applications of blogs

Blogs can be very useful in the classroom. I think that I will certainly incorporate some sort of journaling into my instruction using blogs. I want to have my students blog about what they think they are learning and how they are feeling about the course content and work load. I think that this would be an effective way to incorporate student opinion into my teaching. I also want to have students periodically indicate what they think they are strongest in and what they think they are weakest in, in terms of course content. This will be a great way for me to informally assess the needs of my class. If several students feel weak in a particular area, I can take the time to review that material for the whole class.

I think that it would be useful to use blogs as a sort of online community for my students. If my students follow each others blogs, they can use each other as a resource. For example, if one student has a problem on a particular homework problem, they can make a post on their blog. Another student who may better understand the problem could then help the student out through making a blog comment.