So it's been awhile. A long while. Despite my assertion that I would try to post a few times a semester It's been almost a year. But I'm here now, and that's what matters, right? So why am I back almost a year after my last post? Well, mostly because homework made me (It's always homework's fault), but it's a good thing. this poor blog has been neglected and it needs some love. So my blog thanks you, IST611, for forcing me to post here! So onto the assignment...
For class this week we were tasked with using a blog to discuss a few topics regarding blogging. So yes, as the title of this post says, I'm blogging about blogging. So lets get to it.
The short answer is that I love blogging (even if it isn't evident by this particular blog). I either run or work on 8 blogs. 2 book blogs, 2 writing blogs, a photo blog, online portfolio and 2 blogs which are event specific (and also related to books). Just today I set up a blog for one of the elementary classes I'm working with the semester. So in other words, I'm of the mind set that a blog is ALWAYS a good thing. There are so many different sites that you can use to get the job done. I use Blogger for this blog and some others, Wordpress for one book blog and my online portfolio, Kidblog.org for my classroom/student blog, Weebly for my writing blog and have used Edublogs in the past for other projects. Sometimes it takes a little legwork to find which one will work for you, but it's worth it. It can create such a dynamic space online that can only reach more people.
Part of our discussion this week is supposed to revolve around how you can use blogging to address the AASL Standards. In my opinion you can do this is so many different ways. By having links to the different Web2.0 technologies you have access too and some ideas for how they can be used in support of the curriculum and AASL Standards you are giving your patrons, both teachers and students, instant access to what is there. By embedding vlogs you can make announcement on what is new or upcoming without having to call or email everyone. You can create a separate page on your blog that houses links to journal articles regarding why using technology in the classroom is a good thing. In other words, use your blog to share what you know. Don't wait for people to come to you and ask "What can you do for me?", instead make the blog a place where people can go and find out all the new and exciting things you have available and how they can support the projects in the classroom. Make it a place where you can share your ideas as well as the end results of the collaborative projects.
Now the other half of this weeks discussion revolved around RSS feeds. I love blogs, I hate RSS feeds. I've tried using them, but for me it just creates one more spot I have to check, and I already have enough places to look. Most sites I follow either have a follow function or have a twitter or facebook page. New posts almost always are linked to one of these sites. Essentially making twitter or facebook my feed. On facebook these blog updates show right up with all my friends wall posts so it becomes a one stop shop for me. Why would I want to go somewhere else? Now I know many others love their RSS feeds, my husband being one of them, so I don't think they are dead on vine, but they aren't the thing for me.
So what say all you? Am I too much in love with blogging? Am I being unfair with my hate-fest of RSS feeds? Sound off in the comments.
Happy Blogging!
~Kate
In case anyone is interested... here are links to my three main blogs (of the remaining 4, some are more dormant then this one has been (we'll ignore those), and others are part of my fieldwork and private to the classes that are using them)
A Reader's Ramblings (book blog)
Eve's Fan Garden (book blog)
The House that Books Built (writers blog)
