and Wix were two others that I found to function much like WordPress. I chose to use Blogger for this class blog because I feel it features a more straightforward backend designed specifically for blogging (while maybe not as sophisticated in design functionality as some of the other options) which may allow for a more widespread accessibility in a future teaching and learning environment. All of these blog sites which I explored had several blog templates to choose from as you first constructed your blog site that you could later manipulate to a specific style or preference. Compared to social media and other discussion board sites which feature specific text, character, photo and template limitations, blogging sites afford more flexibility and creativity for the blog owner. Manipulations including use of colors, fonts, sizes and images can help the blog owner better reflect their personality, allowing blogs to have higher capabilities of differentiation and creative display for students than other technologies, while still being easy to control and manage. 

In creating individual blog posts, the 4 sites explored each provided an option to categorize and group the blogs according to specifications the blog owner determines. On Blogger, these are called labels; in Wordpress, Weebly and Wix they are called categories. To use this concept in practice, if within a single classroom you are having students blog responses about a variety of different subjects you would want each student establish separate categories on their blogs like Science, Math, Reading for ease of use of the owner and additional readers on the site. Tags are another aspect of blogs which help give a quick glance at what the blog post is about and help the blog show up in search engine inquires about specific topics. Tags are more succinct and specific than categories and should be short (one to two words). For example in tags for this blog I could include blogging, student blogging, educational technology and classroom blogging. 

Blogging platforms I explored also all allowed the blog owner to choose a URL which all subsequent blog posts will be displayed under; you can often modify this link to reflect the topic of the blog if the URL is available. The link to the overall blog as well as any links to individual blog posts can be shared on the internet through hyperlinks. Drafting and editing features are another important affordance of each of these blog sites; they allow the blog owner to save blog posts until they are ready to post live and also allow the blog owner to edit and republish once they are live. I feel it is important to mention that current technology including "The Wayback Machine" archives websites including blogs, meaning online users can go back and find information that may have been posted in the past even if it is no longer live on the site. Therefore, it is important to not post blogs until you are ready and they have been thoroughly proofread because as they say, once it is out in the Internet, you cannot get it back.

Blog writers can choose what they want to write about and how much they want to write about, unlike forums like discussion threads that have a main discussion theme and sometimes a character limit. Again blogging is mainly text-based but blogs afford users to the opportunity to use videos, text, links and other visual representations as compared to vlogging (using the video medium only to share ideas and information) and glogging (showing a visual-based representation of information only). Because of this, blogging is a useful tool when desiring students to share longer pieces of writing or text-based reflections that demonstrate learning, confusions or key takeaways.

Blog-based Classroom Lessons

Blogging could be a very useful tool in a 4th grade reading/ writing classroom such as the one I taught in for many years. Because of the affordance of the blog being "live" students automatically are forced to think differently about their writing because it will be seen by more people as opposed to just a teacher or peer reviewer. Using the SAMR model, using blogging augments the experience of journal writing or reading reflection if students know that their peers and other internet users will be able to access their blog entries. In this way, blogging could be a useful tool in creating expository or narrative writing pieces based on a prompt, a content matter that is taught circuitously all year long in the 4th grade classroom with the main goal, as defined by the TEKS as follows: The student uses the writing process recursively to compose multiple texts that are legible and uses appropriate conventions.  I think going through the writing process including first draft, second draft, and final product with editing while having other students comment on writing will help 4th graders better see holes in their writing and therefore and be able to better reflect and correct their own writing. Instead of having one or two peer reviewers, the blogging format allows the entire class to view and comment on any piece of writing that the blogger creates and more easily respond and give feedback. This creates a more constructivist atmosphere for the writing process around any individual topic as it allows the student more ownership and incentive for improving their work; the extrinsic motivation of peer evaluation and even evaluation from students and others across the world heightens the writer's motivation and desire to improve. The objective of the lesson here is to have writers to be more aware of their content and support their points better; in being able to show their work to a wider audience and receive feedback more easily from different places, the technology supports the learning goal. Blogging also affords the opportunity to have other students in other classrooms across the state, nation or globe respond to and give feedback to students. Integrating blogging into a writing workshop where the student is creating a final product through the use of blogs is at the creation level of the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy. Using a blog in this way with writing year-long could also be an effective and powerful tool in showcasing how far learners grow in their writing craft throughout the course of the year. 

Blogging can also redefine a lesson on characters traits and motivations in a 4th grade ELAR classroom around the following content objectives as defined by the TEKS, specifically item (B): The student recognizes and analyzes literary elements within and across increasingly complex traditional, contemporary, classical, and diverse literary texts. The student is expected to: (A) infer basic themes supported by text evidence; (B) explain the interactions of the characters and the changes they undergo; (C) analyze plot elements, including the rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution; and (D) explain the influence of the setting, including historical and cultural settings, on the plot. Because one of the affordances of blogging is that new blog websites and blog posts can be created easily at any time and they are highly customizable for the user, students can be tasked with embodying a character and creating a blog website from that character's perspective. As they are setting up the blog's look, titles and using photos to structure the blog, they would need to make decisions based on what they know about the character and provide textual evidence of why that character would make each choice. For example, in doing a lesson on the book Matilda, if a student is creating a blog as the titular Matilda character, they might choose a background full of stacks of books and need to give reasoning from text evidence that explains why Matilda loves and would choose books. Students could write blog entries from the point of view of their assigned character from the text and respond about their feelings to certain plot events and what they think will happen next from the point of view of the character, all the while needing to provide evidence from the text for their decisions and answers. To take this activity one step further, students could each be given different characters and grouped according to unique characters, commenting on other students (characters) blogs in the voice of their character and using their character's names. Using the SAMR model, this truly redefines the experience of understanding plot and characters with a novel or other story through the use of the technology, allowing students to get into the mind of the characters they are reading about to further understand motivations and key plot points, possibilities which wouldn't be available without the blog technology. Even if the books feature historical characters, students can imagine that if the person had a blog at the time they were writing what they would say, allowing students to reframe texts in a way they can understand for the 21st century. I believe this allows students to create and explore the technology while also thinking critically about the text in a constructivist pedagogical style. The goal here with Blooms' Revised Taxonomy is the "Create" level of thinking where students are generating content from the point of view of a character they have learned about and synthesizing character interactions, demonstrating deeper understanding of characters and plot.

Potential Blogging Pitfalls

One potential pitfall of blogging is that blogs are public and can be accessible widely on the internet; as I mentioned, there are ways to make blogs more private through certain software, however, if the goal is to expose your students to speak to a global audience, I think a live, active blog is an effective motivator. Certain modifications to be made to blogging platforms where comments must be approved before showing live on the blog so parents or teachers could interfere before the student sees the comment as a workaround to this challenge. I think students are exposed early to the anonymity and vast ways that people can comment on the internet so this pitfall shouldn't dissuade from the overall positive of having a live blog where students partake in publishing content on a global scale. An important lesson which should be demonstrated often in a classroom featuring blogging is what it means to have proper online etiquette.

Typing speed is another potential obstacle for students especially at the younger elementary level. As my classroom featured many dyslexic students and students with other learning differences, a modification could be using a "type to text" software so they can more easily and quickly get their ideas across within their blog platform. I believe that using blogging is even easier way for these students in particular to journal responses and get across ideas as opposed to using paper and pencil and therefore should be employed as much as possible. 

One last pitfall of blogs is that it is easier for students to copy and paste plagiarized ideas or responses. While this is also possible in a pencil and paper journaling format, it becomes easier with a blog, especially if the times where students are blogging (in school vs. at home) are not as regularly monitored. In class and through certain platforms I think this issue can easily be worked around to where students cannot get on other sites and must be using their own ideas in their blog posts, making the platform still accessible and worthwhile for achieving important learning objectives. 

Overall, I think blogging is an effective way of allowing students to participate in the global online audience and publish work, while also evolving ideas and sharing thoughts through comments with other online users. Blogging has the potential to transform the journal and response writing experience as well as holds opportunities for new lessons and creation of projects otherwise unavailable to students.