This term I'd like to take a close look the form and function of blogging. I have completed blogging assignments in other courses and I find myself in familiar territory. This time, however, Dr. Francis-Poscente presented an additional assignment that I think will change my approach. We are tasked with blogging and responding to our colleagues' blogs throughout the course, but we must also choose three blogs on a topic of interest and examine them critically. How does one begin to impose a critical lens on a grass roots, widespread and seemingly unfiltered form of communication such as a blog? What assumptions do I have about blogs? Do we equate the quality of the blog with the number of comments or followers associated with it? How does a blog differ from a forum? These are the questions I seek to answer throughout this process. This week I had the good fortune of bumping into one of my professors from last term, Dr. Lock, at the local Safeway. Our conversation led to blogging and how we might define it. She referenced a text by Will Richardson titled "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for the Classroom," claiming Richardson seeks to define what constitutes blogging. Dr. Lock has offered to lend this text to me next week so I hope to have some answers in subsequent posts. In the meantime, I am reviewing the following blogs for the purposes of the Learning Task 3 assignment.
The content of these blogs connects with my thesis work on gaming in education. These gaming blogs represent examples of a participatory environment students could potentially access in their leisure time. I wonder how content such as this might inform expectations if a Serious Game were to be introduced in a classroom setting. ie. if the student is accustomed to playing big budget games such as Call of Duty Black Ops and participating in an online discussion, how does this inform the work taken on in class? What place do blogs serve in a participatory learning environment?
Interesting blog so far. As a drama teacher I find the whole teaching through games kind of a no brainer. We have have been teaching through games since the beginning. Glad to see technology is finally allowing the rest of you to catch up (kidding, really).
ReplyDelete