I have to be honest. At the end of this course I was left with more questions than answers. While as a teacher a don't see that as a bad thing, as a student I did. I am use to finishing courses and having a final thought or conclusion. This course was difficult to do that with. It wasn't until today, when I posted my final reflection in the CSE PLE course that I realized how my blog played a role in my teaching. I find it interesting when you discover how unconventional learning really is compared to how organized we try to make it in public education. Here are conclusions I came to about blogging after finishing my PLE course.
Blogging is a great tool to journal thoughts. As a professional I can use it to explore my methods and practices and reflect on my experiences in the classroom. When I want to vent, rant, or question education blogging can be very therapeutic. I realize it can also be dangerous to expose myself too much on a blog as a public servant because it is public. So there is a balance there that you have to find as an educator ethically in providing yourself with a way to reflect, but not degrade. I am still trying to find that balance. I am a person that is willing to put it all out there and that means when I blog it is frustrating that I can not do that and should do that 100% with my job.
Blogging is useful in a small classroom setting. I attempted to use student blogs on an assignment with fifty students and then in a classroom with six. While the activity was creative and meaningful, I failed at giving feedback because I was overwhelmed by the grading work load. When I used it in a classroom of six students as a daily journal or reflection with no real structured assignment, I found it useful and directive in figuring out where I needed to go with my lesson planning. Because I only had to read six entries, I was able to response to student questions and generate thoughtful questions in return.
Blogging is an important part of my PLE. I didn't discover this until I took CSE PLE after this course. I realized that blogs have an important role to play in my collaboration with other educators. I'm on the hunt now for educational blogs that empower me to keep questioning what I'm doing and why I do it. I also realized the role that RSS feed can play in my PLE. I never got the hang of getting my news feed through my blog and in PLE I realized I don't have to. My news feed can be delivered all sorts of way, but blogs are a way to specialize the news feed I want my readers to experience.
Overall, blogging in education is a commitment like all other forms of technology. I use to think aggregators, RSS feed, social media, blogs, etc... were a one size doesn't fit all component of education. For example, if I liked blogging then I just blogged. I would focus on blogging and ignore all the other avenues of virtual information. I am slowly realizing that I don't have to like all the new medias endeavors of the virtual world, but I also can't turn my back on them either. Turning my back on these media forms will prevent me from being able to move forward and grow with my students.
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