As a student, using blogs to share information has been not only a useful tool through which to share information and ideas, but also a supplement to my own learning. There is something different about working on an online forum, rather than just writing for an instructor. You have to be more conscious about what you say and who you are saying it for. When typing for a blog or online forum, the audience is different and unknown and this often changes the message the writer intends. The style of writing is also different and offers practice on a variety of writing skills that you don't necessarily get from formal papers that are just read by the instructor.
On an online writing space, the writing tends to feel like you're working out your thoughts as you go. It's more spontaneous. Not as formal. I think this is a good thing. Formal writing for instructors is an important skill, and certainly has a place in the classroom, but it's equally important for people to develop the skill of simply writing. It's not journal/diary writing, because online writing has an audience, but it's related.
I also feel like having a blog gives a student the feeling of creating a kind of identity for themselves that they can project to their teacher and to their peers. I have seen students get very involved with setting up their blogs so they reflect their personalities, with backgrounds, colors, pictures, etc. As a student I do the same thing. It becomes important to make sure your blog somehow reflects who you are and I think this is important for both student and teacher.
As a student teacher, I used a Ning in a Writer's Workshop class. It was a huge success. The students were excited about it, it provided an excellent opportunity for students to share their work with one another, and was also an additional writing space in the actual classroom. If I wanted to help a student with their writing, I had to go to their computer stations, kneel down, and have my back to the rest of the classroom. So, instead of going to the student's stations, I sat at the front of the classroom, with my own computer and when a student needed help with something, they uploaded their work to the Ning and came and sat with me. I could use other students' work as examples, as theirs were also on the Ning. I could work on the Ning on the overhead projector, and the students could follow at their desks. I was able to communicate with them. I could post announcements, examples, assignments, the syllabus, guidelines, etc.
The students also contributed to their personal blogs on the Ning. Reading their posts, I got a sense of them that was missing in their formal work for class. They wrote more freely and honestly, even though they knew that their posts were going to be read by me and their peers. I don't think that blogs or online writing should ever replace formal writing, or face-to-face classroom contact, but I do think it provides students with a space to be more open. Working in online writing spaces also let me assist students with computer skills. Many students in my classroom didn't know how to upload documents to a site. I was able to show them how and by the end of the term they had no trouble with those kinds of website use skills.
One thing I'd like to learn through this course would just be more ideas about how to incorporate technology into the development of writing skills in the classroom. I would also like to become more comfortable with the gizmos and gadgets of blogs, like RSS feeds, etc. I am VERY excited to look into online role-playing. My Teaching Writing instructor (Heidi) used this in a class last spring and I was blown away by the potential in that kind of thing. I also still need to be sold of podcasting, so I am excited to get some ideas for how to use them in the classroom.
