There is a big trend in education towards "blended" learning or "hybrid" learning where some of the learning happens in class and some of it happens online. Our class this semester has been one example. My personal belief as a teacher is that students learn by reflecting, participating, and talking about what they are thinking. I knew not everyone would get a chance to talk in class, so I encouraged us all to blog our thoughts instead to each other.
But there are other ways of promoting online learning, of course, with wikis, discussion boards, virtual classrooms, chatting, etc. One big debate I've heard a lot is why all the fuss about blogs? Many feel blogs are just like discussion boards. In fact, someone in our class made the same comment at the beginning of the year. I promised we'd talk more about it someday.
Today's that day! Now that you've had the time to get used to blogging, I'd like to hear your thoughts on this: How are blogs different than discussion boards?
Lee LeFever has continued the discussion on his blog about the differences between weblogs and discussion boards. He has some really good ideas about why these may, in fact, be different ways of collaborating online.
As a class, let's consider this. Check out his table:
But there are other ways of promoting online learning, of course, with wikis, discussion boards, virtual classrooms, chatting, etc. One big debate I've heard a lot is why all the fuss about blogs? Many feel blogs are just like discussion boards. In fact, someone in our class made the same comment at the beginning of the year. I promised we'd talk more about it someday.
Today's that day! Now that you've had the time to get used to blogging, I'd like to hear your thoughts on this: How are blogs different than discussion boards?
Lee LeFever has continued the discussion on his blog about the differences between weblogs and discussion boards. He has some really good ideas about why these may, in fact, be different ways of collaborating online.
As a class, let's consider this. Check out his table:
Do you agree or disagree with his ideas?
Don't worry about saying what you think I want to hear, because what I want to hear are your real thoughts! Let's talk about this as teachers -- What are the strengths/weaknesses of each? When would you use either in your classroom? When would you want to use either as a student?
