Technology Tip Number 159
Blog some sense out of this

So what are blogs and why should you care about them?

Blogs - A website that can be routinely updated like a journal and displayed in chronological order.  The name is an abbreviation for "Web Log."  Some of the earliest blogs were actually online diaries that were available for anyone to read.  Blogs can also be interactive.  For example, in some blogs anyone who views an entry can also leave a comment.  Blogs can be focused on a topic (such as politics, car care, a favorite TV show) or be completely unfocused.  Here are some of the internet's most popular blogs for you to check out:  http://technorati.com/pop/blogs/ 

For some technology tips you might want to consider checking out :

TipLine - Gates' Computer Tips

TeacherTechBlog.com
Technology Tips for All Teachers

Tech Fortress
Tech Tools & News for Teachers

Here's a great blog that is run by a teacher in Alberta, Canada:

TheTeacherList.ca

And here's a blog about technology in education from Australia:

Blog.Larkin.net.au

For even more teacher blogs check out Scholastic's list of the Top 20 Teacher Blogs

Educators are starting to use blogs as an online discussion tool.  For example, a high school social studies teacher might create a discussion blog about current events where students have to look at a political cartoon posted by the teacher and then type a comment into the blog about their opinion about it.  Teachers could use blogs to share ideas about educational strategies or just communicate about student discipline problems.  Such blogs should probably be kept confidential however.

Here's more information about:   How to Create Your Own Blog

PRACTICE ACTIVITY:  Check one of the blogs above for technology tips and classroom ideas.  See if there's something there of interest to you.

TO KEEP ON LEARNING:  To learn more about using blogs in education try searching the internet for:

Blogs in Education
The Blogosphere
Creating a Blog for Students

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