Skip to main content

Blogging...Again!

Does blogging contribute to academic achievement? Yang and Chang (2011) conducted a study that concluded that blogging is beneficial - with a caveat. Their results emphasize that the blogs designed to facilitate peer interaction fostered peer learning. 

I would like to thank all of those who not only read my posts, but replied. Your engagement was incredibly rewarding and your feedback contributed to my learning. I am grateful to you for deepening my reflection. I implemented nearly all of your comments.

To those of you whose blogs I visited and responded to: Thank you for teaching me so many new things. Your blog posts often sparked wonderful conversations with my children. My kids can almost say about me: Mom before Web2.0 and Mom after Web 2.0. I am better able to relate to them in terms of understanding their digital world. And I am definitely more capable of teaching my students not to be afraid of technology and social media.

Technology enabled us to share our viewpoints in an unobtrusive, relatable way. It created opportunities for interaction and knowledge exchange. It sparked great conversations.

 Thank you. 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Can Digital Badges Usher in a New Era of Adult Education?

If you are interested in implementing micro-credentials in your teaching, be sure to read this article by Dennen, Arslan, and Bong (2024), in which the authors discuss the implementation process of micro-learning challenges at a large public university in the United States and their subsequent findings. In short, microlearning is a way of enabling a learner (student) to self-direct their learning through accomplishing small-scale educational challenges, which then earn them digital badges.  One of the findings was the fact that those students who earned their badges did so because of their educational, rather than "bragging" value. Additionally, because micro-challenges were optional, only a portion of students (about 21%) achieved digital badges.  As a teacher of IET (Integrated Education and Training) Introduction to Healthcare, I can see potential in using micro-challenges in adult workforce education. As the authors state, students recognized that by accomplishing micro-...
2 comments
Read more

Language Apps for Adult Learners

Salomon (2016) discusses the fact that while technology can provide information, it cannot transform it into knowledge. He then proceeds to differentiate between the affordances that technology offers and the actual realization of its use. Coincidentally, this week, when I was evaluating language apps, I stumbled upon a similar question: To what extent does a language app make use of its mobile affordances? I was shocked to find out that from among the four apps that I was evaluating (Duolingo, Mango Languages, Busuu, and Burlington English), only one (Busuu) made use of the benefits traditionally offered by SNSs.  If you are wondering why that would be beneficial, think how many hours you spent on Duolingo trying to learn a new language. The problem is that most language apps not only ignore the development of productive skills (speaking and writing), but also their mobile function (recording, time and place fluidity). In reality, this means that most language apps are just a litt...
Post a Comment
Read more

Blogging as a Low-Stakes Writing Tool in Adult Esol Classroom

Writing is traditionally the least enjoyed part of adult English classes. While much of the time is devoted to listening and reading skills, and some, although not enough, to speaking, writing is often left neglected. However, writing is more than just a mechanical stringing of words into sentences, which often creates anxiety. It supports critical thinking and problem-solving skills, grammar and spelling development, and metalinguistic awareness.  Most adult learners experience language writing anxiety even when they type a sentence in a chat box. The fear of making mistakes can be paralyzing for some students. The irony is that their desire to be perfect too quickly often slows their learning trajectory. If we want to lower our students' affective filter, they must experience low-stakes practice on a regular basis.   Blogging seems to be one of the least threatening solutions to the problem of teaching writing. First, it offers learners greater control over thei...
2 comments
Read more